Hood Theological Seminary, at Livingstone College, also reported its fifth consecutive year of increased enrollment, growing from 109 to 129 students. Figures for Livingstone College are not available yet, a spokeswoman said this morning.

Hood officials noted that the school already is seeing students from a United Methodist Church background now that the Methodists’ University Senate has approved Hood as a seminary whose graduates can be ordained for ministry.

Catawba spokeswoman Juanita Bouser said the private college had a “very large graduating class” last year, and so overall enrollment dropped from 1,260 to 1,208 this fall.

Catawba officials pointed to several good signs:

• The school’s Lifelong Learning Program for working adults grew by 6 percent this fall — from 209 to 222 students. The full-time equivalent number for the program is even higher. It stands at 230 because several students are taking more courses.
• Catawba’s enrollment for freshmen and transfers also increased slightly. A total of 406 new students will begin classes Thursday.

At Pfeiffer, enrollment stayed about the same, at 714, according to spokesman Matt Marvin. The school also pointed to:

• An 8 percent increase in the freshman class, reaching 167 students.
• A 14 percent increase in the number of students living on the Misenheimer campus, “an area targeted by the admission office.” Marvin said 173 students are now living in campus residence halls.

“We are heartened by the continued growth in our evening program,” Catawba President J. Fred Corriher Jr. said. “This increase is particularly significant because we graduated 59 from that program in May.”

Corriher attributes part of the increase to the addition of the information systems major this fall for the evening program. “We recognized a need in the community for people with improved informational technology skills,” he said, “and our assessment was obviously on target. A number of individuals have expressed an interest in this new major. Interestingly, some of these students already have a bachelor’s degree and one has a master’s degree.”

Sixty-two percent of the students in the evening program are women, typical of programs that cater to adult learners, according to Dr. Karl Rodabaugh, director of the program.

The freshman class in the traditional program represents a broader geographic area than in the past. About 50 percent of the new students are from North Carolina, and the college continues to draw students from the eastern seaboard. But this year a number hail from states like Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Texas, Minnesota and Hawaii. In addition, four new students hail from the countries of Finland, the Republic of Georgia, India and Zimbabwe.

At Pfeiffer, the freshman class boasts students from five foreign countries — Sweden, Zimbabwe, England, Jamaica and Trinidad — and 22 states. They also have two sets of identical twins — Marissa and Nicole Baird, of Portsmouth, R.I., and Elizabeth and Margaret Hall of New London. All four twins play on the college’s women’s soccer team.

“We’re very pleased with our enrollment figures,” David Smith, vice president for enrollment management, said in a prepared statement. “Where we concentrated our efforts we have seen positive results. The freshman class represents a kind of diversity that has made Pfeiffer University a thriving academic environment and a wonderful campus for students.”

At Livingstone’s Hood seminary, officials say they were not expecting to see Methodist students apply to Hood so quickly after that denomination decided to recognize Hood’s degree for ordination. Though most students apply six months to a year before they enroll, the new group of Methodist students applied and enrolled in just two months.

Students from the school’s sponsoring denomination, the AME Zion Church, continue to represent the largest proportion of students, 47 percent, followed by Baptists, at 26 percent, and Methodists, at 11 percent.

Hood officials are discussing what to do with the growth. “If the seminary is to accommodate this increasing student population, we must begin immediately to consider more definite plans for a more adequate facility, and that includes the possible relocation and construction of a new seminary campus,” Vice President and Dean Albert J.D. Aymer said in a written statement.