With the introduction of Your Drury Fusion, the unveiling of the Enterprise Center and even the surprise Blackbear concert announcement, Drury is making substantial changes to its image that can affect the perception of potential students.

The university has prided itself in its unique approach to education, with eclectic major mash-ups and an emphasis on professional development as well as academics.

In 2018, Drury was celebrating a 12 percent increase in enrollment, but now it is facing a decrease.

Kevin Kropf has been the Executive Vice President of Enrollment Management since 2016. He believes that Drury’s success in an increasingly competitive market for students is a blend of reputation, faculty, programming and community.

“It’s a lot of factors. Number one, Drury’s got a great reputation throughout Missouri and the region for being a high-quality university,” he said.

Drury is ranked 20th in the US News Best Regional Universities listing for the Midwest. It also received 23rd for Best Undergraduate Teaching and 10th for Best Value School within the Regional category.

The university looks beyond the Midwest and even the United States, however. Linsday Tobin is Drury’s Director of Admission, and she is currently abroad in the Middle East recruiting future Panthers.

“Our international student population is very important to us. It’s an average of about eight to ten percent of the student body,” Kropf said. “I think that it’s important that we have international perspectives on this campus.”

Many of the specific programs that Drury offers draw potential students in as well. Architecture, business, pre-med and music therapy are some notable inclusions. But what about the humanities?

NRCCUA, the National Research Center for College and University Admissions, tracks what students pursue in college and provides resources on recruiting in a competitive market. Kropf mentioned their findings and how Drury adapts to what students hope to study.

“STEM is on an upswing. Humanities has been on a slight decline for a number of years,” Kropf explained.

That does not mean that the fields are dissipating at Drury. Undecided students tend to go into the humanities once they arrive on campus.

“What happens is students get here, they take classes with the amazing faculty we have, and the number of humanities majors rises,” Kropf said.

The number of high school graduates in Missouri has been on the decline – this holds true for the entire Midwest region.

“We’re up 12, 15 percent since 2015 for enrollment,” said Kropf.

“Our goal is to bring in at least 450 students and to keep our overall student population in the 1480 to 1490 range,” Kropf continued.

On-Campus Living Options and the Master Plan

“It depends, to a certain degree, on whether we’re able to grow enrollment. One of the ideas behind Your Drury Fusion was to create a program that is not only distinctive but also relevant, that speaks to preparing students for a 21st-century education,” Kropf explained.

The Master Plan details a residential precinct at the north end of campus, adding to the existing dorms and upperclassmen options like Jefferson Park and College Park. It is also part of the Drury mission to encourage on-campus living, with students required to pick from the housing options until they are 21, or if they meet specific criteria to request housing exemption.

Neighboring universities seeing similar decline

Evangel University, a Christian university in Springfield with an enrollment of around 2,200, according to their website, has not yet released their 2020-2021 enrollment data. In 2019, their enrollment seemed to hold steady, according to information released by the Springfield News-Leader.

In 2019, Missouri State was hopeful, boasting a graduate school enrollment of 3 percent, but they began classes last year with a 4.6 percent enrollment decrease for their undergraduate program according to a report released on their website.

The college cited students graduating earlier, a smaller number of continuing students, the number of high school students graduating being lower and a declining trend in fewer adult students aged 25 and older returning to school.

“This isn’t a surprise to us,” said President Clif Smart. “We’ve been aware of the projected decline and have planned proactively. We continue to stay focused on long-term enrollment growth and on programs that increase access to high-demand fields.”

While in 2019, Drury was still excelling in enrollment numbers and experiencing an enrollment increase when many of the area colleges were facing a lack of growth or a decrease, this is no longer the case for the 2020-21 school year.

Test score averages face change

In 2017, the average ACT score for incoming Drury freshmen was 26, with this score fluctuating variably for the last ten years. The national average for 2019 was 20.7. Standardized testing is hardly the end-all be-all measurement for academic success, and Drury recognizes that.

“It is true we take a holistic approach to reviewing applicants and recognize they are more than numbers. This means we put more stock in a student’s academic record than we do in ACT and SAT scores,” explained Kropf. “We also look at essays and recommendations, along with additional information as warranted.”

Looking ahead

While the decrease in students pursuing a college education may affect higher education for a while, each university’s admissions team is hard at work to bolster enrollment numbers and draw prospective students in.

Programs like Your Drury Fusion, advertising and marketing efforts, recruitment events and international student recruitment are some of the ways that Drury is attempting to offset the apparent shortage in traditional undergraduate prospective students.

However, Kropf believes that enrollment numbers do not change the fact that Drury is an exemplary educational experience, for current or prospective students.

“I hope students who are here now recognize that Drury is not only a great education, but prepares students for whatever is next for them,” Kropf concluded.

Article by Olivia Thompson and Maclen Johnson