Written by: Alexis Dewey and Marian Polanco
This school year, the student body headcount was the highest the university has seen in the last several years, with 2,929 undergraduate students up 102 from last year, according to an email from Jason Merryman, vice president of Enrollment Management.
According to the stats Merryman sent the Accent, high enrollment numbers continue.
“Since 2020 we’ve seen over 20% increase in undergraduate headcount, which now marks four consecutive years of growth. This year over last year was about 3.5% growth in that population. We did see a slight decrease in our new student enrollment this year, but that was offset by a higher number of returning students,” said Ryan Harrell, Web and Analytics manager, in an email to the Accent.
The number of freshmen has decreased from 758 to 703, according to Merryman.
“Specifically we’ve seen steady growth in our total undergraduate enrollment since 2020,” according to Harrell. “Before 2020 we saw a steady decline since 2012 with a slight bump in 2017”
Ricardo A. Navas Ruano, junior business administration major, explained what led him to choose Southern Adventist University. Coming from Oregon, Navas sought a different environment for his college experience.
“I really liked the state of Tennessee and felt like that cultural and social shift would be good for me,” he said. Campus culture and student life also played a major role in his decision. “I heard that Southern had a really good campus life compared to other schools. I wanted a place where I could make friends with a vast variety of people.”
“At first, I was a little worried about the size of Southern,” he added, “but eventually I was drawn to the smaller environment that Southern provided, which ultimately led to close bonds.”
Navas, who did not know anyone currently attending Southern before making his decision to enroll, said his choice was influenced by a high school friend who was Adventist.
“He told me about Southern and their scholarship opportunities, so that heavily influenced my decision to attend this school,” he said.
Alyssa Pastora, a freshman nursing major, said, “What initially attracted me to Southern was the student life and spiritual life the school has to offer.”
She explained how important it was for her to find a school with a strong campus life, stating, “It was something I really wanted, knowing I was going to have hard classes, and I really wanted a student life so I’m not so caught up in my classes all the time.”
Pastora said the size of the school also played a significant role in her decision.
“Knowing that the classes were going to be smaller than at a normal [public] university showed me that I can ask more questions and be able to have more access to my teachers,” she said.
That sense of connection to professors was something she felt would be harder to find at larger universities.
Additionally, she emphasized how unique Southern’s student life is compared to other Adventist universities.
“The student life at this school is unmatched, like no other Adventist school,” she said. “It’s something really important and hard to find in other schools.”
