Manhattanville College Experiences Enrollment Boom

Bucking national trends, Manhattanville College will begin its fall 2022 semester with one of the largest increases in new student enrollment in the liberal arts college’s recent history.

New academic offerings, a return to normalcy after the COVID-19 pandemic, and new directions that have energized the College are among some of the reasons administrators cite for the enrollment boom.  

The numbers are particularly impressive since they go against a national trend in which many schools continue to see a decline in enrollment, particularly among undergraduate students. National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported that total enrollment nationwide declined 4.1 percent since last spring.

“We are very excited about the future of Manhattanville College,’’ said Interim President Louise Feroe, Ph.D. “These enrollment numbers confirm that we are headed in the right direction. Our incoming class this fall will show the largest year-over-year increase in decades. We are up 40 percent in new, first-year students, and transfer students are increasingly choosing Manhattanville, showing a greater than 30 percent increase. For the first time in years, we will welcome close to 500 new undergraduate students. We are equally pleased with the increase in our new graduate student population as we prepared to welcome nearly 200 new graduate students to our community this fall.”

Troy L. Cogburn, Vice President for Admissions and Marketing for Manhattanville College, said that in addition to seeing significant increases in applications and enrollment across the board, Manhattanville saw a number of encouraging trends. The college is attracting students with higher academic standing, as well as adding diversity to its student body. And more students are returning to live on campus.

The average grade point average among first-year students increased from 3.2 to 3.3 and Manhattanville saw a 50 percent increase in new undergraduate residential students. Probably most exciting, said Cogburn, is the growth of first-generation students and students of color. This class represents a 40 percent increase among new undergraduate students who identify as first-generation (first in their family to attain a four-year college degree), while also seeing a 45 percent increase in students who identify as Hispanic, 60 percent increase in students who identify as African American or Black, and triple digit percentage increases among new students identifying as Asian and students who identify as two or more races.  

The numbers were not surprising, he said, given that Manhattanville has been recognized by “U.S. News and World Report” as the number one private, non-profit school in the Regional Universities North category for Top Performers of Social Mobility and has earned a designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education which has allowed it to recruit more students of color as an official Minority Serving Institution and seek federal funding to support them.

President Feroe said that strategic additions to the school’s offerings have made a big difference. The opening of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences in 2020, the addition of the Center for Design Thinking, and additions of accelerated programs, particularly in sport studies, were all drivers. 

Feroe said that Manhattanville’s enrollment numbers were particularly gratifying given that many schools are still struggling to come back after the pandemic.