Over the past five years, Chapman has seen steady growth in the number of enrolled students despite a national two-year decline of 4.2% since 2020.
Among one of the university’s great successes is that Chapman has also improved its ability to attract students from underserved segments of the population. I am proud to report that Chapman University is now one of 51 emerging Hispanic-Serving Institutions, or eHSIs, in California, with a population of 18% Hispanic or Latino students.
As we worked with the community over the past year to develop Chapman’s new five-year plan, “Our Path to Greatness,” one thing was very clear from the beginning: we wanted to continue this momentum of attracting and supporting a changing student profile. That’s why we set the following goals.
- Amplify our status as a university that meets the enrollment criteria to be considered an Asian American and native American Pacific Islander-serving institution (AANAPISI), while actively working to meet the financial-aid threshold to achieve full AANAPISI status. A milestone recently achieved is the creation of a new faculty position, a Director of Asian American Studies, which the university is currently recruiting for.
- Establish targeted financial aid and scholarships, with the ambitious goal of hitting the 25% HSI benchmark by 2029.
- Create early pathways to Chapman for first-generation and historically underrepresented students in k-12. We have recently partnered with Youth2Leaders Education Foundation to further our progress on this goal, as well as co-sponsored two conferences for high school students: Males Achieving Success and the Mujeres Achieving Success. The conferences promote higher education, self-awareness, and gender identity.
- Intentionally advance relationships with African American and Black community stakeholders to establish Chapman as a university committed to Black excellence and achievement for all.
These represent just some of Chapman’s goals to recruit, retain and support a diverse student body and campus community. Our commitment to a robust DEI ecosystem is foundational to Chapman’s success, and I am excited to continue this commitment to offering the benefit of a Chapman education to talented students from a broad spectrum of identities.
