Pitt-Bradford no longer just a commuter campus

After several consecutive years of moderate declines in enrollments, the Pitt-Bradford is poised to welcome one of the largest freshman classes in its history this fall.

Those new freshmen will begin arriving on campus Friday while the remaining students will return Saturday and Sunday. Fall classes begin Monday, Aug. 29.

“The new class of freshmen, comprised of students from regions near and far, will help the institution to potentially reverse the overall negative trend in enrollment,” said Dr. Livingston Alexander, Pitt-Bradford's president. “The large freshman class may also signal a return to nearly full capacity in classrooms, a condition the campus experienced in 2009 and 2010, and even fuller capacity in the residence halls.”

Many of the students who will fill the classrooms and residence halls this fall come from counties beyond the region and from other states and countries. However, an increasing number of students who live in the region and could commute are choosing to live on campus instead. This fall, 42 percent of students from the region who live within a commutable distance will be living on campus.

“Part of the reason for the increase in local students living on campus is because we offer our students a vibrant campus life environment,” Alexander said, which includes more than 60 clubs and organizations and a wide range of athletic, recreational and cultural activities. “Additionally, we've built comfortable and beautiful residence halls, which our students consider their home away from home.”

Throughout its history, Pitt-Bradford has maintained a service region that includes the Pennsylvania counties of McKean, Elk, Cameron, Forest, Potter and Warren counties, along with the New York counties of Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Erie.

“At Pitt-Bradford, we will continue our longstanding commitment to our service region, even as we extend our reach to other regions of Pennsylvania and surrounding states,” Alexander said.

As Pitt-Bradford extends its reach to other regions of the state and to states that border Pennsylvania, Alexander said it was inevitable that word about the university's outstanding academic programs, excellent faculty and staff, great facilities, and welcoming campus environment would spread to other regions of the country and countries around the world.

As a consequence, Pitt-Bradford has become home to students from as many as 25 to 30 states, including Alaska, Hawaii and California. Additionally, students from more than 20 countries around the world, including Germany, China, Canada and South Korea, will be on campus this fall.

“What this means is that Pitt-Bradford is continuing to transition from its original identity as a primarily commuter campus to a primarily residential campus,” Alexander said.

Proof of that is the steady increase in students who have chosen to live on campus. In the fall of 2000, 52 percent of all students commuted to campus. Fifteen years later, only 26 percent of students commuted while 74 percent lived on campus.

“Fortunately, we are able to accommodate the growing geographic and racial diversity of our student population without compromising the service we provide to students living in our service region,” Alexander said.

“In fact, students in our service region who meet very reasonable academic requirements can avail themselves of the excellent education Pitt-Bradford provides at a significant discount provided by the campus, even as they take advantage of private donor scholarships and other forms of financial aid,” he added.

“That the campus is able to accommodate students coming from other geographic regions, while continuing to serve the college-going population of students in the service region, is the strongest indication of the campus' continuing commitment to its mission to serve the region,” Alexander said.

He noted that Pitt-Bradford is not unlike other colleges and universities throughout Pennsylvania in reaching beyond its traditional service region to recruit students to its campus. Like officials at these other institutions, Pitt-Bradford officials realize that the local region, which is declining in population, cannot generate enough students to populate Pitt-Bradford's classrooms and residence halls.

Alexander contends that one beneficial consequence of recruiting students from outside of the region is that it provides local businesses and corporations with access to a larger pool of well-educated potential employees who are ready to fill vacancies that are often hard to fill.