Whether you live in Fayetteville, Fort Smith, or Siloam Springs, you’ve probably noticed an increase in college students on the streets. At the University of Arkansas–Fort Smith, Chancellor Terisa Riley spent part of her Monday morning celebrating with students on campus.
“This is my 39th first day of school, and every single year it’s exciting,” Riley said. “I love going out and greeting the students. I’ve been outside this morning taking first-day pictures and selfies with students so they can send them home to their parents. It is absolutely the most joyful job in the world.”
Seeing students and focusing on enrollment is top of mind for many higher education leaders this time of year. Riley said overall enrollment at UA–Fort Smith is flat.
“But we’re excited about seeing an increase in our first-time, full-time freshmen on campus,” she said. “New students joining us means we’ll have an increased pipeline over the next four years. Our freshman enrollment is up about 2% for this fall.”
Two percent may not sound like much, but the impending enrollment cliff has many college staff concerned. That includes Ryan Ladner, vice president of enrollment at John Brown University in Siloam Springs.
“I just try to ignore it,” Ladner joked. “No, I’m kidding. It is definitely something that all of us in higher education are facing.”
The enrollment cliff is not just a clever phrase; it’s statistically real. Census data show that the United States will see around 3.5 million high school graduates sometime near 2025. After that, the college-age population is expected to shrink by as much as 15% over the course of a decade.
Ladner said John Brown University is expecting a record number of students on campus this fall, topping last year’s record. He said doubling down on personalizing the admissions and recruitment process for incoming students is critical.
“If someone wants to visit JBU and they say, ‘Hey, I’m really interested in career development, or I’m really interested in these three or four different things,’ we’ve tailored the entire visit experience to address whatever the needs of those individuals are,” Ladner said. “Maybe it’s easier for us because we’re more nimble and we’re a smaller institution. But we’ve definitely focused on getting more people to campus. A lot of people, even in northwest Arkansas, don’t even know we exist out here in Siloam Springs, so we’ve created big campaigns [telling people to] just come check us out. That’s really been our main focus. We believe if we can get them on campus, they’ll see the JBU difference.”
At UA–Fort Smith, Riley said roughly half of their incoming freshmen come from Sebastian County.
“Seeing that level of investment right here in Fort Smith and in the River Valley is really exciting to us,” Riley said. “Obviously, we hope that more and more students will choose post-secondary education when they graduate from high school. So, we’re thrilled to be entrusted with that education here.”
Suzanne McCray, vice provost for enrollment and dean of admissions at the University of Arkansas, said they’ve learned that many students are making decisions about where to go to college based on what they see on social media.
“Gen Z is really interested; they do college shopping on social media. So we have embraced that too.”
Some admissions officials have said that within the first 15 minutes of a prospective student being on campus, they decide whether they want to attend school there. McCray said that’s been her experience as well.
“It is true that the campus visit kind of seals the deal,” McCray said. “We love to get students on our campus. We love to get their parents on our campus because it’s a beautiful campus. It’s vibrant. There are students everywhere. There’s a lot going on, and that becomes clear to them. They see themselves as being able to fit at the campus. But you have to get them to visit. And one of the ways to do that really is through social media.”
As for enrollment at the U of A, McCray is enthusiastic.
“It’s robust,” McCray said. “We are very pleased. You may have noticed with the traffic that things are busy, and the students are back. We will be 33,000-plus strong in total enrollment, which is a new record for the University of Arkansas.”
Undergraduates make up more than 28,000 of that number, and incoming freshmen will total about 6,600. By comparison, John Brown University is expecting about 450 incoming freshmen. Ladner said JBU offers a different value proposition to its students.
“We are not an institution with large class sizes,” Ladner said. “I think our biggest class size at JBU is 40 students. If you have a class of 40, that’s what our students consider a large class, which is kind of funny, especially for me coming from a public institution as an undergrad. We’re really big into community and thinking about how we can get students plugged in. We know our students, so I think that’s something parents really appreciate: you can’t hide. If a student is missing class and you have 20 students in your class, we notice, and faculty members notice.”
But even at larger institutions like the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, McCray said they encourage students to find their small circles quickly by joining a student organization.
“There are signs all over our campus where we ask them to ‘Pick One,’” McCray said. “So pick one organization and get involved. We’re not trying to overwhelm them with organizations, but picking one gets them engaged with other students in that group. Maybe you’ll pick two or three later down the road and get engaged that way. But as long as you pick one when you come in, you create a group of students, a cohort where you feel comfortable, and everybody knows your name. That can make a larger campus feel small really quickly.”
All three of these universities offer a different college experience for students. Riley said when it comes time to send your kids off to college, it’s understandable to be emotional. But at the end of the day, it’s important to trust your teenager’s decision about where they want to go.
“You’ve raised them to do that,” she said. “Ultimately, they’re doing it by engaging in a college career. You have to trust that they know which place is the best fit for them. And I certainly believe that choosing UA–Fort Smith is a great choice because of how much we care.”
Ladner, who has a 16-year-old, is starting to think about his role through the eyes of a parent even more now. He said one thing to consider is the return on your investment, or ROI, of a college education.
“College is not cheap,” Ladner said, “and it’s not going to get cheaper, as we know. As a parent, even myself, I’m asking the question, ‘What is the ROI for my student?’ So I look at graduation rates of institutions, I want to know the average starting salary of their graduates, and I want to know what type of support is on campus for them. There are different types of models of education. As a parent, you have to decide what’s the experience you and your child want. Is it a big institution with lots of opportunities? That’s fine. Is it a smaller institution with small class sizes and a stronger connection to community and faculty? It just depends on what someone wants.”
McCray, a mother of five, said all her children went to college.
“For 20 years, my husband and I were paying tuition,” she said, laughing. “So I am a true believer in the transformational role that a university or a college education can play in a student’s life. Not just in their earning capacity — that’s huge — but also in what they think about, the friends they know, the people they meet, and the doors that will open that they don’t even expect.”
Classes started Monday in Fayetteville and Fort Smith. Classes at John Brown University start Monday, Aug. 26.
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