Abnormally high yield rate makes the Class of 2025 the largest in the College’s history

President David Greene celebrated the opening of the academic year and welcomed the Class of 2025 to Mayflower Hill. He lauded the diversity of the incoming class, of which 37 percent identify as people of color and 11 percent as first-generation college students. As well as the most diverse, the first-year class is the largest in College history, which Greene shared in his Sep. 8 email. At 667 students, the Class of 2025 outnumbers the Class of 2024 by 90 students, an increase of more than 15 percent.

The size of the first-year class has caused concern throughout the student body. To accommodate the incoming students, the Office of Campus Life converted most doubles to triples, creating tight living spaces. It also forced first-years into quads, some of which cannot fit a desk for each resident. 

The housing situation has affected older students as well. This June, Dean of Students Barbara Moore informed rising juniors and seniors that they could apply to live off-campus — a practice the College normally restricts — as on-campus housing could not handle the number of students. Further enlarging the student body, many juniors and Global Entry Semester (GES) students remained on campus during the fall semester, a consequence of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

While the College’s housing situation best illustrates the effects of this year’s abnormally large student body, campus infrastructure as a whole has been overloaded. Parking, for example, is more limited than in past years.

All first years, as well as some sophomores, must park at an off-campus lot. Because the shuttle stops at these lots only a few times each week, reaching one’s car can be challenging.

The lack of parking also inconveniences students who live off campus. With only a few commuter spots in the Roberts and Mary Low lots, these students have had trouble finding parking, sometimes arriving late to class as a result.

Most alarmingly, the enrollment of so many first-year students seems unintentional. In her email, Moore explained that the College had the highest yield rate in its history.

“We had a dramatic increase in the percentage of admitted students who accepted Colby’s offer of admission this year over last year,” Moore said.

Many have wondered how the College failed to predict this increase, asking if it should have known that as the College becomes evermore competitive, the yield rate will naturally increase. Some have also asked if the College should have realized that many juniors would be unable to study abroad.

To better understand the College’s admissions process and long-term strategy, The Colby Echo had an email conversation with Assistant Vice President of Admissions and Financial Aid and Dean of Admissions Randi Arsenault `09. 

Arsenault explained that when deciding on the number of students to admit, the College consults many representatives from different departments.

“Representatives from several departments across campus meet regularly to review Colby’s enrollment trends, course registration data, housing needs, and transfer and study abroad projections to determine the optimal incoming first-year class size,” Arsenault said.

After considering this information, the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid then develops statistical models.

“The Office of Admissions and Financial Aid then utilizes several yield projection models to determine the appropriate number of students we need to admit to enroll the target number of students,” she said. 

Arsenault believes that a variety of factors caused the Class of 2025 to have an exceptionally high yield rate.

“These include but are not limited to Colby’s impressive community response to the challenges of a global pandemic; investments in new programs, facilities, and initiatives that are positioning Colby as even more of a first-choice school for the most talented students across the globe; and robust virtual programming and extensive outreach by our admissions and financial aid team last spring that provided an opportunity for admitted students to connect directly with members of our community in a variety of meaningful ways, even if they were not able to visit campus,” she said.

The incoming class’s unexpectedly high yield rate is not unique to the College. Admissions offices across the country have seen similar increases.

“Many colleges and universities like Colby experienced unexpected fluctuations in yield this year, likely related in some way to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Arsenault said.

Along with logistical factors, the College’s growing prestige has convinced many more students to accept its admissions offer.

“The demand for a Colby education has never been higher,” Arsenault said. The Office of Admissions and Financial Aid is currently reviewing its statistical models for the Class of 2026.

“As happens every year, we are currently in the process of reviewing our yield models to assess what adjustments need to be made for the coming enrollment cycle,” Arsenault said. 

As the effects of COVID-19 subside, the gradual return to normalcy may reduce the unexpected volatility in yield rates. The size of the Class of 2026 is, thankfully, unlikely to surprise the College’s administration.

~ Matt Rocha `23