Diné College first year experience coordinator Stephanie Jim assists a student. The college had an enrollment of more than 1,200 this semester.

Diné College continues to maintain enrollment at the same level as before the coronavirus pandemic. The number of enrolled students represents a high amount, considering the COVID-19 outbreak, college officials said. But despite the outbreak, Diné College’s director of enrollment management, Priscilla Leonard, confirmed a total enrollment of 1,233 for the spring 2021 semester. During spring 2020, the enrollment at the same time was 1,261.

“It’s an unusual and unfortunate situation that we are in with this pandemic,” Leonard says. “But we have good numbers which I attribute to a very committed enrollment management team, marketing and communications department, the admissions office, registrar’s office, the academic advisors, program coordinators, and financial aid reps.”

Leonard says there are 138 more part-time students this time around and 77 transfer students, compared to 87 transfers from the fall semester. “We’re holding onto our enrollment numbers from last year, despite the interruption of in-person classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing us to go online,” says Diné College’s director of marketing and communications, George Joe. “In fact, some students couldn’t get into the classes they wanted during online registration because classes were full,” Joe adds. “As a result, we have more part-time status students this semester.”

The January issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education contains an article about the higher education enrollment decline due to COVID-19. “Losses were particularly deep in areas with more low-income families and larger minority populations,” stated the article, which was entitled, “How to Survive the Enrollment Bust.”

Joe says that students were again motivated to enroll by the college’s 50% discount offer and the opportunity to stay close to home during the pandemic. “Nationwide, the few colleges that have experienced an enrollment increase are attributing the increase to those same reasons,” Joe explains.

The Marketing and Communications Department at the college sent out a direct mail piece to 28,000 households on the Navajo reservation, installed new billboards off the reservation, ran radio advertisements in three markets, and spent more on targeted social media advertisements than ever before, Joe says. “It was the social media aspect that had the impact this time around.”

The general public is still not allowed to come onto the college’s six campuses during the pandemic. The campuses remain closed to non-students and outsiders as a means of protection for students and employees.