ROME, Ga. – The largest incoming class in school history swelled Berry College’s fall enrollment to about 1,900, more than meeting the school’s enrollment goals, President Steve Briggs said.
Berry, which averages about 500 incoming freshmen annually, improved marketing efforts about two years ago to boost enrollment, Briggs said. Results were even better than expected at almost 700 incoming freshmen and first-year transfers for fall 2010, he said.
“Our goal was to start moving that average up,” he said. “We thought a great year would be 600.”
Last fall’s freshman class numbered about 570, the college’s second-largest ever freshman class, and officials hoped to repeat that feat this fall, he said.
“When we got to 670, we said, ‘Uh-oh, that’s too good a year,'” he said, laughing.
Berry’s not alone in record-setting enrollment in Rome. Across town at Shorter University, the student population jumped 26 percent since last fall to exceed that school’s 2012 goal of 1,500 by 23 students, said Dawn Tolbert, vice president of public relations.
BY THE NUMBERSThe incoming class of freshmen and first-year transfers at Berry College is the largest in history. Here are some statistics about the incoming freshmen:* 9: Countries represented* 26: States represented* 25 percent: Graduated in the top 10 percent of their class* 57 percent: Recognized for academic achievement* 76 percent: Had at least one leadership experience* 80 percent: Participated in a community service activity during high schoolSource: Berry Office of Enrollment Management preliminary 2010 dataBERRY BASICS* Founded: 1902* Campus: 26,000 acres, 47 primary buildings, 13 classroom buildings and 13 residence halls* Degrees: Bachelor of arts, bachelor of music, bachelor of science, master of business administration, master of education, education specialist* Student population: About 1,900* Student/teacher ratio: 11.7 to 1Source: Berry College
“It’s kind of amazing, given the economic times,” Tolbert said.
The increase forced Shorter to house some students in private apartments, she said.
Berry’s Briggs said the surge created no serious problems but did force some on-campus housing shifts.
“We’d like to stabilize around 600,” he said of the annual influx of freshmen.
Briggs said too much growth could create needs for more faculty, class and housing space and require officials to increase the number of the school’s student work program jobs. Those jobs employ at least 85 percent of Berry’s students, he said.
Next year, the number of incoming students probably will be limited to the original target, he said.
Greenville, S.C., freshmen Marissa Greer and Amelia Henderson said they’ve heard they are part of a massive invasion of first-year students, but they haven’t seen much impact in their classes.
Freshman classes are full but not overloaded, Greer said.
“Even so, my animal science class only has about 25 people,” Henderson said. “It’s not crowded at all. I think they definitely had the resources to have as many students as they brought in.”
Senior animal science major Jessica Rogers, a graduate of Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, said she’s seen a lot more freshmen in the dining hall and fewer open parking spaces, but one big impact has been on the school swim team.
“Last year, we had 11 [female swimmers] that competed. This year we have 18 girls, and 14 of them are freshmen,” Rogers said.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/BenBenton.