ETSU pharmacy school enrollment up for first time since 2019

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Enrollment at East Tennessee State University’s (ETSU) pharmacy school has increased for the first time in five years — a year after Tennessee legislators voted to subsidize tuition to the tune of $2.5 million a year and after several years of steep declines.

The Gatton College of Pharmacy had seen enrollment decline steadily since 2020 following a bump in funding for the other pharmacy school associated with a state university. After the 2019 funding allowed the University of Memphis’s pharmacy school to lower its in-state tuition by about $10,000 for the 2020-2021 school year, Gatton saw enrollment tumble from 298 in 2019-20 to 272, 245 and 211 over the next three years.

As ETSU worked on putting the new money into place in the form of scholarships, enrollment dipped even further last school year, with just 174 students enrolled across the four-year program’s classes.

This year’s enrollment is up 7.5% overall, to 187 students, but the first-year class is up almost 30%. Last year saw just 45 first-year students enrolled, while 58 are enrolled and set to begin next week after Friday’s “White Coat Ceremony.”

“This was the first class recruited with lowered tuition, and we hope additional state funding and further decreases in tuition will allow us to see continued gains in the coming years and recruit a full class of 75-80 students,” Gatton’s Dean, Debbie Byrd, said in a statement.

In-state tuition and fees total $28,786 for the coming school year. Tuition alone was $38,676 in 2022-23.

Byrd said the college’s “Early Admission Pathway” has also nearly tripled in enrollment since 2020. It allows high school seniors or ETSU freshmen who apply and qualify to be accepted directly into the college upon graduation from ETSU.

The Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy is funded solely through tuition and ETSU got approval for the College of Pharmacy on the condition that it receives no state funding. The general assembly’s 2023 decision marked the first time the college received state funding.

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