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ELKINS -- Davis & Elkins College, welcoming back students this weekend, can boast of its largest incoming freshman class in a decade, plus historic fundraising for its ongoing capital campaign.
More than 305 new students arrived at D&E for orientation on Thursday. The new Senators represent a 35.8% increase in new enrollment over 2022, and a 22% increase in new students since 2018.
"Throughout D&E, you see this campus moving forward with a sense of purpose, momentum and determination," D&E President Chris Wood said. "From our boost to student enrollment and engagement support for our critical capital investments, we recognized the challenges that many colleges similar to D&E in size, operation, and mission face. We collectively responded with a swell of positivity for this campus."
The current capital campaign aims to "create a dynamic living and learning community to enhance the student experience, noting an 88 percent increase in financial gifts to the college between 2022 and 2023," a D&E press release stated.
"Our priority for our most recent campaign is the total transformation of the residential and campus life experience here at D&E, and we see it working," Wood said. "We value the richness of place and the beauty of the natural world, and this campus experience must reflect that dynamic. Noting the corresponding increase in student enrollment as we invest, we know we're on the right track."
Earlier in the year, D&E was recognized by the global media company Forbes in an article titled "Forbes 2023 College Financial Grades: The Nation's Strongest And Weakest Schools."
The magazine reviewed the latest financial data from the National Center for Education Statistics for 906 private, not-for-profit colleges in the U.S.
The data covered colleges that enrolled at least 500 full-time students for the fiscal year that began in July 2020 and ended in June 2021, and that assessment resulted in a grade of "A" with a 4.07 GPA for D&E.