ST. BONAVENTURE — After years of declining enrollment, St. Bonaventure University is reporting a five-year high in freshman confirmations.
As of Thursday, nearly 450 soon-to-be freshmen have enrolled at the private Franciscan university for this fall. The 436 students who enrolled by May 1, National College Decision Day, is the most St. Bonaventure has seen enroll by that date in the last five years.
After having approximately 400 freshman confirmations by May 1 in 2013 and 2014, St. Bonaventure saw that number decrease to about 370 freshman confirmations in 2015, said Bernie Valento, who’s served as St. Bonaventure’s vice president for enrollment since May of 2015. Confirmations bumped up to 428 last year before this year’s five-year high of 436.
“We really have increased our efforts in terms of marketing and recruitment and outreach and our communications plan,” Valento said.
St. Bonaventure had a total enrollment of 2,052 this past fall — including a 23 percent increase in new students from the year before. However, that was still well below the 2,450 students enrolled in 2011.
Most colleges continue to take applications and accept students throughout the summer. But for schools like St. Bonaventure surrounded by smaller, rural populations, National College Decisions Day is critical.
The university must make sure it’s recruiting heavily throughout the year before May 1 — sending recruiters out to high schools and encouraging students to apply and visit campus.
That outreach effort has to be followed up with print and digital media, texting, phone calls and social media, Valento said. St. Bonaventure launched the Bona Wolf Snapchat and Twitter accounts last year — which posts pictures and videos of the student experience around campus.
“We’re on the cutting edge of some of the things in the admissions industry, mainly when it comes to digital marketing and some of the texting opportunities,” said St. Bonaventure Director of Recruitment Doug Brady. “I think we’ve stayed on the front edge of any technology that can help recruit students.”
