Waynesburg University welcomed its largest freshman class to date with the class of 2021 this fall. According to Dr. Shari Payne, vice president for enrollment, 451 new students were enrolled – barely surpassing the Admission offices’ “very ambitious” goal of 450.

“We’re so pleased,” said Payne. “It’s a combination of freshman and transfer students, and it’s our largest freshman class ever.”

This year’s enrollment goal was a significant increase from last year’s target of 420 students, said Payne, but the admissions staff never doubted their ability to reach it. By monitoring trends in key high school markets, noting graduation statistics and popular majors of study and accounting for the university’s own capacity for housing students, they were able to calculate the figure.

“It’s a little bit of art and a little bit of science, coming up with a goal,” said Payne.

Payne said that, to effectively recruit new students, the Office of Admissions must plan months ahead of time. In order to reach this year’s record-breaking enrollment numbers, significant adjustments were made to their game plan.

There was a noticeable increase in Waynesburg’s inquiry pool, which can be attributed to a combination of marketing strategies that have been employed over the years, said Payne.

“A lot more digital marketing,” she said. “We’ve changed the recruitment territories where our admissions counselors travel; and we’ve really been working hard to develop relationships with guidance counselors in our primary market areas. So, it didn’t just increase on its own – we had a strategy.”

Once a student inquires about Waynesburg, said Payne, the Admissions staff changes their programming and communication plan, to get the student to fully commit to attending. Most significantly, said Payne, Waynesburg’s admitted-student program has received added resources in the past two years, which has helped bolster the recruiting process.

The program designates time for admitted students to be invited back to campus to receive awards, after they have received financial aid packages. It is meant to show prospective students that not only can they afford to attend Waynesburg, but they can become a part of the community as well.

“We really beefed up that program and it’s been really, very successful as a conversion event,” she said. “Bringing someone from the ‘admitted’ status to committed to the university.”

Although the class of 2021 is the largest class Waynesburg has ever had, Payne said that no real strain has been placed on the university’s housing capacity or student-to-faculty ratio.

“So, we’re pretty tight right now, but we haven’t exceeded our capacity yet,” said Payne, explaining that this year’s class essentially took the place of the class of 2017—Waynesburg’s most recent graduating class—which was also exceptionally large. There is even room for growth, she said.

In fact, Payne said the Office of Admissions has already begun working toward its enrollment goal for next year: 450, again. Staff members are scheduled to start visiting high schools as early as next week, and are working Saturdays and evenings in preparation.

“This is a real team effort, there’s a team of people that work really hard…” she said. “It takes a whole campus to recruit, and we really appreciate all the work they put in.”