While there were more applicants, admissions accepted fewer students
The admissions office has announced that the class of 2023 is between 200 and 300 students smaller than its preceding class, a significant decrease in population.
Factors such as class size and housing greatly influenced the decision to accept fewer students, according Lindsey Steller, the assistant director of admissions.
“(We did it) intentionally. Just to make sure that we can still give students the best experience,” Steller said. “We recognized that last year housing was a little bit tighter, and things here (at the Admissions Office) were a little bit tighter, so we just wanted make sure that we’re staying true to our mission of supporting students, and before we continue to grow, we just need to make sure we have some things in place, make sure that all that’s going to be good for the students.”
Steller added that the number of applicants for the class of 2023 was even larger than that of the previous year.
“We’re continuing to grow in that aspect,” she said, “it is just making sure we don’t grow too quickly.”
The decision to accept fewer students has affected multiple grade levels. For one, the housing situation has changed.
“The housing process was much easier this year, since there weren’t so many people,” sophomore biology major Jake Owens said.
This differs from last year’s inability to house many incoming students.
Many first-year students reported having little or no difficulty with the initial housing assignments, and noted satisfaction with their class sizes.
“I love how small my classes are,” first-year social work major Abigail Evans said. “That’s why I wanted to come to Xavier in the first place. I wouldn’t like if there were 300 more people distributed throughout the class, though.”
Many students agree the unique feeling of community a mid-size college like Xavier can achieve was an important factor influencing their decision to attend.
“I believe Xavier was built to be a mid-size university with a tight-knit community, and as they bring up enrollment and take on the biggest class that Xavier has ever had, they can’t keep upping that because the part of Xavier that people are really drawn to is the community and tight-knit feel,” first-year English major Molly Hulligan said.
However, some students are still experiencing the negative effects of last year’s class size. Geno Griffith, a ‘15 graduate and current education graduate student, spoke about the problematic situations Xavier’s overall growth has caused.
“The programs have increased from an academic standpoint. Numbers look good as far as graduation rates,” Griffith said. “But with that, I notice some things have changed, like… learning center accommodations and services provided to grad students, policy and procedures for grad students to be on campus have changed, in terms of access to technology.”
A disproportionate growth in undergraduates is linked to lack of services available to current graduate students, and Griffith believes that the decrease in size of this year’s admitted class will help to reconcile some of the problems previous growth has created.
The reduction of admitted first-year students has begun to resolve many issues experienced by the Class of 2022. Class size, housing and college community remain important factors to applying students, and many feel that a smaller Class of 2023 has helped to keep those factors at Xavier’s highest standard.
The official Xavier census numbers for the Class of 2023 will be released in October.
By Mo Juenger | Guest Writer
photo courtesy of xavier.edu