Longwood University has faced a growing trend among institutions of Higher Education, which have faced issues of declining enrollment – partially due to the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also due to the rapidly-approaching ‘enrollment cliff.’ The enrollment cliff is a term used often by researchers to describe a phenomenon in higher education created by lower birth rates during the Great Recession of 2007 until 2009.
An October 7, 2024 report released by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) revealed low viability risks to Longwood University, but potentially troubling signs for the enrollment of the institution
As part of their report, JLARC broke down enrollment numbers and trends, showing Longwood placing the third worst in the state in terms of growth over the past decade. Longwood’s FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) Enrollment dropped 17% since 2013, ahead of Radford (-29%) and Mary Washington (-20%), but behind 12 others, including Old Dominion University (-14%), Virginia Commonwealth University (-7%), and others.
Longwood President W. Taylor Reveley IV, who took office in 2013 amid a then-historic high for enrollment at Longwood, said in a December interview with The Rotunda enrollment at Longwood is and remains strong.
“The snapshot of a decade actually catches Longwood at its highest enrollment, FTE or head count, by whatever measure, that it's had over its almost two centuries,” Reveley said. “So, if you zoom the camera out a little bit further and look at, say, a 20-year look or a 30-year look… the enrollment of the present moment is in keeping with where we've been over the last generation, more or less.”
For context, 20 years ago in 2004, Longwood sat at 3,739 Undergraduate Students (~12% higher than 2024) and 4,289 Total Students (~7% lower than 2024). 30 years ago in 1994, Longwood sat at 3,006 Undergraduate Students (~10% lower than 2024) and 3,351 Total Students (~37% lower than 2024)
In the same time period, statewide FTE enrollment increased 6%, assisted by increases in enrollment at larger schools such as Virginia Tech (22%), George Mason University (21%), James Madison University (20%), and others. In fact, according to JLARC, “Two of the state’s largest institutions (GMU and Virginia Tech) grew more than the entire student population at seven institutions,” including Longwood.
Reveley partially pointed towards national trends to explain the drop in undergraduate enrollment over the last two decades. In part, he pointed towards the ‘enrollment cliff,’ a long-discussed phenomenon in higher education as a result of quickly-dropping birth rates.
As reported by Courthouse News Service, birth rates began to plummet around 2008-2010, as the Great Recession discouraged already-struggling young people from having children. While the ‘cliff’ began to plateau, and in-fact slightly increase, the years leading to the COVID-19 pandemic saw declines.
“Birth rates are declining, which is a very new phenomenon for America,” Reveley said. “Previously in American history, each generation was significantly bigger than the generation before it, and instead, we're right at the cusp of seeing a phenomenon of the population beginning to plateau, and that the generation that's coming of age now is not going to be as big as the generation before.”
This trend will take particular effect in the coming years, as teenagers born in 2008 will turn 18-years-old within the next two years. However, the trend has already begun. According to Reveley, “Nationally, the number of freshmen at 4-year colleges and universities was actually down by eight-or-eight-and-a-half percent this fall.”
Dean of Admissions Jason Ferguson, who previously served as Director of Admissions at Hampden-Sydney College, said in a December interview with The Rotunda this trend is worrying for colleges and universities across the country. He said, “If you ever talk to any admissions professional, and they tell you that’s not a concern, they’re lying.”
However, Ferguson said Longwood is in a good position to buck national trends. He said, based on what he has seen from other institutions, Longwood is currently outperforming when it comes to recruitment.
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) reports Longwood has seen a consistent increase in freshman numbers since Fall 2021. That semester, Longwood brought in 786 ‘New Freshmen,” meaning this was their first time in college. In Fall 2024, 915 ‘New Freshmen’ arrived at Longwood, a ~16% increase. “That's swimming upstream against a lot of my colleagues,” Ferguson said. “If you're flat right now, you’re doing well.”
That said, ensuring continued growth remains a challenge. Reveley, however, isn’t concerned about Longwood’s ability to attract new students.
“At a very practical level. I very much believe that people fall in love with Longwood, fall in love with Farmville, when they have the chance to actually physically come and make that visit.” he said. As the primary driving force behind getting students to attend Longwood, he believes there is strength in Longwood’s academic culture.
“What really shines through at that more heartfelt level, philosophical level, is as so much of higher education nationally, but honestly statewide, too, drifts away from the classroom being sacred space and having full time professors who really love teaching, as higher education drifts away from that, we are a boat against the current, and we really put a heavy emphasis on just that,” Reveley said.
Ferguson added on this, and said, “All we have to do is get them to campus and get them to town and they see who we are. It's not just the buildings, but they get to see the people… And there's just a feeling about this place that doesn't come across all the time in brochures or websites.”
