Florida Memorial enrolls its largest freshman class in 15 years, a turnaround for the HBCU

Last fall, Florida Memorial University increased its student enrollment for the first time since 2012. This fall, that upward trend continued, as the only historically Black college or university (HBCU) in South Florida enrolled its largest freshman class in 15 years.

As of Wednesday, FMU had enrolled 1,101 students for the fall 2022 semester — about 175 more than the private university’s targeted goal of 928, said Sharee Gilbert, FMU’s director of communications and marketing, in an email to the Herald. She added that the 1,101 figure will likely rise a bit more as the business office clears a few more students.

“To bounce back from a global pandemic and exceed our enrollment goal is astounding, and to say I am proud is an understatement,” said Jaffus Hardrick, FMU’s president, in a press release.

Out of the 1,101 total students, first-year students accounted for nearly half — 495, making the future Class of 2026 the largest at FMU since 2007, Gilbert said.

READ MORE: South Florida’s HBCU rallies from drop in enrollment, financial difficulties

FMU, based in Miami Gardens, admitted 981 students last fall, including 357 freshmen. Thus, FMU saw roughly a 12 percent increase in student enrollment from 2021 to 2022, and an approximate 39 percent increase in the size of its freshman class during the same year-to-year period.

The success comes after a decade of hardship. In 2012, FMU flourished with a student enrollment of 1,878, but then student enrollment declined every year thereafter until hitting a low of 915 in 2021.

The enrollment drop, coupled with the resultant revenue decline, led FMU’s accreditation body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), to put it on a “monitoring” status in 2019 and 2020, followed by a “probation for good cause” sanction in 2021.

The school eliminated 15 faculty positions, cut salaries of more than 80 employees who made $60,000 or above and discontinued 16 undergraduate degree programs. In June, as a result of these measures and the increase in enrollment, FMU got off probation.

READ MORE: Florida Memorial University, South Florida’s only HBCU, gets off probation