LEBANON, Tenn. (WTVF) — It probably comes as no surprise that college enrollment is down across the country due to the pandemic. There is one small exception -- small private universities that is.
Local private universities like Lipscomb University, Fisk University and Cumberland University have reported record enrollment growth.
"Don’t overlook the small school -- because that’s what I thought at first," said Carol Anne Clanton, a freshman nursing student at Cumberland.
This time last year, CU was never really on Clanton's radar.
"I always thought when I got older and moved out that I would want to move to the big city and go to a big school," she said.
As she got closer to high school graduation, priorities changed and then of course, so did the world.
"I had pretty much chosen Cumberland but then the way that Cumberland decided to handle the whole virus situation really solidified my decision," said Clanton.
Despite the pandemic, Cumberland's enrollment actually increased this year by more than 6%. That number may not be staggering until you realize all of Tennessee's community colleges saw a dip in enrollment, some of them substantially.
"I think that’s a function of just the uncertainty and people’s level of comfort in being in a big school environment," said Dr. Paul Stumb, president of Cumberland University.
While there could be a variety of factors at play, Stumb thinks smaller is just more attractive during a pandemic.
"I think being in a smaller school environment like we are here, and like a lot of other private schools are, gives the students and the parents a better sense of safety and security, and we’ve certainly worked hard on that," he said.
The school has a hybrid class schedule -- meaning half of the students in a class show up in person and half attend online. The groups swap the next class meeting.
Stumb also had everyone on campus sign a social contract of sorts.
"We asked them to acknowledge that we’re going to have to operate differently and acknowledge that they’re willing to wear their masks, to stay socially distanced," he said.
Of course, it's not the college experience Clanton envisioned, but she says if it has to be this way, she definitely feels safer here.
"They’re having us wearing the masks, and I don’t think anyone likes wearing the masks but I know they’re just doing it to keep us safe and I think they’ve done a pretty good job so far," she said.
For the latest enrollment numbers across the country, click here.
