enrollment growth

Mason pilots eight local high school partnerships for university-managed Direct Admissions Program

Colleen Rich — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 19:28:12 +0000

Mason pilots eight local high school partnerships for university-managed Direct Admissions Program Colleen Rich Mon, 10/23/2023 - 15:28

��AV announced the first series of direct admissions partnerships with eight Northern Virginia high schools. The goal of the pilot is to directly reach students who are academically eligible to Mason but may be experiencing challenges in pursuing higher education.

Wilkins Plaza on the Fairfax Campus. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Office of University Branding

More than 1,100 eligible (3.25 GPA or higher) students from partner high schools in Fairfax County, Alexandria, Manassas, and Manassas Park were emailed admission eligibility offers directly from Mason, waiving requirements for application fees, teacher recommendations, and essays. Mason has also offered direct admissions to thousands of students through the Common App Direct Admissions Program.

The first year Mason offered direct admission through the Common App was in January 2022 to 2,000 students. Of those offered, 232 students accepted and applied for fall 2022, 39 students submitted deposits, and 32 enrolled. Of those, 59% were underrepresented minorities, 37% were first generation, and 20% were residents of rural communities. Their collective GPA was 3.65. The top five majors for those students were computer science, engineering, biology, cybersecurity, and neuroscience.

“Mason’s longstanding commitment to achieve inclusive excellence has paved the way for more students to consider and enter college,” said David Burge, Mason’s vice president for enrollment management. “While colleges around the country are just starting their direct admissions programs to counter declining enrollments, Mason historically has eliminated barriers to higher education through partnerships and several pathway programs, like our multifaced approach to direct admissions.”

Direct admissions is one of many programs that Mason has in place to engage potential students, along with the Early Identification Program, local partnerships with K-12 schools, and the ADVANCE partnership with Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). ADVANCE had another record-breaking enrollment period, with 938 new students, a 5% increase from last year. Mason also has entered into transfer partnerships with Germanna, Tidewater, and Piedmont Virginia community colleges through the Mason Virginia Promise.

This fall, Mason became the first public university in the state to top 40,000 students. A record 16.5% of Virginia high school seniors applied to Mason, and 28% of freshmen entered with a 4.0 GPA or higher, while 71% entered with a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

In This Story

David Burge, MSE

College of Engineering and Computing hits new enrollment high

Martha Bushong — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 23:05:17 +0000

College of Engineering and Computing hits new enrollment high Martha Bushong Thu, 08/31/2023 - 19:05

In This Story

Kenneth Ball

Learn More About the College

Hear From Some of Our Students

Peaking at an all-time high of 40,000 students, ��AV is the largest public research university in Virginia and nearly one-third of those students are enrolled in the College of Engineering and Computing.

Our strong academic programs in CEC are recognized worldwide; we will enroll more than 3,000 students in CEC graduate studies in 2023 and nearly 8,000 undergraduates. As the plans for an expanded presence at Mason Square take shape, many students are taking classes in Arlington. The college reported on September 13 that 332 students were enrolled in courses at Mason Square. The course offerings at will be from an array of departments and programs.

“This record enrollment demonstrates the continued value and relevance of engineering and computing and offers a testament to CEC’s commitment to preparing students for the workforce of the future,” said Dean Ken Ball. The college’s growth has led to a ranking of #82 by U.S. News & World Report and its NSF research funding stands at #56 among public universities. This year its research awards also hit a record high of $116M.

As the university ramps up its presence in Arlington at Mason Square, the College will expand its footprint with a new data visualization lab and collaborative spaces in Van Metre Hall. Construction continues on Mason Square’s newest building, Fuse, which is scheduled to “top out” in November.

Fuse will be home to Mason’s Institute for Digital Innovation, and laboratories to support research in robotics, cybersecurity, AI, human-machine partnerships, quantum, digital arts, peace engineering, and the intersection of public policy and law with digital innovation. Fuse will also house new classrooms and learning labs to support the additional CEC students who will study at Mason Square, as well as space for collaboration with industry, government partners, and entrepreneurs.

Further south at the SciTech Campus the Life Sciences and Engineering Building will include labs for mechanical engineering, soft tissue engineering, and robotics. Currently, our SciTech Campus is the site for cutting-edge research in biofilm nanotechnology, used in medical applications.

Our faculty research teams receive millions of dollars of grant funding from institutions like the National Science Foundation, the U.S. military, and the National Institute of Health, for their innovative work in everything from apps, to bruise imaging, making the world a better place through the feats of engineering and computing at all levels.

We are a part of something big.

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Fuse at Mason Square

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Campus News

Mason one of 28 schools leading the way by admitting and graduating low-income, high-achieving students

Colleen Rich — Fri, 26 May 2023 17:03:38 +0000

Mason one of 28 schools leading the way by admitting and graduating low-income, high-achieving students Colleen Rich Fri, 05/26/2023 - 13:03

��AV has earned the American Talent Initiative (ATI) High-Flier distinction as one of 28 colleges or universities that provide “transformative leadership in college access and success for lower-income students, serving as a model for colleges and universities across the country.”

Mason graduates at Spring Commencement 2023. Photo by Ron Aira/Office of University Branding

Mason is the only Virginia university to receive the honor, announced Tuesday by Bloomberg Philanthropies. Among the criteria were Mason serving students who receive Pell Grants and innovative recruitment, enrollment and retention practices that ATI will highlight to other four-year colleges and universities.

About 29% of Mason students qualify for federal Pell Grants because of financial need. The press release about the High-Flier recognition notes that since joining the ATI in 2019, Mason has “maintained one of the highest Pell shares among its 137 peers.”

“We share the urgency of ATI’s mission to prioritize access and outcomes,” Mason President Gregory Washington said. “We must provide opportunities for students of all backgrounds and then work with them so they graduate poised for success. It’s not just about getting them in, it’s about getting them out.”

The 28 high-flier universities include institutions of varying sizes, among them Princeton, Yale, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, the University of Michigan and the University of Texas.

The ADVANCE partnership with Northern Virginia Community College, the Mason Virginia Promise (and MVP Grant), and the Early Identification Program are among Mason initiatives that support enrolling and graduating students from low-income families and closing equity-based retention and graduation disparities.

“George Mason has worked hard to achieve these outcomes for students, and we are launching new programs to enhance these efforts, such as Direct Admission, where we partner with area high schools to offer admission to qualified students without a formal application,” said David Burge, Mason vice president for enrollment management. “The High-Flier recognition from ATI is further validation that Mason is a bridge of opportunity that connects potential with academic and career success.”

In 2021, ATI cited Mason for growing its number of Pell Grant-receiving students by the fifth-largest total in the country over a five-year period. ATI is a partnership among Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program and Ithaka S+R.

"The economic fallout from the pandemic has made it even more important for schools across the country to adopt innovative new ways to attract and retain students from under-represented backgrounds," said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg LP and Bloomberg Philanthropies and 108th mayor of New York City, in the High-Flier press release.

“I applaud ATI's 28 High-Fliers for leading the way in this work and increasing the diversity of their campuses,” Bloomberg continued. “We hope their efforts serve as an example for other schools that are committed to creating opportunity for more lower-income students, so we can accelerate national progress on this critical challenge.”

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inclusive excellence

enrollment growth

Strategic Direction

Increased research awards, positive career outcomes and increased enrollment for Fall 2023 shared at May 4 BOV meeting

Colleen Rich — Mon, 15 May 2023 13:42:23 +0000

Increased research awards, positive career outcomes and increased enrollment for Fall 2023 shared at May 4 BOV meeting Colleen Rich Mon, 05/15/2023 - 09:42

��AV is seeing a steady increase in research awards, fall enrollment numbers and in its number of graduates, based on reports to the Board of Visitors at their May 4 meeting.

The value of awards to ��AV researchers is up 35% from this time last year, “a leading indicator for continued long-term growth for our research expenditures,” Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Economic Impact Andre Marshall reported at the BOV research committee meeting.

Through three quarters of the 2022-23 fiscal year, the value of awards has climbed to $200 million, up from $147.9 at this point last year. The value of proposals of $536.6 million is up from $488.4 million, and the number of proposals has increased to 972 from 950.

A majority of the board approved a $300 tuition increase that would be rolled back for in-state undergraduates if state leaders approve Mason’s budget requests. The BOV will approve an amended budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year once Virginia finalizes its spending plan. The BOV committee and full board meetings were livestreamed on GMU-TV. Complete meeting materials can be found here.

Also included in the meeting was the presentation of the annual Jack Wood Awards for Town-Gown Relations.

Provost Mark Ginsberg, in his report to the Academic Programs, Diversity and University Community committee, outlined good news about Mason alumni, students about to graduate, and students headed to Mason this fall.

A Mason Career Plans Survey found that 87% of Class of 2022 graduates reported a positive career outcome and that 86% of graduates are employed in Virginia, Maryland, or the District of Columbia, “which is a testament to the economic impact of our university on our community,” Ginsberg said. Survey respondents report a median salary of $72,000.

Ginsberg noted that Mason is on track this spring to graduate its largest class in its history, with nearly 11,000 students earning degrees and certificates. Area employers are eager to hire them as well. About 100 employers are expected at the 2023 Just-in-Time Hiring Fair on May 22 in Dewberry Hall.

“This is an event that other universities do not do this late in the season,” said Saskia Campbell, executive director of University Career Services. “It is because we have such high demand from our employers and graduates that we are able to host an event that late in the season. The indicators are very good.”

And on May 1, Mason had its largest number ever of prospective incoming students making deposits to attend the university, up about 320 from last May. Fall enrollment also is ahead of May 2022.

“We anticipate, if all things come as we expect, we will have the largest incoming class the university has ever had in our history this fall,” Ginsberg said. “We are clearly an outlier in the most positive of ways.”

He also gave an update to the board about plans for a medical school for Mason, sharing three possible pathways that venture could take.

The BOV continued its May tradition of honoring graduates from the university’s Early Identification Program, which works with Northern Virginia middle and high schools to find economically disadvantaged scholars and provide pathways for those students to become the first members of their family to attend college and earn a degree.

The BOV this year saluted 23 graduating EIP students, including criminology, law and society major and Honors College student Noel Quezada, who shortly after graduation will be commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. EIP Director Khaseem Davis said the program also is celebrating 120 high school graduates in EIP.

“I can't imagine my life without this one-of-a-kind program made up of the most sincere hearts,” Quezada said in his remarks to the board. “As EIP alumni, we will be ever indebted to the program and the opportunity this has given our families and [it’s] given us a place we can call our second home.”

“It is always good to have a reminder of why we are here and what is important,” Mason President Gregory Washington said. “Every time one of our students gets up and speaks, it becomes very clear what the purpose of all of this is and quite frankly you just want to make sure they have everything that they need and deserve in order to be successful.”

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Board of Visitors

Early Identification Program (EIP)

Jack Wood Award for Town Gown Relations

enrollment growth

Strategic Direction

��AV sees a .9 percent increase in undergraduate enrollment for Fall 2022

Colleen Rich — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 12:54:54 +0000

��AV sees a .9 percent increase in undergraduate enrollment for Fall 2022 Colleen Rich Mon, 10/03/2022 - 08:54

Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

Bucking a statewide trend of declining college enrollment, ��AV, a top 10 public university for diversity, innovation, and cybersecurity, welcomed its largest and most diverse freshman class in school history for the Fall 2022 semester.

Enrollment figures released by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) reaffirm Mason’s status as Virginia’s largest public university, with 39,510 students enrolling at Mason, an overall increase of 368 students. Statewide, public university student enrollment dropped slightly from 221,946 in the fall of 2021 to 220,466 in fall 2022.

Mason’s nearly 7,000 total new undergraduate students included 4,156 first-time freshmen and 2,781 transfer students. They collectively accounted for a 3.5% increase in freshmen students, a .9% increase in undergraduate enrollment overall. Mason also saw a 1.1% increase in graduate enrollment from the previous year, with 3,502 new graduate students.

More than 63% of incoming freshmen identify as being of a racial or ethnic minority or an international student, up from 57% from a year ago.

“Mason’s consistent enrollment growth is a true testament to the strength and rigor of our academic programs and faculty, and, importantly, the role that Mason plays in the nation’s capital and a thriving Northern Virginia economy by providing access and providing the generation of talent for the region,” Provost Mark Ginsberg said.

The top majors for the incoming freshmen included computer science, business, cybersecurity, information technology, and nursing.

The increase shows the value of a Mason education at a time when college enrollment numbers are dropping across Virginia and nationally. Mason has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the state’s most diverse and innovative university. Other rankings rank Mason No. 1 in the nation for veterans and No. 2 among public universities for nontraditional students.

“This record enrollment is not new for us. In the last 20 years, Mason has grown its enrollment every year except for two,” said David Burge, Mason’s vice president for enrollment management. “Despite this growth, the Mason Virginia Promise, now needed more than ever, is helping ensure families access to education and future career successes, especially the nearly one-third of Mason’s incoming class who are first-generation college students.”

Mason’s freshman Class of 2026 accounted for the highest averages in terms of GPA and SAT scores (3.8 GPA, 1240 SAT) and represented 45 different states and U.S. territories and 48 countries. The majority of incoming freshmen were students of color, with Asian students accounting for nearly 25% of the class, followed by Hispanic students (14.1%) and Black students (13.8%). Nearly half (48%) of Mason’s incoming freshmen are females.

Editor's note: The numbers in this story have been updated.

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Campus News

Admissions

enrollment growth

diversity equity and inclusion DEI

Mason posts strong enrollment numbers for Fall 2021

Colleen Rich — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 17:53:03 +0000

Mason posts strong enrollment numbers for Fall 2021 Colleen Rich Wed, 09/29/2021 - 13:53

Mason students on Wilkins Plaza at the Get Connected student activities fair at the start of the fall semester 2021. Photo by Evan Cantwell/Creative Services

��AV welcomed its largest freshman class for the Fall 2021 semester, which was part of the largest-ever entry of new degree-seeking undergraduates.

The 6,864 new students included 4,016 first-time freshmen and 2,848 transfer students.

Fifty-seven percent of incoming freshmen identify as being of a racial or ethnic minority, up from 55% in 2020.

U.S. News & World Report has consistently ranked Mason as Virginia’s most diverse and innovative university.

“It’s a real good-news story,” David Burge, Mason’s vice president for enrollment management, said of the enrollment numbers. “And that’s not what everybody is experiencing.”

The Antonin Scalia Law School saw new enrollment grow to 348 students, compared to 198 in Fall 2016. Mason Korea’s 519 new students increased by 28 over Fall 2020.

Overall, the university’s enrollment increased slightly to 39,143.

“What it says is the university’s growth is related to the growth in the quality, and the growth in esteem for the experience that our students have, which is an inspiring and engaging experience that helps them grow, develop and succeed in their career and their life,” Provost Mark Ginsberg said.

Bringing in a record-breaking freshman class was a university-wide success story, Burge said.

“There were hundreds of people from the academic units to the central administration to communications and marketing who helped us change everything,” he said.

That included creating virtual tours of the campus and virtual orientations so that prospective students who might not have visited Mason we able to get a look at and feel for the university.

Mason also rapidly expanded its virtual academic programs, Burge said, providing students options for different learning environments.

The university also mounted an aggressive response to the pandemic, which has kept COVID-19 cases among students, faculty and staff very low—an important selling point, Burge said.

More than 90% of students and employees are vaccinated. There is also an indoor mask mandate and free on-campus testing, all of which has allowed Mason to also offer a full campus experience of in-person classes, services and events.

“We decided as a central messaging point that we would make the case that the way universities respond to their students in times of crisis is an exemplar of how they would care for students while not in crisis,” Burge said. “We wanted to say, ‘Here’s how we’re caring for our students.’ ”

There are challenges ahead when it comes to continued enrollment growth, he said.

Though the Fall 2021 freshman class includes students from 46 states (as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam), and 36 foreign countries, 60% of the class is from Northern Virginia. Another 20% is from other parts of the state.

Competition for students in Northern Virginia and the greater National Capital Region is fierce, Burge said, and overall high school graduations are expected to take a sharp decline after 2025.

The good news, he said, is that more local students are considering Mason as a first choice.

“This particular freshman class is coming in with high expectations for Mason,” Burge said. “They are going to hold us accountable for providing a high-quality education, which they were promised and expect. I think that’s a wonderful thing for us.”

Editor's note: The final fall enrollment number has been updated from 39,134 to 39,143.

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Admissions

Increased Pell Grant student enrollment exemplifies Mason’s commitment to access

Colleen Rich — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 18:12:09 +0000

Increased Pell Grant student enrollment exemplifies Mason’s commitment to access Colleen Rich Wed, 07/07/2021 - 14:12

��AV grew its number of Pell Grant-receiving students by the fifth-largest total in the country over the past five years, the American Talent Initiative announced last week in a progress report that tracks enrollment of lower-income students at the ATI’s 130 member institutions.

Between Fall 2015 and Fall 2019, Mason increased Pell enrollment by 1,303 students. Mason also was one of only 31 ATI institutions to increase its number of Pell recipients in Fall 2020 amid the pandemic. Pell Grants support students in exceptional financial need.

“Expanding opportunity for students from underserved communities is fundamental to ��AV’s mission as the largest and most diverse university in Virginia,” Mason President Gregory Washington said. “We are successfully identifying and developing talent and in turn boosting the economic mobility of our graduates to the great benefit of our region and state workforce.”

The report from the ATI, a group of four-year colleges and universities with six-year graduation rates of 70% or higher who have committed to advancing equity in college enrollment, noted that Mason, the University of California–Merced, the University of Michigan, the University of Illinois, and the University of California–San Diego each increased their Pell enrollments by 1,300 to 1,500 students between 2015 and 2019. The sixth university on the list enrolled fewer than 900 additional Pell-eligible students.

The ATI, formed in 2016, set a goal to enroll an additional 50,000 lower-income students by 2025. COVID-era declines, however, have nearly returned Pell enrollment among ATI members to 2015-16 levels, the report states. Mason is an exception. According to university figures, Pell students grew to 7,825 in Fall 2020 from 7,633 in Fall 2019.

“Mason has long served students largely blocked out of other institutions of higher learning—whether through ultra-selective admission standards or prohibitive costs,” said David Burge, Mason vice president for enrollment management. “These students are welcomed here and are incredibly successful.”

The ATI previously recognized Mason for its transfer pipeline closing equity gaps in degree attainment. This latest recognition highlights Mason’s role as a state leader in access to higher education for lower-income students. According to Fall 2019 data from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, 31.8% of Mason’s undergraduates received Pell Grants, which is more than the state average of 26.6% for public four-year institutions. It is also more than double the percentage of Pell-eligible undergraduates at William & Mary (12.4%), the University of Virginia (13.9%), Virginia Tech (14.7%) and James Madison University (14.7%).