Last Monday, 375 freshman students at Waynesburg University experienced their first college class.

Most of the class of 2022 began their college lives four days earlier when freshmen orientation began Aug. 23. According to Admissions Counselor Kyle Digiandomenico, the class size fell short of its expected number, which was around 425 students. Despite not meeting that objective, Digiandomenico said that as far as classes go, quantity isn’t the most important thing.

“I think one of the things that Waynesburg does differently from other institutions based on what I’ve found is not being so enrollment driven and being more fit driven,” Digiandomenico said. “Finding students that fit Waynesburg University and that would be successful here.”

While Digiandomenico didn’t diminish the significance of class sizes, during the recruiting process, he places a greater emphasis on how prospective students would fit in.

“Obviously, enrollment is important,” he said. “We have to meet enrollment goals. But first and foremost, when I’m doing my enrollment efforts the first thing we look at is ‘is this student going to be successful here?’” ‘Do we have the program that they’re looking for?’ Where I think that some other institutions may not have that priority in mind.”

According to Digiandomenico, the number of freshman for this year’s class is consistent with where they have been for the past several years, with 430 freshmen making up the Class of 2021. In addition, Digiandomenico said that this year’s enrollment numbers were consistent when comparing Waynesburg with other schools.

“If you look at the trend in other institutions, in other higher education areas, we were par,” Digiandomenico said. “We were right where other schools were ending as well, so that shows us that it wasn’t necessarily a specific decision that was made, or a specific route that was taken. It was just, maybe students weren’t ready to go to a four-year school quite yet. So they were doing the community college route, or taking some time off. We fell right to where other schools were falling as well. So not where we wanted to be, but average.”

Digiandomenico said that while overall enrollment has stayed steady, the amount of visits to the university have increased, which he feels is a positive sign for the school going forward.

Two departments that had increased enrollment numbers, according to Digiandomenico, were the Criminal Justice Department and the Department of Communication—both of which host summer camps for high school students..

During the school year, the university hosts two open house dates between October and November, a nursing career day in November and an overnight in November. For Digiandomenico, having students experience Waynesburg University first-hand before they make their college choice is a priority for admissions.

“We try to get them to come to campus first to see what Waynesburg looks like and what we’re all about,” he said. “After they do a visit, we’ll do some follow up communication with them, talking about the application process and trying to get them prepared for that. For some students, it’s a little early to start applying, some students are ready to. So we try to gage where they’re at and push them toward that route.”

For orientation, Digiandomenico said that moving the students in and getting them acclimate went smoothly.

“Everybody seemed so happy,” he said. “The process was very vast and effective, so they seemed really pleased. Families kept saying that over and over again.”

Overall, from what Digiandomenico has heard from his coworkers at Waynesburg, the class  of 2022 shows promise for the future of the university.

“Talking with my colleges here,” he said. “They’re experienced with students in classes, they’ve noticed that it’s a really good group of students, a really good bunch of students.”