Low enrollment affects course availability
St. Bonaventure University has seen a drop in enrollment for classical studies courses this year. Low enrollment has become an issue to the point where certain classes have been discontinued. Even majors have been affected, such as the French major, which has been omitted.
“We’ve actually had a record class this year. The largest freshman class in 10 years. It’s been a really successful year,” said Douglas Brady, director of recruitment. “I think Bernard [Valento] and I both contributed to our partners across campus, working with people in athletics, working with some of our majors that went online. It’s been a really successful year because of the hard work of everybody in Hopkins as well as across campus, faculty, staff – everybody has a part in it.”
Vice President for Enrollment Bernard Valento said, “Overall, when you look at what we’ve done over the last three years with our strategic plan is to try and identify and develop programs that have a high demand in the marketplace for all of our students. Especially today, some families are looking at ‘If I’m majoring in that, what is the return on my investment? What kind of job can I get, what kind of salary?’”
The omission of certain programs had less to do with enrollment, and more to do with a lack of demand.
“We’ve implemented several new programs. We want our liberal arts programs to flourish and expand, but French, unfortunately, there isn’t a demand there,” Valento said. “So, we have worked towards reviewing all our academic programs, changing them, no longer offering them and at the same time adding programs that will drive and increase enrollment.”
Both Brady and Valento cited classes such as the health science program, cyber-security and criminology as examples of new programs attracting more enrollment and with good data thus far. They said more students are looking for return on investment and job opportunities in their choice of majors, and this is why other majors and classes are suffering.
They also said that the university is looking to add new medical programs to further the high enrollment. They discussed how no matter what, the university puts heavy enforcement on critical thinking and general education courses, regardless of demand in the market.
The admissions team took a proactive approach in order to prevent conflict for SBU, its faculty and students. Sometimes, this means omitting certain classes in order to keep up with the rapidly changing job market and interest. However, it is developing new and exciting classes for incoming freshmen, in the hopes of having another record-breaking class.
By Anastasia Smith Contributing Writer @smithan18@bonaventure.edu
