New England College finds success in recruiting diverse student body
In a state where colleges and universities struggle to recruit racially diverse student bodies, NEC member New England College in Henniker, New Hampshire, has gained recognition for its commitment to recruiting diverse students. To date, 36.2 percent of the college’s 1,135 resident students identify as African American, Hispanic, Asian, or more than one race.
New England College’s success comes as a result of a recruitment strategy overseen by the college’s President Michelle Perkins. Through this strategy, demographic data provided through standardized testing is purchased and then used to identify and target racially diverse students for recruitment. Moreover, New England College focuses this recruitment tactic on students from working-class communities in locations in and outside of New England, such as Philadelphia, New York, and parts of Florida.
When others doubted President Perkins’s goal of achieving campus diversity in a rural area of predominantly white New Hampshire, her response was simple: “I didn’t believe it.”
“We’ve invested a lot in identifying students from all over the country. A lot of them are first-generation college students. Usually, when you are a first-generation student, you have financial needs. We are very generous in our scholarship and grant programs,” she explained.
The New England Council commends New England College’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity. Read more in The Concord Monitor.