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2008-06-03 issue:

Mennonite colleges, universities lead in ‘legacy’ students and alumni loyalty

Over the last three years, Goshen (Ind.) College has averaged 36 percent of its first-year students with at least one parent who was a Goshen alumnus.

by Bonnie Price Lofton

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This spring at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va., 280 undergraduates out of an enrollment of about 900 were “legacy” students. That means at least 31 percent of EMU’s students come from families where at least one parent is an alumnus of the university.
















Samfee Doe and Richard Bikko, both class of 2011, are children of graduates of EMU’s MA in conflict transformation program. Photo by Matt Styer.

Other Mennonite colleges also show strong alumni loyalty. Over the last three years, Goshen (Ind.) College has averaged 36 percent alumni children in its first-year classes. At Bethel College, in North Newton, Kan., 30 percent of its freshman class in the fall of 2007 were the sons and daughters of alumni. Hesston (Kan.) College averaged 25 percent over the last two years.*

“This is a highly unusual percentage of legacy students,” says George Dehne, president of GDA Integrated Services, a South Carolina firm that does market research for more than 300 educational institutions across the nation.

“The greatest symbol of confidence in a college is the willingness of its alumni to entrust their children to it,” Dehne says.

Such “entrusting” is understandable if the college is Ivy League or otherwise considered prestigious—such as those in the top ranks of the Princeton Review. In such cases, children of alumni are able to “play the legacy card” to gain an advantage in a highly competitive admission process.

“At U.Va., the legacy preference is seen as one way to encourage alumni to keep on making the donations that help keep tuition down,” reported the Associated Press in a March 2003 article posted at www.cnn.com/2003/education. “Today, sons and daughters of alumni make up more than 10 percent of students at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. They are 23 percent of the student population at Notre Dame. At the University of Virginia, 11 percent of this year’s freshmen class were children of alumni.”

In contrast to these “elite” schools, the EMU admissions department gives no preference to children of alumni, according to Stephanie Shaffer, undergraduate admissions director. Most “legacies” arrive at EMU with great grades and strong test scores, she says.

Large numbers of alumni—more than 1,000 in the last decade—appear to be encouraging their children to attend EMU because they love the school and what it stands for.

David Troyer, a 1987 EMU graduate living in Walnut Creek, Ohio, says, “When you experience something that truly moves you and you are certain it has changed your life for the better, you naturally want your children to have the same opportunity.”



Derrick and Nick Troyer. Photo by Matt Styer.

David’s son, senior Derrick Troyer, agrees. “My parents were a big influence. They really pushed me to go to a Mennonite school just because of their prior experiences at EMU. They were always talking about how you make lifelong friends at EMU. You can have one-on-one relationships with teachers. You are not just a number.”

Derrick told his parents he would try it out—“I thought it would be possible for me to transfer to another school”—but he not only stayed, he was joined by his younger brother Nick after his second year here.

Derrick and Nick come from a family that operates successful businesses in Ohio and Florida, including restaurants, a hotel and a retirement community. Troyer’s wife, Anna, graduated from EMU’s nursing program in 1999 as an adult student.

“Anna and I wanted a college experience for our sons that was Christ-centered in an atmosphere that encourages the exploration and deepening of their faith,” David says. “We also wanted them to have the opportunity to make lifetime friends and form connections to the broader world through the global village requirements.”

David himself is the son of an EMU alumnus. His father, Levi, earned a two-year associate degree in 1967.

“It’s a wonderful location and a wonderful place to study,” Levi said in a phone interview from his Florida home. “I made friends for a lifetime there.”

The Troyer boys have decided they like carrying on the family tradition of coming to EMU and having experiences to share, not only with their parents and grandparents, but with cousins, aunts and uncles. Says Nick: “My dad had Ron Stoltzfus [a business professor], and so have I.”

Derrick says, “Jay Landis [recently retired English professor] taught my great-aunt Mary. He remembered and talked to me about her!”

Candi Sauder King, ’96, and John P. Sauder, ’04, are the fourth generation in their family linked to EMU, beginning with their great-grandfather, Abram G. Heishman. He was one of five men who taught the first 40 students to enroll in a “special Bible term” at Eastern Mennonite in 1916. Next came their grandmother, Theda Shetter Heishman ’39, then their father John D. and mother Bonita Heishman Sauder, both class of 1972. The family is rooted in Lancaster, Pa., where John D., Bonita, Candi and John P. work together in the family business, John D. Sauder Auto Company.

Phil Wenger, ’82, owner of a chain of 20 Isaac’s Restaurants in Pennsylvania, is the grandson of the second president of EMU, son of two alumni, and one of seven siblings who came to school there.

Last April, the Daily News-Record newspaper in Harrisonburg, Va., featured relatives and descendants of Barbara Risser, who came to Eastern Mennonite in 1949. She must have enjoyed her experience and passed the word, because 21 members of the Risser clan have since attended EMU.

For their retirement years, Barbara and her husband Ben relocated not long ago from Pennsylvania to a house near EMU to keep in closer touch with the comings and goings of the second and third generation of Rissers at EMU.

“Graduations, concerts, theater performances—we’re eating it up because it won’t last long.” Barbara told the News-Record reporter. Well, that is, until the fourth generation of Rissers starts flooding in.

As EMU becomes more diverse, foreign nationals who have graduated from there are beginning to send their children back to their alma mater.

Freshman Samfee Doe (see photo at right) is the daughter of Sam Gbaydee Doe, a 1998 graduate from EMU’s then-new master’s program in conflict transformation. He is now working for the United Nations in Sri Lanka.

Richard Bikko, class of 2011, is the son of Doreen Ruto, a 2006 graduate of EMU’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. Richard attended Harrisonburg (Va.) High School while Doreen was pursuing her master’s degree. When she returned to their home in Kenya, she encouraged Richard to enroll in EMU.

“She said it was close to my faith—a good community for me to live in—and it had a good track program,” says Richard.

Two years ago, the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) surveyed 270,000 freshmen at 393 colleges.

EMU and sister schools Goshen, Bethel and Hesston are together in a class by themselves when it comes to legacy students: CIRP found that 33 percent of EMU’s incoming first-year students in 2006 were from families where at least one parent attended EMU.

By comparison, 8.8 percent of freshmen at four-year colleges nationwide were attending the alma mater of a parent, according to CIRP. At four-year religious colleges, the percentage of children of alumni was slightly higher, 9.1 percent.

CIRP assured each participating institution of the confidentiality of the information provided in the survey. As a result, CIRP only issued composite statistics, such as the percentages given above for all four-year colleges.

The three Baptist (or historically Baptist) colleges that replied to a query from this writer— Wingate College and Wake Forest University in North Carolina and Linfield College in Oregon— averaged 9 percent alumni children in their freshmen classes.

Of the three Catholic institutions that replied to queries—Notre Dame in Indiana, Duquesne in Pennsylvania and Aquinas in Michigan—only Notre Dame had a legacy rate comparable to the Mennonite colleges.—Bonnie Price Lofton of Eastern Mennonite University

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Bonnie Price Lofton of Eastern Mennonite University

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