MC Shares Fall Enrollment Outlooks
MC's enrollment goals reflect changes to the institution, like new scholarship requirements and new nomenclature.
As another semester at Mississippi College (MC) draws to a close, the university prepares for the fall 2025 semester. Administrators set a goal of welcoming 750 new students (500 freshmen and 250 transfers). The goal has yet to be reached. However, leadership is optimistic that the goal will be met by the start of the new semester. Meeting the goal depends on the transfer numbers.
“Let's do the sports metaphor,” Dean of Enrollment Management Michael Wright said. “On the transfer side, it’s more like early second quarter, because they're just now starting to get all their stuff in and let us know they're coming, or let us know they're not.”
750 is a median number between the previous two classes. The first and second years, following the announcement of the Speed Scholarship Program, saw classes of 850 and 670, respectively. The goal is smaller because of limited space in the Residence Halls.
Additionally, two major changes were made to the Speed Scholarship Program. First, applicants are required to have scored at least a 22 on the American College Testing (ACT). The ACT requirement was raised by two points. Second, the Speed scholarship is applied differently to a student’s tuition.
“Speed is used as the last dollar towards their financial aid award after state grants and federal grants are applied to their tuition,” Wright said. “The requirements have changed a little bit every year. [We’ve] sort of dialed in who that audience is going to be.”
After two years of analyzing the response to the scholarship, MC leadership has officially changed the name from “Speed Scholarship” to “Speed Scholarship Program.” Leadership believes “program” carries more weight and displays better the intention behind the scholarship — to enroll students in Christian higher education.
“We want to make sure it can last the next 200 years,” Wright said. “In order for that to really become true and even [to] have potential of becoming true, we're making tweaks so that it can be sustainable. It just carries with it a little bit more [gravitas] in our minds.”
Despite the program not being offered to out-of-state students, out-of-state enrollment has increased slightly over the past few years. Wright predicts 170 out-of-staters will join the incoming class. MC maintains a competitive price in comparison to similar universities.
“We're about $15,000 cheaper per year, not year over year,” Wright said. “$15,000 cheaper than the average Christian school in the country. I think as we change our name to Mississippi Christian University, which will happen next year, that'll only increase the out-of-staters.”
A study published by the Economics of Education Review revealed that over 120 schools, who dropped “college” from their name and added “university” saw a 5% increase on average in enrollment. In the first five years after the name change, universities saw a 7% average enrollment increase.
“That’s what we're hoping and planning for and strategizing for on more the grad level [and] in the international level,” Wright said. “The name change is coming. When you're talking about out of state enrollment, Mississippi Christian University is going to pay off.”
 | A guest post by
|