Widener University notes 67% increase in freshman enrollment, its largest first-year class in history

Stacey M. Robertson stood in front of her house in shorts and a T-shirt that said, “We’re all Widener, you belong here.”

And Robertson, beginning her second year as president of Widener University, wanted the busloads of freshmen about to arrive for dinner to feel it. Her dining room table was filled with brisket, corn bread, Caesar salad, and other goodies. Her backyard pool was ready for swimmers, with music playing and games set up.

Over the course of eight nights, she invited all of nearly 900 new freshmen to dinner at the official president’s house, a large stone Colonial in Wallingford, about a seven-minute drive from campus. It’s a new effort at the Chester-based college this year that has been guided by three main principles set by Robertson and communicated repeatedly to the campus: Recruit the largest possible first-year class. Retain as many students as possible from the class. Create a culture of belonging across campus.

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The university is off to a good start. Its 891 freshmen represent a 67% increase over last year, the largest increase among colleges surveyed in the region and the largest first-year class in Widener’s history. It accomplished this despite accepting a smaller percentage of applicants, 84% this year compared with 88% in 2022.

The university credited a remake of its on-campus experiences for prospective students, an expansion in recruitment areas — both planned under former president Julie E. Wollman — and Robertson’s emphasis on making students feel comfortable and at home.

“This is all about creating a sense of belonging,” said Robertson, 58, a historian who came to Widener from the State University of New York at Geneseo, where she was provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Students have the opportunity to come to the president’s house, which makes them feel seen and heard and special. It’s also a chance for them to get to know each other in a different way.”

The success at Widener offers lessons to other universities as the competition for enrollment grows more keen, especially with another predicted drop in traditional high school graduates in 2025.

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Overall enrollment still hasn’t gotten anywhere near what it was before the pandemic at Widener. This year it stands at 5,610, down from 6,496 in 2019.

But Robertson is confident that the school can return to near 2019 levels if this year’s success continues.

“We believe we have the plan to make that work and we have the community to make that work,” she said.

One thing the school targeted was on-campus tours, Robertson said, realizing it has a “disproportionate impact” on students’ impression of campus.

The university tripled its number of tour guides to about 75, each trained and wearing a blue Widener blazer, Robertson said. And, now the tour experience begins with one guide and switches to a second midway, so that prospective students have a better chance of connecting with at least one.

The university, too, has added tour experiences in various colleges where prospective students can have lunch with a coach, sit in on a class, or meet with a dean.

But the effort entails more than just student ambassadors. Every employee has been asked to help out by keeping up the campus and serving as a “belonging ambassador,” she said.

“Our mantra is it takes a community to recruit a class,” said Joe Howard, vice president for enrollment.

And Robertson noted that the work is being done with the same administrative team as prior president Wollman. Unlike many new presidents who want to pick at least some of their own team, she did not replace any high-level administrators. Robertson spoke highly of Wollman, who she said has been willing to offer as much insight and guidance as Robertson wanted.

The university also increased recruitment in the Washington metro area, Bucks County, and Philadelphia, as well as its home county of Delaware. Applications grew by 20% as a result, Howard said.

And once students had applied and were accepted, they didn’t let up, resulting in a five-percentage point uptick in yield — the percentage of students accepted who enroll, Howard said. Its rate for U.S. students grew from 11% last year to 16% this year, he said.

The university, Howard said, achieved the boost, while maintaining the same student quality, with an average GPA of 3.5. Just below 50% of freshmen are students of color, about double the percentage from fall 2019, he added.

And for the first time in years, the university had to stop admitting students to its nursing program when it reached its 220 maximum and implemented a wait list, he said.

Also this year, the university lost only 7% of its enrolled students over the summer, known as “melt,” compared with 13% in 2022. It was the university’s lowest melt rate in recent history, Howard said.

“We had a very intentional anti-melt campaign,” Robertson said. “It was all hands on deck, a lot of the schools engaging in outreach throughout the summer.”

It wasn’t just about growth in first-year enrollment, though. The university also increased its retention rate of upperclassmen, from 75% to 78%, Howard said. Faculty are asked to take attendance in their classes, and a task force on class attendance meets twice a week to review data, Robertson said.

“If students don’t show up for class, we know that’s a sign,” she said.

About two-thirds of freshmen took Robertson up on her offer and signed up to attend one of the dinners at her house.

“How are you,” she said as students came up her walkway, hugging some, touching others on the shoulder and smiling. “So good to see you. ... The food is there to the right. Don’t hesitate.”

For 90 minutes, Robertson moved from table to table, asking students about their Widener experience and sharing some of her life with them. Her dogs, Siena, a half German shepherd, half goldendoodle, and Lucia, a Portuguese water dog, mingled, too, much to students’ delight.

“I only dropped one class,” said Teagan Dillon, 18, a freshman from Pittsgrove, Salem County.

“Wait, let’s talk about what happened there,” Robertson said, leaning in.

“I dropped my philosophy class because I didn’t technically need it,” Dillon said. “I’m only a freshman and it was really hard.”

Robertson nodded.

“You know what, sometimes you have to make a decision like that early on,” she said.

Dillon, a business management major, said her mother also graduated from Widener.

“You gotta get her to come to homecoming,” Robertson said. “Tell her I personally want her to come to homecoming and I will greet her.”

She encouraged each student to share something special about themselves. One offered that she was one of seven siblings, then was surprised to learn another at the table also was one of seven.

“You guys have a lot to talk about,” Robertson said.

Robertson shared that she had been on a TV show with actress and musician Zooey Deschanel, called Who Do You Think You Are, that traced the genealogy of a famous person. Deschanel had been linked to some well-known female abolitionists from the 19th century, Robertson’s area of research.

“And I’m just finding this out,” one student gushed.

Robertson asked whether students toured Widener before they enrolled.

“I did,” said Hailey Richmond, 21, from King of Prussia, who donned a Widener T-shirt listing her major, nursing.

What was your experience like, Robertson asked, wondering whether the work her team had been putting in was making a difference.

“It was better than any of the other schools I toured,” Richmond said. “The energy level was super high.”