Pooja Shaunak
Reporter
Before COVID-19 hit in 2020, enrollment at Mississippi University for Women had been trending up. Enrollment in Fall 2019 was 2,811.
By Fall of 2022, that number had decreased to 2,477.
Although the university stressed that it retained 75% of the Fall 2020 freshmen and 83% of the first-time transfers from that same semester, there was no masking the fact that enrollment took a tumble during the pandemic.
For some departments, this was attributed to the abrupt shift online in 2020 and a lack of recruiting events, as well as a sharp decrease in the number of transfer students from junior colleges.
Dr. Erin Kempker is chair of the Department of History, Political Science and Geography, as well as a History professor. She has been at The W for 13 years, focusing her teaching and research on women’s history, history of sexuality in the United States and the department’s Capstone class. During her years working as a professor, the lowest enrollment rate in her department was during the pandemic.
“Most of our classes were primarily face-to-face and were never intended to be taught online. The first fall of the pandemic, we had to offer a Capstone class online. It was a terrible experience for both the students and professors,” said Kempker. “We retained most of our current students online during the pandemic, but we didn’t recruit any students. Recruitment was online, and no one really showed up. So, I would say we lost students, but only due to the lack of recruitment.”
With the campus mostly online, many said it was hard to get students engaged in classes. Because of social distancing and CDC requirements, traditional on-campus orientation for incoming students was not held, and Social Clubs were unable to hold a traditional rush during the fall. Blue’s Week events were cancelled, and it was harder to find internships and on-campus student work. Then there was the challenge of engaging students while holding Zoom classes.
Dr. Dorothy Berglund is the chair of the Department of Psychology and Family Science and a professor of Psychology. She has been at The W for 16 years. She said her department has tried to meet students’ needs during the pandemic.
“In the fall, the major classes are HyFlex, which means there are online and face-to-face options. Once a student enrolls in their choice, they stay where they are at,” said Berglund. “We had to do simulations online, which was difficult. We had people help with those simulations by acting, but sometimes they wouldn’t see my cues in the Zoom chat. Now, I just record those simulations to have on hand because you never know with technology.”
Berglund said her department tried to be as accommodating as possible, but some of the classes just aren’t suitable to teach or learn online. For these classes, students are spaced out in a classroom. For those face-to-face classes, some students have special medical circumstances which allows them to Zoom into class.
She said that her department worked hard to retain students when most classes were online.
“Although the classes were over Zoom, we didn’t see a lack of engagement from students over Zoom. We told students to keep their cameras off to save on bandwidth. I was used to it since I was working from home, but it was still frustrating when students wouldn’t respond,” said Berglund. “However, when I introduced break-out rooms, as well as student-based learning role-playing, students had a lot to say. I was surprised by that. It wasn’t the same as it was in the classroom, but I was shocked that they were so engaging.”
The department still offers online class options for the students who can do HyFlex, because Berglund is trying to keep a steady enrollment rate and be accommodating of all its students.
One bright spot for the university during the pandemic has been its consistent enrollment of graduate students.
Dr. Martin Hatton, dean of the School of Education and director of Graduate Studies, said that the number of graduate students has been healthy throughout his 30 years at The W. He said that the Women’s Studies program, the Department of Theatre and the College of Business have all seen steady enrollment rates in their graduate programs during the last three years.
“Some of the requirements, such as a GMAT, were waived due to COVID. This requirement is still not required,” said Hatton.
Many students took advantage of this waiver of an entrance test during the pandemic and went ahead with their graduate studies.
“In some ways, I think graduate programs have benefitted from the pandemic. A lot of people have gone back to school for retraining. The Education Department of the state has suspended some of those test requirements,” Hatton said.
Hatton said that the graduate programs have usually been steady and that undergraduate programs are the ones that tend to fluctuate the most.
For instance, the undergraduate Nursing programs at The W have seen a small dip in enrollment during COVID because students were not able to go into hospitals, or other facilities, for their clinicals. Even for those who did have opportunities in those facilities, not everyone was comfortable with interacting so closely with patients during the pandemic. Hatton has no doubt the undergraduate Nursing programs will return to their normal numbers.
“Much like Nursing, the Education majors, undergraduate students, must go into the field to get that experience. I am not sure the extent of COVID playing a factor in the undergrad level, but most of the graduate programs have always been online,” he said.
The university has made great strides to return to normal as this semester progressed. Departments are hoping this continues into the next academic year.
Kempker said she hopes that since the pandemic is easing up, internships will open up again, which attracts students’ attention. A few of the students in her department have been able to study abroad, as well as intern in local areas. Maggie Ellis, a senior, interned at the Mississippi State University library last spring.
She said that she hopes to partner with local facilities such as high schools and recruit new students through history competitions, enrichment events, National History Day and mock United Nations competitions.
After two years of hard work, enrollment rates in many departments are starting to become steady again. Some are even increasing, and there is hope of an increase in overall Fall 2022 enrollment. Although COVID seemed to be the leading factor in the variation of enrollment rates across The W campus, slowly, but surely, the university is returning to a new normal.