During the 2018-19 school year, enrollment at Franklin College dipped below 1,000 students for the first time in at least the last five years.
Enrollment hit 1,087 during the 2015-2016 school year. Last year, 982 students were enrolled.
The college won’t release numbers for the current school year until the 10th day of class. School officials are hoping that recruiting efforts, along with new majors and a redesigned curriculum, will not only attract students to the college, but get them to stay.
Recruitment starts during a student’s sophomore year of high school, when colleges get information from College Board on what students are expecting to major in. The college then sends email and physical mail marketing to those interests and holds on-campus recruiting events, said head of student enrollment and retention Kathryn Coffman, who is also vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid.
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“We let them understand how we will prepare them for their careers and goals,” Coffman said. “In junior year it’s similar marketing. You might see (recruiters) at college fairs, at their high schools. It continues through the fall of their senior year; we get to know students.”
Up until when students apply for admission during their senior years, school officials encourage students to apply to Franklin and inform them about tuition and other expenses, how to apply for financial aid and what Franklin College has to offer, she said.
Those offerings include not just the re-imagined curriculum that will engage students with a wide variety of seminar offerings and service opportunities, but the recent addition of new fields of study. During the past two years, Franklin College added master’s degree programs in athletic training as well as physician assistant studies. The college added majors in sports communication, quantitative analysis and actuarial science, as well as a minor in education, Coffman said.
Most students hail from central and southern Indiana, and that’s where the college recruits most. It also actively recruits and gets applications from students in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Tennessee. Students from across the country apply, although less frequently, often through a connection with alumni or an athletic coach, she said.
“We love the students from our backyard but we also like bringing in geographical diversity because students will have to work with a wide range of people in their careers,” Coffman said.
The college typically has one to five international students each year due to connections made when students and faculty travel on study abroad trips. This year, the college has three, she said.
Recruiting students to go to Franklin College requires school officials to show students how the college stands out, without comparing it to other schools, Coffman said.
“We don’t necessarily compare ourselves to other schools but we help (students) understand what Franklin has to offer,” Coffman said. “We continue to work with them until their decision to enroll.”
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Enrollment at Franklin College dropped in recent years
Year;total enrolled;freshmen
2014-15;1,075;350
2015-16;1,087;320
2016-17;1,023;275
2017-18;1,034;304
2018-19;982;297
Source: Kathryn Coffman, Franklin College vice president and dean of admissions and financial aid.
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