2024–25 Enrollment Expectations
As the 2023–24 academic year comes to a close, one question comes to mind: What is the future of Whittier College’s student population? In the last four years, the College has seen a decrease in student enrollment. See “Whittier Plagued With Low Enrollment” on the Quaker Campus Medium page and in a previous issue for more information.
Just this year, the undergraduate student body count dropped from 813 to 733 students. As of now, the graduating class is at 237, with the current first-year class as of Spring 2024 lower at 135 students. Some of the major events that led to the decline in the student body over the years were the COVID-19 pandemic, and the infamous cutting of the sports program. See “Spring Enrollment on the Rise’’ on the Quaker Campus Medium page and in a previous issue. Recently, the College announced that after three years, they would be raising tuition. See “Whittier College Announces First Tuition Increase in Four Years” on the Quaker Campus Medium for more information.
Throughout this last semester the College has been working on several initiatives in an attempt to raise the student body population.
One of the initiatives that will be implemented in the next year is the College’s collaboration with the City of Whittier to offer a cohort of 10 local high school students a “four-year, full-tuition scholarship.” This initiative, called the “Poet Pledge,” seeks to give high school students an incentive to apply to be a part of the College’s incoming class of 2024.
Other ways that the College is attempting to gain applicants is directly through the application process. Firstly, in 2020, Whittier College waived their application fee; allowing it to be completely monetarily free, and risk free to apply. “The waiver is the latest step in Whittier College’s mission to create a more attainable higher education,” states the College website.
Secondly, the College has also begun to offer instant decision interviews. Incoming students are able to book a one-on-one appointment with a Whittier College admission counselor. By the end of the interview, the student will be told if they have been accepted into the College or not. Thus, the students can override the Common Application process and instead get a direct route into the College. At these meetings, the students may also be offered a preliminary scholarship alongside an offered acceptance. In addition to this, is the increase of tours seen around campus.
Besides using increased financial aid to encourage more applicants, there has also seen an attempt to remedy one of the College’s most controversial decisions: cutting the men’s lacrosse team. Read “Whittier College Reinstating Lacrosse” on the Quaker Campus Medium to learn more. Currently, Whittier Alumni Joe Damm (’95) and Joe McCarthy (’97) are attempting to bring back the College’s lacrosse program as a club. As of April 24, 2024, the Alumni are still attempting to raise enough funds to officially reinstate the lacrosse program.
The question of whether these various initiatives will raise the student body population to 1,833, which is the number it was in Fall 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, only time will tell if the newly instated programs will garner enough attention to attract incoming students to Whittier College.
Photo Courtesy of Nune Papikyan / Quaker Campus
