In this segment of our monthly program Engaging the Community, we talk with Missouri State University President Clif Smart about a dip in enrollment related to the pandemic. You can play the interview by clicking the "Listen" button above.
Nationwide, more than 1 million fewer students are enrolled in college now than before the pandemic began.
"We managed through the first year [of the pandemic] reasonably well. And then we were down several hundred students fall of '21," said Smart.
When talking about enrollment, Smart said, you're really considering two elements: recruitment and retention.
And MSU's retention, he said, slipped during the pandemic.
"Virtual high school saw students disengage and, frankly, not learn very well. I think some of those students have struggled in college—particularly [during the] fall of '20 to spring of '21, where things were kind of hybrid and modified," Smart said.
That's when MSU's retention rate, looking at first-year to second-year students, dropped from 80% to 75%, he said.
"But I think things are looking good for the fall," Smart said.