On the RISE

THREE RIVERS AREA — Despite the economic downturn, record-breaking enrollment numbers at private colleges continue to rise.

Lyon College in Batesville is seeing the highest enrollment number this fall in its 137-year history. Recent freshman enrollment has more than doubled last year's numbers. Enrollment usually hovers around the low-to mid-hundreds, but this year, it is more than 215 and still rising.

"That's significant," said Tim Bruner, vice president of institutional advancement at Lyon College. "This is the largest freshman class we've ever had."

Bruner attributes the higher numbers to better local recruiting, the caliber of the staff and building relationships with students.

"A large part of the credit goes to the enrollment services office, led by vice president David Heringer. He and his staff did an excellent job of recruiting students," said Bob Qualls, director of public relations and communications. "Another factor is the support of the Lyon College Board of Trustees, who funded a marketing initiative last year thathelped get the word out about Lyon's quality and value."

Although all the numbers aren't in at Harding University in Searcy, it has already proven to be another record year for enrollment.

"The number of students at Harding continues to increase because people believe in our mission," Harding President David Burks said. "I credit our total faculty and staff for their commitment and hard work to continually bring in more students. The University will have a record enrollment for the 23rd consecutive year, a very positive step in this economic climate."

Although many colleges are seeing nontraditional students going from the work force back into college, the record freshman enrollment consists mostly of traditional students who are coming straight from high school.

"Only very few would fall into that [nontraditional] category," said Glen Dillard, assistant vice president for enrollment management at Harding. "In more cases, a parent or family member has lost a job, so the family sees the importance for their child to earn a degree even morethan they might have before."

Private colleges are perceived to be much more expensive than state universities, but that hasn't inhibited new students from choosing them.

"Born and raised in Batesville, I never intended on going to Lyon," said Jon-Michael Poff, a freshman at Lyon. "In fact, my intentions were quite the opposite - I wanted to get away from Batesville; I wanted to go somewhere bigger. I had always desired to attend a large university. While such institutions certainly serve students, that wasn't where I would have thrived. In high school, I had very close relationships with all of my teachers, and I wanted the same thing in college. I did not want to be a number."

With 6,600 students, Harding is the largest private university between Nashville and Dallas and New Orleans and St. Louis.

"No doubt this has been a difficult year for many private universities in the area of enrollment," said James W. Carr, executive vice president of Harding University. "Value is the overriding theme in college selection this year - value being 'high quality at a fair price.' This will be the 23rd year in a row that Harding's enrollment has shown an increase."