With the 2012-2013 school year comes the largest freshman class in Seaver College history. Of the 9,234 applicants, 882 new students began their Pepperdine careers Aug. 27.
Michael Truschke, the dean of admission and enrollment management at Seaver College, said that although the record number of students may give the impression of a growing student body, “in reality that number reflects the enrollment needs of the college after considering graduation and retention rates, and a variety of other factors.”
Administrators maintain that the growing freshman class is not part of a larger plan to increase undergraduate enrollment.
“The rise in application numbers can be attributed to a number of factors,” Truschke said. “First and foremost, the educational environment at Seaver is desirable to a large population of students. Rigorous academics, Christian mission, emphasis on study abroad, a diverse co-curricular offering and location are the broad categories contributing to Seaver’s national reputation.”
Recently, some have begun to speculate if there is a larger goal of increasing the population of Seaver College while decreasing enrollment in the four graduate schools.
In an email to the faculty in August, Seaver Dean Rick Marrs attached two documents outlining his vision and strategic plans for Seaver’s future. Marrs’ vision is simple: To apply academic excellence fully engaged with the Christian mission.
According to Marrs, this means examining Seaver’s “brand” to compete with secular universities in America. In “Seaver 2020: In Pursuit of Excellence,” the plans become more specific and are clearly outlined in five succinct goals. Each of Pepperdine’s five schools was tasked with drafting school-specific strategic plans for approval in 2010.
The goals are called “lofty but attainable.” Marrs connected these goals to an image of Pepperdine claiming the next “hill” in higher education, the one of “superb academics and Christian faith.”
“Among the five schools of Pepperdine, Seaver College is most strategically positioned to claim this hill, given the composition and vision of its faculty, staff, and students,” Marrs wrote.
“Seaver has the opportunity and potential to claim a place currently unclaimed in higher education in the United States – providing a first-class academic experience that fully engages the intellectual and ethical greatness of the Christian message.”
While the email seems to suggest a preference of the administration towards the success of Seaver College, Provost Darryl Tippens denies any correlation between the increase in the Seaver College population and changes of enrollment in the other five schools.
“Our enrollment at Seaver is primarily the result of an improved ‘capture’ rate, as I understand it,” Tippens wrote. “In other words, a greater number of applicants who applied to Seaver accepted our invitation. The increased enrollment is primarily the result of a growing reputation, the sheer desirability of receiving an education at Seaver.”
Tippens does, however, acknowledge that increases in enrollment would result in changes in both faculty and housing.
“We continue to study the question of the proper size of the student body,” Tippens said. “It’s a fair question, as our reputation grows and as more students seek a Seaver degree. No decision has been made to increase the size of the school, but it is a question we intend to research and evaluate.
“If we grow, it’s almost certain that the faculty size will grow as well. We already have plans to increase student housing—plans for a ‘junior’ residence hall, for example, are in the planning stages.”
Truschke said graduation rates and retention are the two driving factors for how many new students enroll each new term. Retention rates have also excelled compared to previous years. Pepperdine’s Educational Effectiveness Review, submitted to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, showed Seaver’s retention rate at 93 percent in fall 2010.
“In fact, the class of 2012 represents the largest graduating class Seaver has had over the past 8 years,” Truschke said.
While the growth is not necessarily intentional on behalf of the administration, Pepperdine’s reputation continues to attract a large pool of applicants each year.
