Alicia Meehan, Campus Carrier deputy news editor

Across the United States, colleges have been facing a decline in enrollment since 2010. Georgia, however, has not seen as much of an impact. While the rest of the country deals with decreasing enrollment numbers, Berry has actually had an increase in student enrollment over the past several years.

Vice President for Enrollment Management Andrew Bressette oversees admissions and financial aid. According to Bressette, the “enrollment/demographic cliff” refers to declining annual birth rates and predictions of how many students will be graduating from high school when they turn 18. 

While there has been an increase in high school graduates over the past six years, Bressette said this trend is reversing.

“For the last five, six years, most of the country has seen an increase in the number of students graduating from high school, Georgia included,” Bressette said. “This is the first year where we’ll actually have fewer graduates than last year, and that begins a 20-year national decline.”

While nationally this decline will be a challenge for colleges and universities, Berry is not experiencing this problem. Bressette said that the dip in graduates is not evenly distributed across the country, with the Southeastern United States seeing a smaller decline. 

“The Northeast [has a] decline that’s predicted to be as much as 15% to 20%,” Bressette said. “In the Southeast, we may only see a 4% or 5% decline.”

According to Bressette, about a decade ago, Berry began to work harder on advertising in the region. Berry admissions and marketing worked to draw attention to Berry’s qualities, such as its close-knit community, to the eyes of the Southeast.

“A lot of people would say Berry is the best secret in Georgia, in the Southeast,” Bressette said. 

Trevor Ehrenheim has worked in Berry’s admissions since 2016 and currently serves as senior associate director of admissions. Ehrenheim said that despite national trends, Berry’s enrollment has remained consistent and is at its all-time largest class size.  

Ehrenheim said that although Berry is relatively insulated from the national decline, Berry is still affected by it. The marketing and enrollment teams will work around the trend across the country. Even so, Ehrenheim says that a decline in enrollment at Berry is not something he expects.

“I would be surprised if Berry’s total enrollment ended up declining like an average college might,” Ehrenheim said. “[But it] will affect us in the sense that we’re going to strategize around it.”

According to Ehrenheim, Berry’s distinctive qualities, such as LifeWorks, the Berry Journey and small class sizes, set it apart in the marketplace for higher education. These features inform recruiting practices and are what keep enrollment up amid the declining trend.

“To summarize one of the biggest pieces of the puzzle might be that Berry’s done a good job of distinguishing its value proposition in a really crowded market of colleges and university options,” Ehrenheim said. 

During a Student Government Association (SGA) meeting, President Sandeep Mazumder said that he wished to make Berry a nationally recognized school. In the increasingly competitive college market, Mazumder said that he wants the country to know about what Berry has to offer, and what sets it apart.

“In terms of [the goals] going forward, you probably heard talking about our national profile,” Mazumder said. “[Our] story is so unique here and we need to do more about telling this story nationwide.”

Bressette said that Berry has several plans to increase knowledge of and enrollment at Berry from outside of the Southeast. Along with admission counselors traveling to other states such as Texas, the college is offering a new “visiting” scholarship to students who live farther than 300 miles away. Bressette said that online advertising is in place as well.

“We’ll encourage you to visit, and you can experience this community for yourself,” Bressette said. “We continue to work on elevating the student stories.”

Ehrenheim said that things like admissions team members traveling further into the U.S. and alumni ambassador relationships will help Berry as it seeks wider influence. 

“All these things working together in places outside of the Southeast to try and establish Berry’s name as a reputable option for kids,” Ehrenheim said. “That’s how we’re thinking about it right now.”

Christina Bucher, associate professor of English, rhetoric and writing since 1995, has noticed an increase in class size. The administration has asked professors to raise caps for classes, and Bucher says this brings some tension from the faculty. 

“There have been big numbers for incoming classes over the last several years,” Bucher said. “From the faculty perspective that’s a pressure point where we’re asked to have more students in a class, which in my view is not [academically] effective.”

Bucher said that the increase in class size makes it difficult for professors to interact closely with students or provide an individually engaging environment. 

“I recognize that if you go to UGA, you’re going to have some kind of lecture class with 300 students,” Bucher said. “But for a school like Berry to go from 28 [students] in a foundations class to 32, it’s a big change.”