After Turning Co-Educational, the College of New Rochelle Sees a Big Enrollment Increase

The College of New Rochelle in New York was founded by the Ursuline Sisters in 1904 as the College of St. Angela. It was the first Catholic college for women in New York State. The college assumed its current name in 1910. Men were first admitted to graduate programs in 1969.

In December 2015, the board of trustees voted to admit men for the first time to undergraduate programs in the School of Arts & Sciences at the main campus in New Rochelle. At that time, Judith Huntington, president of the College of New Rochelle, stated that “for 111 years, The College of New Rochelle has been an innovative, dynamic, contemporary and values-based institution that has nurtured the personal and intellectual advancement of more than 15,000 women in the School of Arts & Sciences. We are eager to have this opportunity to do the same for many more women and now men.”

Now we have data on how the decision to admit men has impacted enrollments at the college. The College of New Rochelle reports that it has the largest first-year class in three decades. The college reports that more than 50 men have registered. But the college also reports an increase in the number of women students. There are about 150 women in the first-year class, compared to just 87 a year ago.

President Harrington stated that “now the vast majority of young women who would not consider a single-sex college and incoming young men will benefit from the College of New Rochelle’s distinctive student-centered education and outstanding commitment to academic success.”