Newswise — As Beacon College welcomes its 27th entering fall class for a new academic year, the campus community has good reason to be optimistic. The nation’s first four-year college specifically for students with learning differences has experienced a nearly 50 percent enrollment increase in two years.
The Beacon community greets its largest class of new students this week, with 110 freshman and transfer students commencing their undergraduate studies and orientation to Beacon College, located in the downtown neighborhood of Leesburg, Florida. Hailing from 32 states and 9 foreign countries, Beacon’s full-time enrollment will be 285 students. This figure surpasses the previous record enrollment set just one year ago at 221 undergraduates.
There are further nationally relevant statistics that give Beacon’s enrollment numbers a richer perspective. The 48.7 percent increase in full-time students at the college over the past two years dwarfs similar percentages of enrollment growth at private and public colleges and universities in Florida and across the U.S. Beacon’s 59 percent acceptance rate this year places it among the national category of selective American colleges.
“I think that Beacon’s success of the past decade is both earned and deserved”, says Dr. George Hagerty, Beacon’s president. “We are grateful to be prospering at a time of significant competition in higher education.”
In February, the U.S. Department of Education released its College Scorecard reporting on the graduation rates of all accredited undergraduate institutions across the country. Here, too, Beacon’s 83.3 percent graduation rate placed the College in exclusive company, and exceeded considerably the 59 percent graduation rate for all U.S. colleges and universities.
The college’s enrollment growth is spurring campus development both along Leesburg’s Main Street and within the institutions footprint on the side streets nearby:
* The façade of the Mason Art Gallery, a newly renovated academic center adjacent to the college’s main administration building,
* Beacon Hall is in the final stages of the last phase of a two-year reconstruction project—with a new bricks-and-mortar “facelift”.
* The Railway Depot Fitness Center and Student Union, located in the iconic, just-rehabbed historic former Leesburg Railroad Station will be unveiled this week. * An adjacent property on East Meadow Street will house important program elements of the college’s accredited Studio Arts major.
* Beacon’s first intramural playing field is taking shape, also on East Meadow Street, for student outdoor recreation and fitness.
Dr. Hagerty, who became Beacon’s president in 2013, attributes the college’s enrollment successes to its dedication to pursuing a specific focus. “I believe that our growth is in large part because we have always embraced and never deviated from our core mission to serve college-ready undergraduate students who lean differently,” he says. “We teach our students not to mistake their ‘island of learning challenge’ for the whole landscape of their lives.”
“The growth has just been incredible,” said Dale Herold, dean of admissions and enrollment for the accredited private college, established in 1989 by a group of parents of students with learning disabilities. “I think the huge piece as to why students are successful is because they can be themselves,” Herold says, noting feedback she often receives from students and from their parents. “They are incredibly relieved and excited about what the possibilities are for their son or daughter.”
Beacon College offers bachelor’s (BA) and associate’s (AA) degrees in Business Management, Computer Information Systems, Human Services, Interdisciplinary Studies, Psychology, and Studio Arts. More information about the college’s focus and mission: www.BeaconCollege.edu
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