News and Notes 02/01/2017

Tale of the momentum tape at Bethany College:

•The college has recruited its largest freshman class in 17 years, with mid-term retention rate of 80+ percent. This means the college is retaining significantly more students from a significantly larger class.

• In the 2016-17 school year to date, Bethany athletes and coaches have worked 5,517 hours in community service. This number already significantly exceeds the Athletic Department’s goals for the entire year.

• The audit report is not finalized, but it appears that Bethany’s composite financial health index number has climbed to a breakthrough number of 1. It has climbed over a short time from past ratios of .6 -.8. The goal index number for institutions such as Bethany College is 1.5.

• Final spring enrollment will continue for a few more days. Best guess is that BC will have 530 to 540 students on the rolls, which is an 6 to 7 percent increase against spring 2016. • Campus visits are up +30 percent over last year at this time. Example: Presidential Scholarship Day attracted 50 excellent academic performing students this year against 23 last year.

• As of last night, 98 applications have been received for “The Good Life” scholarships program of free tuition for students from Saline and McPherson county high schools who quality and are accepted for enrollment. Two thirds of those applications have come since Dec. 31.

• About $1 million remains to be raised by July 31, 2017, on a goal of $2.2 million for this fiscal year. Special outreach is going to BC alums to raise the rate of alumni participation in giving (any amount) from 12 to 15 percent.

Please thank everyone at Bethany College for their hard work in helping create this momentum. If you have not seen the new “Bethany Arise” video on social media, we encourage you to view it.