Carey enrollment up 7 percent in 3 years

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) - William Carey University continues to buck a nation trend of declining college enrollment.

Across the country, undergraduate enrollment has dropped by more than four percent since 2020.

But at WCU over the last three years, enrollment has grown by more than seven percent, from 5,260 students in the fall of 2020 to 5,641 students this fall.

Big increases were seen in the fields of both education and nursing.

“We’re really aiming at our undergraduate, the traditional undergraduate population, to get them here on campus, to experience our brand new dorms that we have on campus,” said Ben Burnett, president of William Carey University. “To do that, we’ve rolled out a scholarship restructure that will take effect in the fall of 2023 for our undergraduate program. On average, we’re increasing scholarships by 40 percent.”

The student population at WCU has nearly doubled in the last ten years.

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