Total enrollment surpasses fall goals at CSB and SJU

Total enrollment at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University surpassed the fall 2017 enrollment goals set by both schools last spring.

The two schools together enrolled 3,621 first-year to senior students, as of the 10th day of studies Sept. 8. These students hail from 39 states and 21 countries.

CSB's enrollment this fall is 1,915 first-year to senior students. Undergraduate enrollment at SJU totaled 1,706 first-year to senior students.

New student enrollment totaled 519 at CSB and 465 at SJU for a combined first-year class of 984. The combined new enrollment at CSB and SJU this fall was 2 percent higher than last year's total, as both schools exceeded their first-year enrollment goals. The new class comes from 29 states and six countries.

The average ACT scores of new entering CSB students was unchanged from last year, with an average score of 25 on the test. The typical new CSB and SJU student earned an ACT score in the top 20 percent of all scores nationally.

The new class continues to be racially and ethnically diverse. American students of color made up 17 percent of the overall student population, and 17 percent of the new class. International students made up 4 percent of the overall student population and 4 percent of the new entering class.

"We are delighted with both the quality and quantity of our new students this year at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University," said Cal Mosley, vice president for admission and financial aid at CSB and SJU. "We exceeded our goal at both institutions in new student enrollments - including transfer students.

CSB and SJU have together enrolled 1,047 new students, including transfer and readmitted students.

"This year we matriculated students from Alaska to Florida and states in between; increased our representation from Asia, had more students from Minnesota, and have a class of exceptional academic profiles. Our four most represented states are Minnesota, Wisconsin, California and Texas," Mosley added.

The number of students from the Bahamas has nearly doubled, Mosely said. Bahamian students constitute the largest single group of international students at CSB and SJU, followed by China.

The overall retention of continuing students remained very high. Retention from the first year to the second year totaled 88 percent. Since 1997, first-year to second-year retention rates at CSB and SJU typically have averaged between 15 and 20 percent higher than the national averages at public and private colleges locally and nationally.