Miami Archdiocesan university sets
commencement participation record, as enrollment rockets 50% in
five years, including a 99% rise for undergrads
MIAMI
GARDENS, Fla., May 3, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- St. Thomas University
(STU) will set a commencement participation record during three
celebration ceremonies, from May 8 to May
10, as the 64-year-old university's enrollment soars to a
new high.
Altogether, 939 students will participate in the commencements,
each starting at 10 a.m., at the
Fernandez Family Center for Leadership and Wellness on the
university's Miami Gardens campus.
Undergraduates (319) will walk May 8,
followed by graduate students (330, including 26 doctoral students)
May 9, and Benjamin L. Crump College of Law students (290)
will participate May 10.
St. Thomas University's spring
commencement participation record breaks an all-time high of just
over 930 participants in May 2022.
Meanwhile, more students are attending the university than at any
time since its 1961 founding, including the nursing program
reaching over 1,200 students compared with just 31 in 2016.
The university's fall 2023 enrollment has rocketed to 6,455
students, up 50% from 4,302 students in fall 2018. St. Thomas has
set five straight enrollment records from 2018 to 2023, driven
partly by a 99% increase in undergraduates – all since President
David A. Armstrong, J.D., took
office in August 2018.
This commencement season, St. Thomas also is celebrating several
recent achievements, including:
- more than 400,000 square feet of new facilities such as a new
student center, dining hall, turf fields, track, a dorm, and a
building for the Gus Machado College of Business.
- a tripling of on-campus housing, enough to serve more than 900
residents
- the April 2024 beginning of
construction of a new 545-bed dorm, including an additional dining
facility and eight bowling lanes, all due for completion for the
fall 2025 semester.
- the first team national championship in school history,
an NAIA crown for the Men's Swimming & Diving team, which
defeated Keiser University, winner of five consecutive national
championships.
- the addition of new academic programs, including
Applied Kinesiology, Ethical Leadership, Fashion Merchandising
& Design, and Culinary and Hospitality Management, and the
imminent creation of a state-of-the-art design center for the
fast-growing fashion bachelor's degree.
- the milestone of all undergraduate students receiving financial
aid from the university.
- the second-highest percentage of law school students passing
the bar exam in Florida.
- the athletic department reaching 32 teams, including the
additions of track and field, swimming and diving, and men's Rugby,
the April winner of the USA
Rugby-officiated Division I-AA state title.
St. Thomas University's enrollment
increases have come while American colleges and universities have
hemorrhaged more than 2.6 million students, decreasing 15% to 15.4
million from 18.1 million between fall 2010 and fall 2021, federal
statistics show. The pandemic exacerbated the enrollment
declines.
STU also is growing enrollment at a time when 56% of Americans
say that earning a four-year degree is a bad bet, according to a
recent survey by the University of
Chicago's NORC research institute and the Wall Street
Journal. The same survey found the highest skepticism among people
ages 18 to 34.
"It's no wonder why St. Thomas
University is bucking the trend of college enrollment
declines and convincing students of our value, as we steadily
become one of America's premier Catholic universities," President
Armstrong said. "Nearly 6,500 students have flocked here from 45
states and 65 countries because of the university's demonstrable
value-added education, from our intimate, enriching academic
setting to our new facilities and competitive athletic
opportunities."
About St. Thomas
University
St. Thomas
University (STU) is a private, non-profit Catholic
institution committed to the academic and professional success of
its students who become ethical leaders in our global community.
Rich with cultural and international diversity, STU is the only
Catholic, Archdiocesan university in Florida. On our beautiful
campus and online, the university's College of Health Sciences
& Technology, Benjamin L. Crump
College of Law, Gus Machado
College of Business, and Biscayne College for Liberal Arts
and Social Sciences offer 61 undergraduate, graduate, and
post-graduate degree programs. In 2020, STU launched our
Limitless five-year strategic plan, based on the pillars of
limitless Devotion, limitless Opportunities, and limitless Results.
The plan was conceived to provide students with a magical
collegiate experience that incorporates mentoring faculty,
character formation activities outside the classroom, and required
real-world experience before graduation.
Contact: Dan Axelrod | St. Thomas
University | daxelrod@stu.edu | 305.474.2418
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SOURCE St. Thomas University