The university projects freshmen enrollment will be up 26% over last year
INDIANAPOLIS—Marian University will welcome the largest freshman class in its 80-year history and reach a new record for total enrollment when classes start August 22.
Most impressive is the record 383 first-time, full-time freshmen taking classes, up 26 percent over the fall 2015 semester and about 18 percent higher than the previous record of 333 students who enrolled in 2013.
Total enrollment at the city’s only private Catholic university is expected to exceed 3,000 students by its September 15 census when official enrollment numbers are reported. That total tops Marian University’s previous high of 2,900 new and returning students in 2015.
This year’s enrollment is bolstered by three new Bachelor of Science degree programs in business analytics, public health with a concentration in environmental and community health, and public health with a concentration in social, behavioral, and community health.
Other statistics about Marian University’s incoming freshmen:
- Students from 25 states and 18 nations were admitted. The majority of students are from Indiana, followed by Ohio and Illinois.
- A record number of scholarships and grants were awarded in 2016, with 99 percent of Marian University students receiving some form of aid to help them pay for classes.
- The top majors are nursing, biology, business management, exercise science, marketing, and elementary education.
Graduate student enrollments at Marian University also reached a new high, growth that is attributed in part to four new Master of Science degrees in counseling, nursing, biomedical sciences, and biosciences. Included in the school’s fall enrollment are more than 450 new graduate students in education, osteopathic medicine, counseling, biomedical sciences, biosciences, and nursing.
In addition to new degree programs, officials attribute the steep enrollment gains to planned construction of new facilities, targeted recruitment in markets outside Indiana, and a strong desire by incoming students to attend college in Indianapolis, where they have access to some of the best internship and employment opportunities in the nation.
Officials also point to Marian University’s recent successes in athletics, which raised public awareness about the university. Last year, the university captured national championships in football, women’s basketball, and cycling. Additionally, the softball team advanced to the World Series for the first time in the program’s history and a student-athlete on the track and field team earned two national championships.
“The percentage of growth in our enrollment is remarkable, especially when you consider that college enrollment has been declining nationally for the past few years,” Marian University President Daniel J. Elsener said. “We’re most excited about our enrollment growth because of the impact it will have on our communities, which have a tremendous need for transformational leaders in business, health care, education, STEM fields, public service and ministry. Marian University’s increased enrollment means that we can play a greater role, and have a more immediate impact, in filling those gaps in leadership.”
In addition to its enrollment success, the university also had a record year in fundraising, bringing in over $24 million. Those proceeds will help fund construction of several new campus facilities, including a new building for the Byrum School of Business, a new dining hall, a new physical education center, and a new fieldhouse for basketball and other indoor intercollegiate and intramural athletics.
