Sioux Center, Iowa — A Sioux County institution of higher learning is setting records.
Dordt University’s overall enrollment for the fall 2022 semester is 1,858. Dordt officials tell us that’s the largest enrollment in Dordt’s history, exceeding the fall 2021 record of 1,786 students.
This includes a record total degree-seeking undergraduate enrollment of 1,460 at the Sioux Center university.
Greg Van Dyke, director of admissions at Dordt says, “We are thrilled with God’s faithfulness to Dordt University as he brings the next generation of Christian leaders to this campus.”
Dordt’s largest majors — education, engineering, nursing, agriculture, and business — continue to be popular choices with students.
Dordt has also seen an increase in full-time graduate students. This is primarily within the Master of Social Work program, where students are more likely to want to pursue graduate work full-time to complete their degrees sooner, explains Jim Bos, registrar and director of institutional research at Dordt.
To know that overall enrollment has grown steadily for the past 15 years is encouraging, but it’s not just the figures that matter, says Dordt University President Dr. Erik Hoekstra.
He says, “We now serve 1,858 unique students, which is up from 1,254 in 2005. Each student is an individual, striving to understand God’s world and how to serve in Christ’s coming kingdom. Our enrollment growth also signals that something is happening on Dordt’s campus that people want to be part of.”
Meanwhile, Dordt officials also tell us that Dordt University has just been ranked a top Midwest regional university by U.S. News & World Report. They say Dordt University is the highest-ranked university in Iowa, according to the “Regional Universities (Midwest)” ranking released today by 2022-23 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges. Out of 166 institutions included in the “Regional Universities (Midwest)” ranking, Dordt tied for ninth with Augustana University (South Dakota) and Otterbein University (Ohio). Dordt is ahead of Iowa institutions such as the University of Northern Iowa (tied No. 17) and Northwestern College (tied No. 26). Dordt is also the highest-ranked institution within the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC).
