Largest freshman class in history helps set all-time enrollment record 

Lauren Steinbrook

Staff Writer

This is an all-time record enrollment for the university, adding 530 new students. 

Melinda Miller, vice president of undergraduate enrollment, said 456 freshmen and 67 transfers were enrolled this fall.

“There was a significant increase in new athletes this year compared to our performance last year,” said Miller. “We also had an increase in Nazarenes and an increase in students from multiple counties in Tennessee.” 

Around 67% of new students are from Tennessee. Miller said the growth of locals can be attributed to the growth in applicants for the J.O. McClurkin Scholarship. 

“We had a record number of McClurkin scholars this year, we ended up with a total of 84 McClurkin candidates, and we ended up landing 65% of those,” said Miller. 

According to Trevecca’s website, The J.O. McClurkin Scholarship is a full-tuition scholarship for students who have a 28 or higher on the ACT (1300+ SAT) and a 3.5 or higher GPA (unweighted), have demonstrated hard work through their high school careers and have experience with community service, leadership and participated in extracurricular activities

Miller said another strategy they saw that helped with recruitment was focusing on younger high school students. Where they previously focused on high school juniors and seniors, they have now expanded to freshmen. 

“We’re hitting them more with messaging and recruiting more intentionally younger, and that is now starting to see dividends for us,” said Miller. 

Miller said the admissions team was anticipating an increase in enrollment from the beginning of the recruitment cycle since there was the church of the Nazarene’s General Assembly and Nazarene Youth Convention this past summer. 

When recruiting, Miller said there has been historically an increase in enrollment following the Nazarene Youth Conference and General Assembly. Because of COVID, this was the first time that both happened in the same summer. 

Miller said that since it’s closing, Trevecca took in 4 transfer students from Eastern Nazarene College. 

According to Miller, 22% of the freshman class identify as Nazarene. While 90% identify as Christian and 56% identify as non-denominational.  

Miller said they had 60 prospective nursing students for the fall of 24, which is a significant growth compared to the 45 from the fall of 23, the program’s first year.  The top majors for freshmen this year are nursing, biology and psychology.

Tuition

Not only was there an increase in enrollment but also in the cost of attending Trevecca. 

According to Kevin Reed, Director of student financial services, it cost roughly $2,310 more this year than last year.

Melanie Hanson published in the Education Data Initiative that College tuition has increased on average 3.63% annually from 2010-2011 to 2022-2023 and that the cost of tuition at public 4-year institutions increased 36.7% from 2010 to 2023, nationally. 

For freshman Benjamin Groth, tuition and aid played a significant role in his college decision. 

“When I was searching for a college, I was looking for two things,” said Groth, “One, I wanted a Christian college, and two, I didn’t want to go into debt. For the size of the college and the experience compared to other Christian schools in the area, it [Trevecca] was cheaper.” 

In general, the cost of living has gone up. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in a report released September 11, the cost of living has increased 2.5% in the past 12 months. 

“I think they should’ve done a better job of making people aware that there was an increase,” said Faith Brooks, junior. “I think that if everyone was more aware, they would’ve been able to prepare more. I think some people even thought that they wouldn’t be able to make it on campus and it was a risk to them and their education. And I don’t think that was very mindful of them. “ 

Reed said that nearly all traditional undergraduate students at Trevecca receive some sort of financial aid to help with the cost of attending.