HOLLAND, Mich. — A lakeshore school is welcoming its largest freshman class ever this school year.
Next week, Hope College is anticipating 950 first-year students to start off the semester.
The previous record was set in 2012 with more than 900 students, and enrollment also increased in the last two fall semesters.
Senior Associate Director of Admissions, Operations and Communications Andrew Meyers says a particular initiative has gotten Hope College some more attention.
"With the unified vision around Hope Forward, which is our eventual plan to offer a tuition-free education to every student, this is a vision that will take a number of years to put into place," he says. "We expect to attract students from all over the world. The class coming in has students from all over the country and internationally as well."
He says this freshman class is made up primarily of first-time college students from Michigan and the Chicago area.
Meyers says he's excited that students this year can have as close to a true college experience as possible.
"I think that our population of students was really motivated by the fact that we were able to safely stay in person for the duration of the pandemic thus far," he says. "As we get ready to be really in a season of as close to normalcy as you can have right now."
►Make it easy to keep up to date with more stories like this. Download the 13 ON YOUR SIDE app now.
Have a news tip? Email news@13onyourside.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel.