#6 story of 2014: Luther College suffers an enrollment drop

(This story got our vote as the #6 story of 2014):

There are fewer students attending classes at Luther College this fall.
 
Official enrollment figures calculated on Wednesday placed enrollment at 2,385 students.  That's 81 students fewer than were on campus last fall.
 
The drop comes almost entirely from a smaller class of first year students this fall.  559 first year students enrolled at Luther—down from 627 last year.  There were 41 transfer students admitted last fall and 36 transfer students admitted this fall.
 
Luther College Vice President for Enrollment Scot Schaeffer says he sees several signs that Luther College next year will rebound from what he calls "a perfect storm year" this year.  First of all, Luther has 210 students of color on campus this year and 146 international students—both among the highest figures ever.  Schaeffer says "You have to be aware" that Hispanic students are accounting for a growing percentage of graduating high school seniors and he's glad Luther is doing a good job of recruiting minority students.
 
Schaeffer says Luther has also assigned an admissions counselor to cover the state of Colorado, where there are only five private colleges—and none of them are Lutheran.  A "Fly In" program later this school year will pay up to $300 of the cost of an airline ticket for a prospective student who wants to visit Luther.  High school enrollment in the Midwest has been declining in recent years, but has shown signs of beginning to level off or trend upward.  Only high schools in the Northeast had lost more students than those in the Midwest in the past decade.
 
Schaeffer says he's also pleased that retention numbers for last year's sophomores and juniors were extremely high.  He predicts next year's entering class will be higher so long as Luther sticks to doing what it does best.