By Kristine Pascual, Sep. 3, 2024
With 51,000 applications and 37,600 admitted students, CPP has welcomed 4,704 first-time students, the largest freshman class in history.
As of the first day of school, there were about 26,800 Broncos, including returning, new and transfer students. Last fall, CPP was home to about 26,400 students.
Jessica Michelle Wagoner, the Senior Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management and Services at CPP credits the uptick in applications to outreach and recruitment prior to Fall semester.
“I think we did a great job with outreach,” Wagoner said. “They yielded our Bronco Bound Day Open House — It was really wonderful, we were challenged with the weather and we still pulled it off.”
Each school year, the admissions office is tasked with meeting a certain threshold of students. CPP is challenged to meet that enrollment goal as close as they can. Over the last few years, the other CSU campuses have experienced a decline of 6.5% in enrollment between 2019 and 2022. Only four CSU campuses were able to see enrollment growth. According to Wagoner, CPP luckily avoided the decline and was able to keep steady enrollment.
With the largest freshman class, CPP was prepared, thanks to the Governor’s Compact. Out of 23 CSU campuses, CPP was one of eight to receive additional funding for student resources and growing enrollment.
“Having more applications is great because if you have a target but you don’t have enough applications to achieve that target, that’s a problem,” Wagoner said. “With the combination of us getting additional funding for the Chancellor’s Office to grow and the Governor’s Compact — It allowed us to admit our largest freshman class.”
Freshman and technology and operations management student, Krish Gupta was pleased with his first day at CPP.
“My first day was Thursday and it was really chill and welcoming,” Gupta said. I made a lot of friends,” Gupta said. “I’ve always heard the stereotype that CPP is a socially dead school,” Gupta said. “But from what I’ve seen it also has some fun, outside activities too.”
As part of the 4,700 CPP freshman, Gupta sees the increase as a way for CPP to become more diversified. Gupta noted that during his time in India last summer, most of the people there were aware of CPP.
“I know there’s a lot of international students from India and Asian countries,” Gupta said. “CPP is becoming more of a renowned school. I didn’t have to explain what CPP was, most of the people knew where it was and that it is a good school.”
Like many California students, Gupta applied for all of the UC schools and seven CSU campuses. Choosing between UC Riverside, UC Santa Cruz and CPP, Gupta felt drawn to CPP.
“I chose Pomona because I wanted smaller class sizes for personalized learning and I really liked the ‘learn by doing’ model,” Gupta said.
For the most part, business student Isaiah Sherman agrees with increasing CPP’s student body. Sherman cites a difference in liveliness between his arrival to CPP in 2022, versus his first few days in the current Fall semester.
“When I first got to CPP it wasn’t really as active as it is now,” Sherman said. “Events weren’t as fun because a lot of people wouldn’t really show up. I went to Bronco Fusion and the club fair this year and it was actually super packed. It was fun because there were a lot of people.”
On Sherman’s first day this semester, he noticed the campus being a lot more crowded. However, he said that having more students felt more like a true college campus rather than a commuter school. community, something CPP students have often felt lacking in in the past, overall making the increased student population a good thing in Sherman’s eyes.
“I went to the BRIC and there were a bunch of people there working out in the morning,” Sherman said. “I also went to get food with my friends around 12 and the line was out the door at the BSC. But I feel like it was good energy, it was cool.”
On the downside of accepting more students is the parking situation. With Mt. Sac and iPoly High School next door, campus roads can quickly get backed up.
Though Gupta doesn’t have a car on campus, he has heard horror stories from friends about finding parking. He recalls one of his friends who commuted from Fullerton but because he was unable to find parking, he had to park nearby campus and take the bus instead.
“Another guy I know couldn’t find parking at all,” Gupta said. “He ended up going home and taking an Uber to school.”
However, Gupta does not feel that being a part of the largest freshman class will affect him negatively. He was able to enroll into the classes he had planned to take.
“I think the increase in freshmen is good especially for CPP when it comes to increasing diversity,” Gupta said. “My first day was Thursday and it was really chill and welcoming. I made a lot of friends. I think with a lot more people on campus, there’s more social events that come with that.”
Featured Image by Darren Loo
