Manchester Hits Enrollment Record

Ed and Martha Showalter Miller taught at Manchester for a combined 53 years.

Manchester University is reporting record enrollment for the 2016-2017 academic year. The university says while official tallies are not complete, it has hit the 1,600-student mark for the first time in its history.

The university’s previous enrollment high of 1,537 was set last year, breaking a 45-year record. The university credits its "triple guarantee" to undergraduates and its 95 percent employment/graduate school placement average as reasons for the uptick in enrollment.

"Our total growth in large part comes from identifying areas of market demand and looking at what resources we have to meet them," said Manchester President Dave McFadden. "That’s how we ended up offering the nation’s first master’s degree program in pharmacogenomics."

U.S. News & World Report recently ranked Manchester in the top 25 of its Midwest Regional Colleges list as part of the publication’s “Best Colleges” rankings. McFadden says the rankings are a reflection of the university’s "dedication to putting students first in all that we do."