Enrollment increases at MLC
Filed Under: enrollment, Ministerial Education, MLC
For the first time in six years, Martin Luther College (MLC), New Ulm, Minn., started the school year with more students than the year before. A total of 723 on-campus students are enrolled—536 are studying for the educational ministry and 181 for the pastoral ministry. Six are unclassified.
Although enrollment is only up three from last year's 720, Prof. Philip Leyrer, MLC's vice president for enrollment management, says this is good news for the college, where enrollment has been declining steadily since the 2002-03 school year.
"We have increased our recruitment efforts and changed some of our strategy," he says. "We think the Lord blessed those efforts and we hope it will continue to go that way."
Leyrer cites rising tuition as the most significant factor affecting enrollment. He also says there is a shrinking pool of candidates at both preparatory schools and area Lutheran high schools, where enrollment numbers have also been down in the past few years.
Still, Leyrer is hopeful that this is the end of the downward enrollment trend at MLC. "This year, even though it is only three [more students], it is more," he says. "So we're hopeful that we have stabilized at this point and that we can start the climb."
Additional statistics and updates for all of WELS' Ministerial Education schools will be included in the Four Schools Report, which is due out by mid-October.
