The figures follow a five-year trend of continued student growth since MVSU President Dr. Lester Newman started in 1998. Newman’s plan, hopefully, was to have 3,500 students enrolled by fall of 2003 but that goal has now been far exceeded.

For the five-year period, MVSU has seen an overall student enrollment increase of 1,056 students, or 43.2 percent representing traditional, nontraditional and graduate students both on campus and enrolled through off campus facilities in Greenwood and Greenville.

“The increase this fall is attributed to our coordinated approach in enrollment management,” says Renell Franklin, director of public relations for the university. “We’ve been strategic in our approach to enrollment management. The team has gone out identifying the right mix and the right students that will succeed here.”

Of the 507 new students registered this fall, over 400 are incoming freshmen.

“That’s a pretty significant number for Mississippi valley enrollment,” Franklin says. “It really shows the value of our communication efforts for value education.

“We’ve been aggressive in identifying the kinds of students we want and how those students can benefit from a Mississippi Valley education and student environment. When one is able to communicate their message and communicate it to the right segment of the population, then one sees a number of things happening. It’s like a domino effect,” she notes.

Franklin says the university credits Wilson Lee, executive director of enrollment management at MVSU, and his team of personnel from other areas of the university, as a major reason for the student enrollment increase.

“The enrollment management team is comprised of recruitment, admissions, student records and financial aid. By those areas working together, they know what’s needed, what our goals are and can then implement a plan that results in success,” says Franklin.

“When considering a university, students are looking for certain types of things. In our enrollment management plan, we look for what those certain things are students are looking for. We let students know what initiatives, programs and services we have for that certain niche and for a certain group of people,” Franklin says.

One area students are looking toward is scholarships.

“We are seeing, according to our enrollment management people, that they’re giving out more academic scholarships this year over last year. That’s what students want to know. Scholarships are an important consideration when deciding on where to go to school,” she says.

Another major boost to campus enrollment figures is the Greenwood Higher Education Center in Greenville and Mississippi Valley’s off-site center in Greenwood.

“We’re seeing more and more people taking advantage of these off campus facilities at the Greenwood and Greenville—especially nontraditional students,” says Franklin. “These locations are great for those who have transportation problems or just want to take classes closer to home rather than coming out to the main campus.”

Student figures for the Greenwood and Greenville facilities were unavailable for this issue of the DBJ.

Even though Mississippi Valley is known as a historically black institution, there are students attending from other races, says Franklin.

“Three to four percent of the overall enrollment is Caucasian. We think students in general, regardless of their race, are seeing Mississippi Valley as an institution that can serve their academic needs. We are seeing an increase in other race students.” she says.

Franklin adds that “the five-year trend in ethnicity shows we have been progressive in our attraction of other race students and we continue to recruit all kinds of students. That’s been our policy,” she says.

In the September 17 edition of The Greenwood Commonwealth, Dr. Roy Hudson, MVSU vice president for university relations, said that being over the 4,000 student mark “is very rewarding.”

He credits the success of enrolling a record number of students is due to “new recruiting strategy” reflected in the enrollment management team concept.

In an economy of scale, Hudson says that the assets of Mississippi Valley’s growth outweigh any other problems created by that growth factor.

A final, more detailed report to the IHL on fall enrollment is due in November. DBJ