Martin Luther College enrollment figures
Martin Luther College (MLC) in New Ulm, Minn., has released its official enrollment figures for the 2007-08 school year. A total of 720 on-campus students are enrolled--531 are studying for the educational ministry and 173 for the pastoral ministry. Sixteen are unclassified.
Peter Kruschel, administrator for WELS Board for Ministerial Education, says the 720 figure is "at the high end of what we had hoped for."
While 11 fewer students are enrolled this year than were enrolled at the beginning of last year, there are 10 more enrolled than were enrolled at the end of last year. It's the first time there's been a gain from the end of one school year to the beginning of the next since the 2002-03 school year.
Still, MLC's beginning enrollment is the lowest since a peak of 1,063 five years ago. Phil Leyrer, MLC's vice president for enrollment management, says the main factor is the rapid rise in tuition over those years. Kruschel says other factors include that not as many students are coming through WELS' grade school and high school system and that not all candidates for the teaching ministry have received calls.
Official enrollment figures from all four synod schools will be published in the Four Schools Report, due out by the end of September.
