Campus Update

 Jan. 22, 2018

Dear Colleagues:

As we begin a new semester, 2018 has promise to be a meaningful and positive year for Messiah College. We continue to make encouraging strides with student recruitment, fundraising and significantly enhancing our campus facilities and academic programs—at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Next week, it will be my privilege to highlight for the board of trustees, at their annual winter meeting, many of the outstanding achievements occurring across our educational and administrative divisions. And I look forward to sharing with you the outcomes of our key conversations with trustees later next month. In the interim, I’d like to provide information about enrollment, giving, campus news and an update on the status of our campus prioritization efforts.

Enrollment and budget update

Spring 2018 undergraduate enrollment:  Early fall-to-spring retention projections demonstrate potential improvement over last year’s concerning mid-year reduction in continuing student enrollment. Additionally, we anticipate enrolling 40 new and transfer students in February. With 2,614 total students currently registered for spring, we will be very close to this year’s FFTE target.

Fall 2018 (FY19) undergraduate enrollment: There is much to celebrate to date on a strong fall recruitment season:

• Per the chart below, we are currently running ahead of our prior four-year average in all major recruitment categories.
• Recruitment activity for underrepresented students continues to be strong, with application numbers running similar to fall 2017 and early deposits at 24 (compared to 21 deposits last year).
• Early deposits have been running 20 percent ahead of the average from the last four years.
• The academic profile of this incoming class is currently comparable to fall 2017.
• The enrollment management team continues to monitor financial aid discount rates which have increased due to the higher financial need of our students. Additionally, the finance office is assessing the overall impact that projected higher expenditures in aid will have on net tuition revenue and making necessary adjustments to the budget model.

After a busy fall that included enhancements to our Open House opening program, our five fall semester admissions events attracted 799 students and 2,443 total guests to campus this year, which compares favorably to our record attendance last fall. Current recruitment emphases are now focused on inviting students to participate in our scholarship days, contacting families to answer questions about financial aid packages, and encouraging students to attend one of our Accepted Student Preview Days. We are placing a special focus on helping students and their parents to understand the long-term value and investment of a Messiah education as we promote our distinctives and alumni outcomes.

Jan. 18, 2018
First-year Students	Fall 2018	% to goal	Goal	Previous four-year average to date
Inquiries	36,169	121%	30,000	28,001
Applications	2,249	87%	2,600	2,208
Acceptances	1,643	82%	2,000	1,602
Active Deposits	259	38%	675	221
Transfer Applications	110	38%	288	99
Acceptances	55	29%	191	41
Active Deposits	11	12%	90	5

Graduate enrollment: Driven by the addition of our first cohort of students in our new Master of Occupational Therapy (MOT) program, graduate enrollment continues to grow. Graduate enrollment is at 696, compared to 648 students a year ago (+48).  Additionally, we have reached 87 percent of the credit hours budgeted for the current fiscal year, and are on target to meet the overall graduate credit hour goal for FY18. Compared to last year at this time, we have:

•  9 more new students (252 this year versus 243 last year);
• 48 more unduplicated students (696 this year versus 648 last year);
• 1,256 more credit hours (8,597 this year versus 7,341 last year).

 Giving update

Fundraising for FY18 continues to progress. Giving is trending ahead compared to January 2017 when we were at $5,467,973 for gifts received and $826,909 for the Messiah Fund/Operating.

Gifts Received                            Messiah Fund/Operating                    Gifts Received and New Pledges

Jan. 18, 2018                                  Jan. 18, 2018                                                  Jan. 18, 2018

$ 6,643,290                                     $ 1,044,352                                                    $ 11,683,290

111% of 6/30/18 goal                70% of 6/30/18  goal                               106% of 6/30/18 goal

of $ 6 million                                of $1.5 million                                              of $ 11 million

We have several priority projects we are currently focusing on in the Development Office:

Endowment matching challenge: Based on the ongoing success of recent endowment matching challenges, the board of trustees continues to authorize these effective initiatives, including Endowment Challenge #6 (the most recent). For every new scholarship endowment commitment we secure before June 30, 2018, funds have been set aside to match the new endowment “dollar-for-dollar” up to $500,000. We have raised $360,000 toward our goal.

The Messiah Fund: Each year, we seek to raise significant dollars for the Messiah Fund, which helps bridge the gap in the College’s operational budget—funding needs such as scholarship aid, academic equipment and other vital aspects of student programming—after tuition revenue and restricted gifts have been depleted. We are grateful for strong calendar year-end support for the Messiah Fund, including key gifts from trustees. In order for us to reach the $1.5 million goal, we will require the support of all of our donors, including trustees, employees, alumni, parents and friends. We are looking forward to Giving Day 2018, which will be held on February 13, and will provide support for the Messiah Fund as well as other operating funds.

 Prioritization decisions

In my November 2017 update regarding our campus prioritization efforts, I shared that the Educational Area Program Task Force and the Administrative Support Area Task Force had submitted their cost savings recommendations for review by the Prioritization Steering Committee and President’s Cabinet.

I am pleased to report that, thanks to the diligent work of the task forces and all those who contributed to their research and analysis, we are on track to meet our $1.8 million institutional prioritization financial target.  I am deeply grateful to the many campus colleagues who have given significant time and input to this important initiative. Click here to read a summary of the specific campus savings decisions that have been approved to date, along with next steps in our prioritization process.

(Read the original April 2017 prioritization communique.)

Good news about Messiah College

Here is a sample of some recent highlights about the success of Messiah College’s programs and people. For more details visit messiah.edu/news, Messiah’s official Facebook page at facebook.com/MessiahCollege and the Bridge magazine www.messiah.edu/the_Bridge  (the source sites for many of the below news items).

• The Wall Street Journal ranks Messiah College #2 for student engagement in the northeastern U.S. in the 2018 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings, released on Jan. 3. The ranking is based on the results of a national survey of students, which measures students’ “interactions with faculty and other students, the effectiveness of teaching and whether students would recommend their school. Engagement also takes into account the breadth of subjects colleges offer.” Brown University was ranked in first position, and Messiah College tied with Cornell University at #2. Messiah was the only Christian college recognized in the Top 10.

• Todd Allen, special assistant to the president and provost for diversity affairs, was featured in the Jan. 9 issue of Diverse Issues in Higher Education, in the article “Aligning Faith with Diversity.” He was interviewed about his role at Messiah, working with senior leadership to implement and actualize the goals of the College’s strategic diversity initiative and its institutional commitment to inclusive excellence. The article also features his foundational and continuing work with the Returning to the Roots of Civil Rights Bus Tour. Read the full article.

• Congratulations to Director of Sustainability Brandon Hoover and the Sustainability Committee for completing Messiah College’s first application for the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) through the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). Messiah was recognized as a STARS Bronze Institution based on its accomplishments and measurable outcomes in campus sustainability.

• Messiah College’s Graduate Program in Counseling recently received two national recognitions:
  • BestCounselingDegrees.net has named Messiah’s M.A. in counseling, mental health track #13 in its Top 25 “Most Affordable Online Masters in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Degree Programs” in the U.S. The ranking considers both accreditation and tuition criteria.
  • Collegechoice.net has named Messiah College as a 2018 “Best Online Master’s in School Counseling Degree,” recognizing Messiah as #26 in the U.S., based on data including academic reputation, retention, student satisfaction, affordability and return on investment.

 Athletic Highlights

Below are some highlights since my last update from Messiah Athletics. Visit www.GoMessiah.com the source for the stories below and for the Falcons’ latest scores, announcements and the full slate of team-specific news.

• Messiah men’s soccer finished the 2017 season as the NCAA Division III National Champion!
  • This was the Falcons’ 11th title in program history, and the 28th Division III championship in College history.
  • Of note, Messiah men’s soccer is now 11-for-11 in national title game appearances.
  • Head coach Brad McCarty and staff was named the United Soccer Coaches Coach and Staff of the Year.
  • Kirby Robbins, Dakota Rosenberg, and Colby Thomas all earned All-American honors.
• National rankings update as of Jan. 17, 2018:
  • Messiah women’s basketball – No. 21 (WBCA)
  • Messiah wrestling – No. 11 (NWCA)
• Messiah field hockey finished the 2017 season as the NCAA Division III National Runner-Up!
  • The Falcons’ incredible two-year run finished with a record of 44-2, with a 44-game win streak that included the 2016 Division III National Championship and a qualification to the 2017 national title game.
  • Carissa Gehman, Kristin Donohue and Shayna Landis all earned All-American honors.
  • Head coach Brooke Good and staff was named the South Atlantic Region Coach and Staff of the Year.
• Other notable news from the 2017 fall sports season:
  • Messiah women’s soccer advanced to the NCAA Division III Elite 8 where they came close to knocking off No. 1-ranked TCNJ. DJ Cole and Brooke Firestone were named All-Americans.
  • Messiah women’s volleyball player Mary Underman was named AVCA All-American.
  • 99 Messiah fall student-athletes were named to the 2017 MAC Academic Honor Roll.
• Messiah women’s basketball player Alecia Rohrer was named the WBCA National Player of the Week for the week of Jan. 1-8, 2018.
• Messiah women’s basketball is currently 14-2 with a 6-1 record in the MAC Commonwealth. The Falcons opened the season with nine straight wins.
• Messiah wrestling is 13-4 overall, and they most recently won the Budd Whitehill Duals, hosted by Lycoming College, for a fifth time in five years.
• Messiah men’s basketball is 9-6 overall with a 4-3 record in the MAC Commonwealth.
• Messiah women’s swimming is 5-6 overall with a 5-1 record in the MAC.
• Messiah men’s swimming is 6-5 overall with a 4-2 record in the MAC.

 In closing

I hope that your new year is off to a positive start. Please be encouraged knowing that your contributions to the Messiah College community make a difference in the lives of our students.

Warm regards,

 Kim S. Phipps

President