Across the country, dozens of colleges and universities are facing the threat of declining enrollment. Since 2020, about 80 have closed or announced mergers. But two Northern Virginia universities are boasting record numbers of incoming freshmen.
Marymount University in Arlington is one of two universities in Northern Virginia celebrating a record freshman class — here it numbers 538. At Marymount, it’s the fourth consecutive year the freshman class has grown.
“Enrollment is the lifeblood of any college, and so that’s something to celebrate,” Marymount Vice President of Enrollment Management Evan Lipp said.
And at Shenandoah University in Winchester, cheerleaders and the band were on hand as that school’s biggest freshman class moved in: about 620 students.
Both universities have about 4,400 students in undergraduate and graduate programs. The smaller size was a big factor in the decision process for freshman Ramon Barboa, a Georgia resident who picked Marymount as soon as he visited.
“I wanted something small because I didn’t want to be treated like a number. That was my main fear if I went to a big university,” Barbo said.
Leaders at both universities say they’ve helped fuel their schools’ steady growth by tailoring their offerings to the careers students are planning to seek.
“We have high-demand professional programs that students are very interested in because they lead to jobs,” Lipp said.
At Marymount, students who want to become nurses are admitted directly into the program as freshmen.
“You were accepted right into the program, which I think is amazing,” freshman Jane Stedje-Larsen said.
Another new freshman, Wyatt Labonte, is from Maine. He’d been mostly looking at New England schools until he visited Marymount.
“One of the biggest things was the opportunities after I graduated,” he said. “I want to be in an area where I’m going to get a good job, I’m gonna be making good money.”
Shenandoah University President Tracy Fitzsimmons credits the faculty for flexibility and innovation in course offerings.
“I think we’re fortunate; for 150 years we’ve existed and for that entire time, we’ve always focused on career education, so we weren’t a liberal arts school that changed to become career-focused,” Fitzsimmons said. “We’ve always trained students for a lifetime of career success.”
The proof: 92% of Shenandoah’s alumni have a job upon graduation.
But there are other, smaller moves that also attract students and help boost enrollment. Both universities just added new sports: men’s volleyball at Shenandoah and women’s flag football at Marymount — which was an added incentive for new nursing student Isabella Silvestri.
“This is one of the few schools with like an official flag program as a varsity sport,” she said. “So, timing-wise, I was very lucky for that.”
At Marymount, growth means new construction of a student hub. Both universities hope they can continue to build on their 2025 success.
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