MC welcomes largest class in history McPherson College welcomed its largest incoming class to campus when fall semester classes began on August 20, continuing its upward enrollment trend established over the past five years. With 299 new freshmen and transfer students, it is the largest class in school history. As classes got underway, full-time equivalent enrollment was up to 821. “This is a milestone for McPherson College and two years ahead of the goals we set in our strategic plan, Community By Design,” President Michael Schneider said. “While many wonder whether or not a small college should exist, this one is attracting and retaining students.”
2023
CLA SS O F
According to Ruffalo Noel Levitz, an enrollment management firm that surveyed 63 private higher education institutions in the Midwest, MC is bucking the trend. It reported average enrollment is down three percent among the colleges surveyed. “We know families question whether they can afford to send their children to college. McPherson College is showing students how it is possible to graduate with no student loan debt, and it is attracting their attention,” President Schneider said. The McPherson College Student Debt Project is a unique program that aims at helping students graduate with no student loan debt. This fall, students in the Student Debt Project reduced their projected college debt at graduation by $7,000. “When you add the Student Debt Project to our success placing graduates in jobs, students and families are seeing that McPherson College is the best choice,” President Schneider said. “Our faculty care about what happens to our students after they graduate. We are proud that nearly every student is working in their field or enrolled in graduate school.” Focus on career education and experiential learning is spread throughout the McPherson College curriculum, resulting in 95 percent of its graduates in careers or graduate programs within six months of graduation. Two-thirds reported having a job before they graduated.
President’s message
ENROLLMENT
Dear McPherson College Alumni, Friends, and Family, Working to promote peace and social justice locally and abroad is rooted in the McPherson College experience. It’s an importance part of what identifies us as Bulldogs, and service is one of the three pillars of our college mission. Service is a natural extension of the strong sense of community that McPherson College fosters among its students, alumni, and friends. The feeling of community developed at McPherson College drives us to want to work for peace and justice. We recently launched a new fundraising campaign called Building Community. You can read more details about it in this issue of the Review. Building Community focuses on building the kind of physical community that will support McPherson College’s dream of becoming one of America’s great small colleges, but it also focuses on building the kind of community that our students thrive in and take with them when they graduate to make a difference in their own communities. When I read about the alumni featured in this magazine, it inspires me to make sure McPherson College continues to develop the kind of people who go out and create positive changes in our world. McPherson College provides students with opportunities to begin or continue their interest in service with a renewed focus from the Office of Student Affairs. Our faculty are also dedicated to the idea of community and service, and are role models for all of us. I hope the stories in this issue about how McPherson College practices service inspire you as well. Our plans for the future are taking shape and I hope you will be a part of building our community at McPherson College. It’s a great day to be a Bulldog!
Michael P. Schneider President, McPherson College
FALL 2019
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