Enrollment numbers highest they’ve been since pre-covid

Written by: Naomi Linder

On Sept. 5 the final student census confirmed that enrollment numbers are the highest they have been since pre-covid. In an interview with the Accent, Vice President of Enrollment  Jason Merryman shared the numbers.

 This semester, Southern has a total undergrad population of 2,571, he said. Additionally, according to Merryman, the university currently has “the third largest freshman class” since opening its doors over 100 years ago

Enrollment the previous two years had been steadily under 2,400, he said. 

From 2019 to 2021, there was a notable decrease in student population, for which Merryman said there were multiple reasons.

“Many students outside of Tennessee decided to stay closer to home to help their families financially, students overseas could not travel and some students and families were not comfortable being part of a residential campus during a pandemic,” he said. 

Sophomore Sydney Goliath said in an interview with the Accent that there was a “real fear going into [her] first year of college while COVID-19 was still a big deal.”

When asked if there were concerns in administration about there being permanent damage done to enrollment numbers due to the pandemic, Merryman stated that administration was concerned, but the concerns ended up being an eye-opener for Southern’s recruitment office and their methods for reaching out to potential students.

Since coming to Southern amid the pandemic, Merryman has made it his mission to “pick our game up into overdrive” when it comes to reaching out to families and students interested in attending as that was the best way the university could compensate for lower visitation numbers, as Southern was staying cautious about allowing families and visitors on campus in a time of high COVID-19 risk. He continued on to say that they have “kept that same mentality moving forward and plan to continue this [communication] for the foreseeable future.”  

Freshman Political Science major Sandra Gonzalez shared that the way Southern stayed consistently in contact with her made a huge impact on her choice of where to attend after high school.

“I was so impressed by how they kept emailing me back with answers to all of my questions and my parents’ concerns” she said.

Merryman has shown a positive outlook on COVID-19, explaining that it raised questions and facilitated change in improving Southern’s communication system to prospective families. Southern may have struggled with enrollment the past few years, but according to Merryman: this semester, “we bounced way back!”