By Brinda Patel
Staff Writer
The College exceeded its enrollment goals for the 2024-25 academic year, despite a nationwide decline in college enrollment.
According to Lisa Angeloni, the College’s vice president for enrollment management, the school met its freshmen enrollment target of 1,600 students. 300 transfer students were welcomed into the College, as well as 313 Pathway students. In recent years, approximately 250 transfer students and 200 Pathway students have enrolled each academic year at the College.
“There's just more interest in TCNJ. Our cost is really excellent, we offer merit and need scholarships to students, and for a public college that's really great,” said Angeloni. “And of course, we have a beautiful college. When we generate more applications, we typically get better students in the applicant pool.”
Considering the drop in undergraduate enrollment nationwide, the College has beaten the odds for its freshman class, according to Angeloni.
An initiative that has enhanced student engagement and academic improvement this year is the College’s Pathway Program. Angeloni mentioned that it has been a crucial factor in the increase of undergraduate retention and overall graduation rates.
The Pathway Program is an academic path designed for non-matriculated students to register in a maximum of three courses during their first fall on campus and experience what the College has to offer both academically and socially.
Students who obtain a GPA of 2.3 or higher in the fall semester are eligible to become fully matriculated into their preferred major in the spring. 92% of students return for their second semester. While non-matriculated students may only take three courses in the fall, they can catch up by taking a course during the winter or summer.
“Speaking of Pathways, there are so many incredible students who might have not done everything they should have in high school, but have so much potential,” Angeloni said. “But this year, more students took us up on that offer than we expected.”
High school counselors have a role in the expansion of the Pathway Program, according to Angeloni. When they suggest this option, students are more interested in taking a chance on this academic route.
“We expected about 200 Pathway students, which has been kind of our normal,” Angeloni said. “This year we have a little over 300 students in Pathway.”
According to Angeloni, the College’s parallels between reputation, rankings and retention rate influence enrollment success. Despite the high retention rate, COVID-19 dropped the retention rate into the high 80s in 2021.
“We have a very high retention rate here, so it always hovers around 90 to 93 percent. This means that the class you come in with, 90% to 93% are gonna stay for their second year, which is nationally one of the highest in the country.”
The College was recently ranked the No. 1 University in the Regional Universities - North Category in the 2025 Best Colleges rankings by U.S. News & World Report, and No. 2 in New Jersey by the Wall Street Journal. Angeloni credits the campus atmosphere for the College being awarded these merits.
“It’s really TCNJ’s good reputation,” Angeloni said, “and it's part of the students who come here. And then students doing really fabulous things while they're here. Once they graduate, there are very few people who were ever here say they didn't like The College of New Jersey.”
She credits past positive experiences and “word of mouth” from alumni as a factor in why the College is “thriving” and remains a strong, viable choice for high school seniors.
“There are many colleges in New Jersey that lose 30% of their first-year class because kids transfer out to other schools,” said Angeloni. “And that just does not happen here.”
Some students at the College have mixed opinions on how the enrollment rates will improve the school’s status in the long run.
Andrew Giancamilli, a junior mechanical engineering major, is optimistic about the results and what they may mean for some departments to get better representation.
“It’s good to let more students in to grow their education, and TCNJ has good programs to do it,” said Giancamilli. “Depending on the programs students transfer into, it might add stress to faculty to have more classes for more students, but some departments can absorb the numbers and grow the size of their major.”
Abby Smith, a sophomore management major, shared a similar sentiment about the matter.
“I think this could be positive and negative for the school. It allows more students to come in, which will help get more publicity,” Smith said. “The more students that come in means more funding for the school to upgrade certain programs or buildings.”
Despite Smith’s positive feedback, she said she worries about how the excess enrollment could impact the campus experience. Although there is enough residential accessibility today, Smith worries that there could be housing shortages in the future.
“If they keep adding so many more kids than the average capacity, it can force the upperclassmen to get moved off campus to make room for the upcoming students which isn’t fair,” Smith said.
