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INDIANOLA, Iowa — Enrollment numbers look good for Simpson College, but there is concern for all higher education as demographics are changing.

A recent study cited a possible nationwide drop-off in the number of students going to college. It’s referred to as “the cliff,” in terms of dropping numbers. The cause in less births in the great recession of 2007 and 2008.

A study by the Iowa Department of Education shows less students going on to college after high school. The study says in part:

“57.7 percent of Class of 2023 Iowa public high school graduates enrolled in postsecondary education in the fall immediately following high school graduation. This is a decrease of 0.6 percentage points from the Class of 2022’s enrollment rate of 58.3 percent.”

At Simpson the incoming freshmen class was up 11% to 423 students. The undergraduate enrollment was up 9% to a total of 1,200 students. The reason is that Simpson has created new scholarships, along with traditional student aid, to make it possible for more students to attend.

“So we rolled out two full tuition and scholarship programs, one being in the 100K program for students and families that had adjusted gross income under $100,000 to get free tuition and the other being in a 99 county full-tuition program, where we offered full-tuition to one student from each of Iowa’s 99 counties,” said Leigh Mlodzik, Simpson Vice President of Enrollment.

“It’s actually the first year that we went up to $100,000, so the Simpson Promise Program was originally started in 2018 and the gross income cut off was $60,000.” 

Mlodzik said due to the applications, they knew their numbers would be higher this fall, and he said that even caused the campus housing to be “a little tight.”

Students on campus said they appreciate the financial help, but there are other reasons why they chose Simpson.

“I was already kind of sold here based off the speech of team,” said Aaron Harndon, a freshman. It’s a great team here on Simpson and it’s nationally known so it’s very a known program here and very welcoming community here overall, I really was persuaded by the professors that I would be joining and the great community here.”

“It was kind of a promising you know that I was like, I can come here try and pursue academics is the big thing, and then have Simpson cover as much as they could for me,” said Johnny Amina, from North Cedar Iowa. “To be here was kind of like home feel for that.”

Money for the Simpson Promise Scholarships was provided by some very generous Simpson alums, according to Mlodzik.

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