MACON, Ga. — For the 15th year in a row, Mercer University has enrolled a record number of students.
The school set a fall enrollment record of 9,033 students across all campuses. They say this record comes as universities and colleges across the nation are seeing a decline in enrollment.
Henry Keating is a sophomore at Mercer University.
"The wealth of opportunities that were afforded to me and the diversity of those opportunities is sort of what gravitated me here," said Keating.
He moved to Macon from South Carolina to study journalism and history.
"Watching my tour guide bump into his friends just walking around; it was a place where I felt like I could find a community," said Keating.
Mercer University junior Jacqueline Lamothe also chose Mercer as her home.
"It's big enough, yet it's small enough to be active and involved, but not be pushed past your comfort zone per se," she said.
Senior vice president for enrollment management, Penny Elkins, says more than 1,000 new undergraduate students joined Macon's Mercer campus this fall. Nationwide, new freshman enrollment at private not-for-profit colleges and universities is down almost 5% percent over the last three years.
"It's been amazing, but also humbling because I am very well aware in my role that we are not like other universities who have struggled, especially during the pandemic," said Elkins.
"It just comes to show there is something here that is magnetic that continues to gravitate people to come here," said Lamothe.
Elkins also says the record enrollment further demonstrates the value, relevance, and quality of their programs.
According to the University System of Georgia; Fort Valley State University, Georgia College and Middle Georgia State University all reported enrollment declines this fall.