NewsLab

Current enrollment numbers at The College of Saint Scholastica have students wondering about the future.

The 2010 freshman class at Saint Scholastica is the second largest in school history, with 551 students. This record is second to the 2008 class, which held twenty more.  The steady increase of freshman poses questions as to how Scholastica will respond in the future. 

Vice President of Enrollment Eric Berg says that this year’s numbers do not indicate an increase in enrollment in the school’s future.  “It’s an inexact science (predicting enrollment numbers)” Berg said.  “This year our yield rate was around 39 percent, which is much higher than in the past.” The yield is the percent of total applicants which eventually decide on Saint Scholastica for their education.  Over the last 10 years, Scholastica has been averaging around 34 percent.

Current Saint Scholastica sophomore Graham McCullough said, “I’m really curious as to whether they are going to cut enrollment or build additional housing.  They have to do one of the two.” 

Scholastica is currently planning to do both.  According to Berg, the school is considering adding 250 more beds for freshman housing in Somers Hall, as well as gradually decreasing undergraduate enrollment over time.

“We feel like we are very close to where we need to be” Berg said.  Scholastica, currently with 2175 students, plans to cut back to roughly the 2100 area.  “We plan to grow as a whole,” Berg said, “just not at the undergraduate level.