CINCINNATI — Fewer freshmen are beginning classes at Xavier University this year as the university changes recruiting models, according to letters from Xavier leadership.
A letter from Scott Clyde, vice president for strategic enrollment management, says Xavier, a private school, is welcoming roughly 800 new first-year and transfer students to campus this year. Xavier's first day of classes was today.
In 2024, the university welcomed 939 full-time freshmen.
The lower attendance numbers are happening as Xavier University shifts recruiting models, a letter from Xavier University President Colleen Hanycz says.
"You will recall that we adopted a new strategic approach to our enrollment at Xavier about one year ago, 'Recruiting Sophomores,'" the letter reads. "This strategy was built around recruiting students who have a greater demonstrated likelihood of retaining into their sophomore year and, ultimately, persisting through graduation."
The letter goes on to say that, in recent years, Xavier has worked to recruit cohorts of first-year students "with increasing needs for resources — primarily financial and academic."
As a result, Hanycz wrote the university has seen a drop in students who successfully finished their first year at Xavier and continued as a sophomore.
Just 78% of Fall 2023 first-year students returned to Xavier as sophomores in Fall 2024, the letter says.
"To me, continuing to admit large cohorts of students with high academic need and high financial need, given our resources and with the knowledge that a large percentage of those students would be unable to return after one year — or even after one semester — felt very contrary to our mission," Hanycz writes.
She goes on to say the shift in recruiting efforts does not mean Xavier will no longer support "higher-need students."
"Does that mean that we are no longer supporting higher-need students? Absolutely not," the letter reads. "But I believe students who share those characteristics in this class will have a much stronger likelihood of successfully returning as sophomores just over one year from now."
The first cycle of the university's "Recruiting Sophomores" strategy has brought in a current class that is "extremely well-qualified, academically, and that has lower average financial need," Hanycz says.
Despite the recruitment changes, Hanycz wrote the intent was still to recruit more students than are currently enrolled. With just 800 freshmen and transfer students this year, first-year enrollment has dropped by around 139 students. Clyde's letter says this drop is also toward the lower end of the university's predictions for this school year.
