A NJ Advance Media analysis of state enrollment data shows most of New Jersey's private four-year colleges and universities have lost students since 2009.
LAWRENCE— Spirits were high in September as Rider University held freshmen move-in day.
Gregory Dell'Omo, the private university's new president, was on hand with dozens of enthusiastic upper classmen to help the new freshmen move into their dorms.
But, behind the scenes there was worry.
Freshmen enrollment was down—again. Only 865 new students had registered for classes, nearly 150 less freshmen than the previous year. Rider's total enrollment had been falling since 2009 and there were few signs the numbers would improve.
Last month, Dell'Omo announced Rider was cutting 13 majors and laying off professors. The new president was frank: Rider just didn't have enough students to cover its bills.
"This is a national trend. There is no question about it," Dell'Omo said. "Schools are all going through this and trying to tighten their belts and really allocate their resources in the most efficient ways possible."
MORE: Rider University slashing 13 majors, laying off professors
Nationwide, enrollment has been plummeting at many small and mid-size private colleges. Experts say the reasons are complex. The number of college-age students is falling. The stagnant economy has driven many middle-class families toward less expensive public colleges.
Meanwhile, many small private colleges have struggled to offer the financial aid packages, new majors and other perks that larger colleges offer. They also lack the name recognition and national rankings of their larger competitors.
A NJ Advance Media analysis of state enrollment data shows most of New Jersey's traditional, private four-year colleges and universities have lost students since 2009. Meanwhile, nearly all of the state's public four-year colleges have gained students and grown larger.
Some of the state's smallest colleges have been the hardest hit. The College of Saint Elizabeth, a Catholic college in Morristown, saw its enrollment drop nearly 35 percent between 2009 and 2014, according to data compiled by the state Office of the Secretary of Higher Education.
The declines were similar at Georgian Court University (down 24 percent), Centenary College (down 21 percent), Drew University (down 21 percent), Rider University (down 12 percent) and most of the small and mid-size private colleges, according to the data.
New Jersey's larger private colleges have fared better. Seton Hall University, Monmouth University and Fairleigh Dickinson University held steady or had small decreases, according to the data.
MORE: Click through the photo gallery above to see increases, decrease at each N.J. private college
And enrollment at Princeton University and Stevens Institute of Technology, the state's top-ranked private colleges, both saw healthy increases of more than 6 percent between 2009 and 2014.
Saint Peter's University, which recently gained university status, and Pillar College, a small Christian college that opened a new campus in Newark, were also able to increase enrollment over the same time period, according to the data.
Wall Street has taken notice of the struggles private colleges are facing. Moody's Investors Service released a report in September predicting closures and mergers among small colleges will rise in the next few years.
"Enrollment declines and lost market share for smaller colleges continue to spur closures and mergers, as students increasingly opt for larger colleges with greater academic resources," said Dennis Gephardt, Moody's vice president- senior credit officer.
Small private colleges don't have state funding or large endowments to fall back on when money gets tight. So, they depend largely on tuition revenue to stay in the black, the Moody's report said. When enrollment drops, many private schools quickly end up in financial trouble.
Simply lowering admission standards and offering admission to more students doesn't always solve the problem. Many of the small and mid-size private schools say applications and admittances are up, but the number of students choosing to enroll keeps falling.
Righting the ship
At Drew University in Madison, there were plans to cut academic programs due to declining enrollment when new president MaryAnn Baenninger arrived 15 months ago.
Instead of making the cuts, Baenninger decided to revamp the 2,100-student school's admissions and marketing departments to try to attract more students and retain the ones already enrolled. There are also plans to build a new dining hall to make the campus more attractive and combat the university's reputation for bad food, the president said.
This fall, Drew's enrollment was up and the number of early applications for 2016 looks promising. But it will take time to make up for the 21 percent enrollment decline since 2009 and fix Drew's financial problems, Baenninger said.
In September 2015, Rider University held new student move-in day at Rider University, welcoming a smaller freshman class than campus officials wanted. In this photo, students helping with the move in pose for a group photo with new Rider President Gregory G. Dell'Omo, center, outside Conover Hall. (Michael Mancuso | For NJ.com )
"The ocean liner has stalled and it's facing the wrong direction," Baenninger said. "It will take us four or five years to recover."
'Proactive steps'
At the College of Saint Elizabeth, where enrollment dropped from 2,157 to 1,411 between 2009 and 2014, school officials have more drastic plans to reverse enrollment declines. In June, the state's last remaining women's college announced it would go co-ed starting next fall.
The college is also adding new majors and concentrating on attracting international students and transfer students from community colleges.
"We're hopeful that with the move to co-ed that we will increase the number of men, but also increase the number of women," said Sally Cleary, vice president of institutional advancement at the College of Saint Elizabeth.
This year's freshmen class continued the downward trajectory at the school. This fall, the College of Saint Elizabeth enrolled 101 new students, about 30 fewer than school officials had factored into their budget.
At Centenary College in Hackettstown, campus administrators are hoping new programs in forensic science, social media and pre-vet studies will help attract more students to a campus where enrollment fell from 2,939 to 2,318 between 2009 and 2014.
But, Centenary officials know the population of 18-year-olds nationwide is expected to decline through the end of the decade, meaning colleges will continue competing for a smaller pool of students, said John Carno, Centenary's vice president of college relations.
"We've been taking proactive steps," Carno said. "But it will be with us for a while."
Staff writer Adam Clark contributed to this report.
Kelly Heyboer may be reached at kheyboer@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @KellyHeyboer. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
