Evangel breaks record as private, Christian colleges in Springfield report growth

Private and Christian colleges in the Springfield area reported enrollment growth going into the 2024-25 year based on how many students showed up the first day.

The preliminary headcount rarely tells the full story of fall enrollment, which is why the official census takes place weeks into the semester, but is a critical forerunner.

Evangel University — which had the latest starting date this fall, Aug. 28 — reported 2,628 students on the first day, breaking the 2,600 threshold for the first time.

Erin Hedlun, chief marking and communications officer, said the number marks a 4.8% increase over the prior year. "If it holds — numbers (are) in flux until census — this will make for the fourth consecutive year of enrollment growth."

Chris Belcher, vice president for enrollment management at Evangel, noted higher education enrollment has been on the decline nationally for much of the past decade.

"The trend is down. In enrollment, in my industry, all my compadres, they are like 'flat is the new up,'" he said, noting it is a challenge for many campuses to maintain a consistent headcount.

"Not here," said Evangel President Mike Rakes. "Up is the new up."

Belcher added: "We are thrilled that we're making progress and seeing that (enrollment) continue to inch up."

At Mission University, formerly Baptist Bible College , preliminary fall enrollment was 421 students — up from 371 a year ago.

"This is the fourth year in a row of good growth," said President Mark Milioni. "This is the first full year and first class to enter Mission University following our name change. We have added several new degree programs with local and national partners."

Milioni said the majority of the new students are from rural areas just outside Springfield. The biggest area of growth is in business.

He said ministry training has long been a focus of the institution but "very few students are choosing full-time ministry as a vocation." Instead, they are pursuing a degree in a specific academic area but may want to do ministry on the side but not as a career.

"What we have found is 90% of our students are from a small town, small high school and we're finding a great niche there," he said. "Parents from small towns like what they're finding here."

After a year of celebration to mark the 150th year of Drury University, the institution started its 151st year with a new president, Jeff Frederick, and more students.

Drury opened its doors with 435 new students, up from 425 a year earlier, and that included 342 freshmen and 93 transfer students. They came from 22 countries and 28 states.

"Our first-year class is up, our returning number is up," said Kevin Kropf, Drury's executive vice president of enrollment management. "We have growth overall."

More: Drury president Jeff Frederick answers 13 questions, plans podcast, community outreach

Kropf said the university has more graduate and nontraditional students enrolling. He said after the official census Sept. 3, more details will be released.

College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, just south of Branson, started the school year with an enrollment of 1,465, up from 1,427 the prior year.

Preliminary enrollment at Southwest Baptist University, headquartered in Bolivar, were more of a mixed bag. However, there was growth in first-year students and at the Springfield campus.

Andrea Copeland, director of marketing, said the university has "more than 800 new students" and expects the total enrollment will exceed 2,000 once dual credit numbers are finalized in a couple weeks.

More: Southwest Missouri health care education alliance expands to include Evangel

"Last year, we had 2,144 total enrollment," she said.

The main campus is in Bolivar. Enrollment at the Springfield campus logged 120 new students last year and 210 this year for a total of 373 students, an increase of 75% over the prior year.

At Ozarks Technical Community College, also known as Ozarks Tech, enrollment has also been rebounding.

The unduplicated student number on the first day was 10,080, up from 9,832 last year.

Donna Barton, director of communications, said the preliminary enrollment includes 2,737 first-time students, up from 2,677 last year. She also noted other areas of growth:

• Health sciences enrollment up 20%, primarily driven by the Alliance for Healthcare Education and growth in the biological clinical sciences;
• Total enrollment in hybrid courses is up 26%, part of the college's push for increased flexibility;
• Total enrollment in dual credit courses is up 14%;
• Enrollment from Greene County grew by 7% this fall.

Missouri State University is the only higher education institution in Springfield noting a sizeable drop on the first day after last year's record enrollment of first-time students.

On the first day of fall classes, enrollment for the Springfield campus was 17,639, which is down 3.6% from the 18,292 on the opening day in 2023.

However, the systemwide enrollment was 18,978 with the West Plains campus hitting 1,400 students, an increase of 3.7%.

This year, Missouri State had 2,578 first-time students who were new to college. It was down 4% from 2,685 students in 2023, which was a university record.

As part of that number, Missouri State is up 6.3% in international and nontraditional students and grew 4.4% in under-represented students.

The official headcount will be taken on the 25th day of class, which is Sept. 23. The report will include students who have not yet registered. In fall 2023, the census was 24,224.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Evangel breaks record as private, Christian colleges in Springfield report growth