New College of Florida breaks all-time record enrollment
SARASOTA, Fla. (FLV) – Interim President of New College of Florida Richard Corcoran said the college has broken an “all-time record for enrollment” during the college’s board of trustees meeting Thursday.
The college made national headlines after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a majority of the board of trustees in January, who made sweeping changes including ousting of the college’s president, and an overhaul of the institution’s “equity” ideology for a merit-based approach.
Six months later, the college has broken the enrollment record for the upcoming year.
In April, Corcoran predicted the boost in an interview with Florida’s Voice. The interim president noted the college’s history of struggling enrollment rates.
“Great news we have broken the all time record enrollment. As of today, we’re sitting around 294. We’re clearly going across 300. It’s fantastic. Probably a third of those will be athletes,” Corcoran said.
Corcoran credited the addition of extracurricular activities, along with additional money the school received from the legislature for the boost in enrollment.
“Those two things have absolutely increased our enrollment, and our enrollment is up both on first time college students and in transfers, we’re beating both metrics,” Corcoran said.
Corcoran said they have become “highly selective” in terms of students, to “maintain the excellence that we would want for our college.”
According to Corcoran, about 30 faculty either have resigned, are on leave, or are retiring, and they will “probably backfill” with 30 new faculty.
Newly hired Athletic Director and Head Baseball Coach Mariano Jimenez has been tasked with bringing in coaches and student-athletes for the fall as eight new teams are forming for next fall, including men and women’s soccer, basketball, baseball and softball.
On June 27, Jimenez announced the college is also looking to add men and women’s lacrosse.
New College of Florida is starting lacrosse at our four-year honors college in Sarasota!
— Mario Jimenez (@NewCollegeFL_AD) June 27, 2023
We're searching for full-time salaried head coaches in men's & women's. Shoot me a DM if you're interested@laxjobs_ @UTRLacrosse pic.twitter.com/82Qz1hHhXy
New College will be joining the the Sun Conference, which is a part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics – a college athletics governing body for small college athletics programs.
Sarasota Car Museum Update
Corcoran said they have a “handshake agreement” with the Sarasota Car Museum, which will give immediate office space close to 4,000 square feet, and immediate additional gym space for the new student athletes, close to 4,000 square feet.
He also said the museum can remain open for four months while they find another location.
New College terminated the month-to-month lease of the car museum “due to the record growth of the incoming class,” according to Fox 13.
On their website, the Sarasota Car Museum said on May 16, the college told them they must vacate the property by the end of June.
“It was very amicable, the discussions, ultimately with the car museum, and that should be finalized today. But I just do want to thank our general counsel for all the immense help there and getting that negotiation…” Corcoran said.
Housing improvements
Corcoran said they are working to get the dorms in “tip top shape,” and believes the students are coming back to the “best condition housing probably since they were built.”
He said they plan to try and house student-athletes together “as much as possible.”
Corcoran said they are reaching out to applicants and checking with students to see who needs housing and they have contingency plans available.
“We feel right now that we have a good handle on where we are with the existing housing on campus, which is great news for us financially, and we don’t want to make any of those commitments, until we have the actual numbers – which is why we’re going about as quickly as possible now, basically door to door […] so we can finalize plans,” Corcoran said.
