Morgan State University students walk across campus. The university’s current student count of more than 9,100 represents an 18% increase over the pre-pandemic number in fall 2018. (Photo courtesy of Morgan State University)
Morgan State University continued its pattern of growth with its second consecutive year of historic enrollment figures, announcing Maryland’s largest historically Black college or university surpassed 9,100 students for the fall 2022 semester.
The increase represents a 7.5% growth over Morgan’s total student count for the 2021–22 academic year and places the university on an expedited trajectory of achieving its goal of enrolling 10,000 students ahead of schedule. The increased interest in Morgan comes at an opportune time, as the campus undergoes a physical transformation supported by nearly $1B in capital investments and newly acquired real estate.
For more than a decade, the University’s student enrollment has steadily grown, culminating in successive years of record-breaking highs of 8,469 in 2021 and 9,101 in 2022. Following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when higher education enrollment declined nationally, Morgan’s enrollment spike was among the largest growth percentage among Maryland four-year institutions. The university’s current student count represents an 18% increase over the pre-pandemic number in Fall 2018.
In 2022, the University unveiled a new 10-year strategic plan. Under the plan’s first goal of enhancing student success and well-being, a target was set to increase enrollment to 10,000 students by fall 2030. The past two years have propelled Morgan toward reaching its aim sooner than expected.
University officials point to an important element of the enrollment surge: a significant increase in transfer and out-of-state students choosing Morgan to pursue their postsecondary education. Among the new students enrolled at Morgan for the current academic year 56% are from beyond Maryland’s borders — the largest out-of-state student population in school history.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), enrollment at four-year colleges and universities was projected to continue its recent slide by declining another 1.6% year-over-year in fall 2022.
Morgan, conversely, has emerged as an outlier, cementing successive gains in enrollment in addition to posting a retention rate of 70% or higher for 12 consecutive years. University officials attribute the steady gains to a variety of factors comprising a mix of operational strategies coupled with the groundswell of interest in HBCUs that continues to sweep the nation.
The university utilized a multifaceted approach, tapping the resources of multiple administrative units. The Office of Undergraduate Admission and Recruitment at Morgan expanded its reach by engaging more prospective students through increased direct marketing and recruitment activities — in-person, online and in more markets.
The Office of Financial Aid teamed with the Office of Development and the Morgan State University Foundation to support incoming freshmen, by optimizing financial aid through competitive aid packages and astute allocation of institutional aid.
Other contributing factors of benefit to Morgan and several other HBCUs were the pervasive social and cultural awakening sparked by the murder of George Floyd, the amplification of the Black Lives Matter movement and the public actions of organizations and donors to address generational systemic inequities. As a result, Black students nationwide seeking post-secondary options subsequently applied for college at institutions such as Morgan.
Serving the needs of a growing student population has had a ripple effect on nearly every aspect of a university’s operations. Morgan has been proactive in making considerable capital investments in facilities, including construction of new academic buildings, the Health and Human Services Building and the new Science Complex — and aggressively addressing deferred maintenance of infrastructure and legacy buildings on campus.
This fall, coinciding with the bump in enrollment, Morgan opened Thurgood Marshall Residence Hall, a 10-story, 229,797-square-foot living and learning residential facility on Morgan’s campus, the first one in more than 30 years. After the recent approval of Morgan’s Board of Regents, the university will construct a second new residential hall, a 604-bed facility adjacent to the Thurgood Marshall housing complex and connected to the ground-level 30,000-square-foot dining hall. That facility is scheduled to open in 2024.