As Mercy College prepares to welcome its largest freshman class in more than a decade, it’s also seeing a rise in students from the Bronx.
This fall, Mercy College expects about 750 new freshmen at its Dobbs Ferry campus in Westchester, 200 at its Manhattan campus and 150 at its East Bronx campus, which is located in the Hutchinson Metro Center. Across the three campuses, it’s the largest class the school has seen in 12 years, at 1,100 students.
New freshmen commitments at the Bronx campus have returned to fall 2021 enrollment numbers at 102 students after a near 15% dip last year of 89 students. And across the three campuses, Mercy is seeing more than 300 freshmen who call the Bronx home, which is up nearly 48% from 203 last year and up 28% from fall 2021.
Mercy’s Bronx campus, which is located next to Montefiore Medical Center’s Hutchinson Campus, houses the college’s Accelerated Second Degree Nursing program and has long been a destination for transfer students.
Due to this year’s larger freshman class size, the four-year college will offer more courses for first-year students than last year, Zodet Negron, a spokesperson for Mercy College, told the Bronx Times.
“We have the resources in place to offer all new students the vibrant campus life, the option to live on campus, and the support services they expect from Mercy College,” Negron said. “We are paying very close attention (to) freshman-level class availability to ensure students have a nice variety of options to create a schedule that will work around their family and employment responsibilities.”
The freshmen class will also have the “highest academic profile” in the private nonprofit college’s history, according to Mercy, with nursing students bringing an average GPA of 3.7 and business honors students bringing an average GPA of 3.9.
“Mercy College has been investing in its students and its infrastructure during a difficult time in higher education,” said Tim Hall, president of Mercy College. “We’ve recently welcomed so many students and their families back to our campuses to meet with faculty and get a sense of the culture and community of Mercy, and we are delighted that so many see the value of attending Mercy to pursue their education.”
Mercy College earned the Seal of Excelencia from Excelencia in Education last year, which is a national certification for schools that intentionally serve Latino students. The college is the first Hispanic Serving Institution in New York state to receive the certification.
Half of freshmen acceptances and 60% of committed students identify as Hispanic or Latino and about 85% of the freshmen class identifies as students of color, according to the college.
This year, almost 75% of freshmen are eligible for Federal Pell Grants at the college, which says it has one of the lowest tuition rates among private four-year colleges in the region.
In recent years, Mercy College has implemented a series of evidence-based practices to improve academic achievement, redesigned introductory courses and conducted renovations at all three of its campuses, according to the college.
Mercy College was founded in 1950 and offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate degree and certification programs across its schools for business, education, health and natural sciences, liberal arts and social and behavioral science. Classes begin on Sept. 6.
Reach Aliya Schneider at aschneider@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4597. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
