Written by: Amy Mejias
Statistics show that while Southern Adventist University’s undergraduate programs have seen a steady increase in recent years, Southern’s graduate programs have experienced a decline in enrollment.
Chris Hansen, director of Institutional Research and Planning at Southern, said this downward trend in total graduate student enrollment appears to have bottomed out in Fall 2021 and remained flat for the past couple of years. Total graduate student enrollment was 435 during the Fall 2017 semester, but by Fall 2023, it had decreased to 328.
“While COVID-19 may have played some role in the trends, it appears that enrollment growth in three academic areas has been a factor as well,” Hansen said. “Graduate programs in the School of Education, Psychology, and Counseling [as well as] the School of Religion and the School of Computing have experienced enrollment growth that has offset declines in other areas. This has resulted in a more balanced distribution of graduate enrollment across campus.”
Furthermore, graduate programs saw a noteworthy spike in numbers this winter, according to Laurie Gauthier, director of Graduate Marketing and Enrollment Management.
This semester’s graduate enrollment has increased “not only above our Winter 2023 enrollment, but over the Fall 2023 enrollment,” Gauthier said. “That’s huge, as historically, enrollments drop between fall and winter semesters, and we’re thanking God for the increase.”
“During the pandemic, all in-person recruiting opportunities disappeared, and some are just now returning to in-person events.”
As for the more widespread decrease, however, Gauthier also cited the pandemic as a cause.
“During the pandemic, all in-person recruiting opportunities disappeared, and some are just now returning to in-person events,” Gauthier stated. She believes the nursing program in particular suffered as a result of the health crisis.
“As everyone saw in real time, nurses experienced incredible stress and burn-out, and the field hasn’t fully recovered,” Gauthier stated. “Also, due to the increasing popularity of travel nursing, some of the incentives to earn a graduate degree to earn a higher salary have disappeared. One thing to note is that declining graduate nursing enrollment is a national trend, not just a trend at Southern.”
Based on the data, the two graduate programs at Southern that have experienced the largest decrease in enrollment have been the School of Nursing and the School of Business.
In Fall 2019, the nursing program accounted for 55% of graduate studies enrollment but dropped to 38% four years later, in Fall 2023. The business program, though smaller than nursing, dropped from 10% of the university’s total graduate student enrollment in the Winter 2020 semester to 5% in the Winter 2024 semester.
“Southern’s graduate programs have experienced increased competition at local universities over the last several years,” Gauthier stated. “One of the most popular graduate degrees in the U.S., the MBA, has huge competition nationwide, especially in the online space. With Lee University and Bryan University offering an MBA, Southern is no longer the only faith-based option for local students.”
She said even with online programs, over 80% of virtual students choose to attend a school within a 50-mile radius of home.
“Lee University began offering a Doctor of Nursing Practice shortly after Southern did, which means that three major universities (Southern, Lee and University of Tennessee Chattanooga) offer many of the same pathways to become a nurse practitioner,” Gauthier stated. “Due to the increased number of NP students and graduates in the area, it’s become harder to find clinical placement while in school, and jobs after graduation, in Chattanooga.”
Gauthier added that when Southern’s Master of Social Work (MSW) program started in 2010, it was the only MSW program offered in the Chattanooga area, and since then, UTC started an MSW program.”
The data that Hansen shared showed that Southern’s MSW program has remained fairly steady, fluctuating between 18% of the graduate studies enrollment and 16%, depending on the semester.
Southern continues to make efforts to expand graduate programs and increase enrollment. Gauthier said in 2020 the university added two new degrees, an MS in Applied Computer Science and a Master of Arts in Teaching. They also have two new programs on the horizon: a Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) and a Doctor of Education (EdD).
Since 2021, Southern has used a higher education marketing firm, DD Agency, which specializes in an approach that provides valuable content to online searches. Gauthier said this inbound marketing “positions Southern as a reliable and knowledgeable voice regarding specific graduate degrees and general information about the application process and financing a graduate degree.”
By utilizing this type of marketing, Southern’s graduate web pages have been ranking much higher in online searches, and DD Agency is able to place more digital ads on Meta and Google and convert those leads through the “request for more information” forms on landing pages. As a result, the number of inquiries and applicants has since increased, Gauthier added.
Gauthier said although the graduate enrollment challenges have tightened the Graduate and Professional Studies budget, every one of Southern’s graduate programs has all of the resources needed to continue.
