For back-to-back years, Delaware State University has a new record for student enrollment.
DSU this week reported an overall enrollment increase of 3.5% from this time last year,
The 132-year-old institution now has 6,451 students, a 23% increase since 2020, making the Dover school the fastest-growing Historically Black College and University in the country.
“We have overcome some notable trends in higher education,” said President Tony Allen. “As we have seen impressive growth in our enrollment since 2017, we have also seen the national trend going in the other direction.”
DSU had a 5% increase in new transfer students, up to just over 300 students, and a sizable boost to its online profile at almost 800 students.
Of the 750 first-year in-state students, 79% are INSPIRE Scholars, benefiting from the state-sponsored, four-year full-tuition INSPIRE scholarship meant to help students from low income families.
“The race for talent is on, and we have to be prepared to meet our students where they are,” Allen said. “If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that a full portfolio of quality educational offerings, new ways to learn in and outside of the traditional classroom, and a commitment to educating and training students who look like the smaller, more connected world we are becoming is the key to long-term success.”
In addition to its student growth, DSU has risen in national attention and also drawn significant donations and government grants.
The biggest was a $20 million donation from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott in 2020.
Other notable donations and grants include a $1 million grant for creating a special education teaching certificate; a 5-year $18.36 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study health disparities among different populations; a $1 million grant for urban revitalization; and a $899,000 grant from NASA to contribute to the Lunar Land Rover Mission and $500,000 for Alzhiemer’s disease research.
DSU has also climbed in the rankings of the U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings, making its way to the second best public Historically Black College in the nation.
“In the words of Robert Frost,” Allen said, “ ‘we have miles to go before we sleep’ Our students need our total effort without equivocation.”
Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.
