La Sierra sets enrollment goals, maps strategies for success

During February meetings of the La Sierra University Board of Trustees the university was given the green light to create a three-year budget beginning with the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and with the following two years of the budget built upon an enrollment baseline created in year one.

“That [board] action represents tremendous support of and confidence in the administration,” La Sierra University President Christon Arthur said in a February 18 newsletter and board report to the campus and university stakeholders. “We have an opportunity to make … strategic and focused investments in the areas that are supporting growth in student enrollment. In the 2025-2026 budget, we shall continue to invest. And in the following years, we shall review the return on the investments and continue to invest or pivot accordingly.”

The university in fall of 2024 established a fall 2025 enrollment target of 500 new students and a 10-year goal of 5,000 in total enrollment for the university.

"We are putting our best minds to pursue our greatest potential." -- Dr. Christon Arthur, President, La Sierra University

Meanwhile, a strategic planning committee is working on crafting a new university strategy and has sought the input of campus members on a new university marketing tagline toward increasing brand awareness and collectively determining the university’s core purpose and values which will ground decision-making processes. A working group of the strategic planning committee worked on the university’s core purpose and core values statements.

The new strategic plan is expected to be completed by November 2025. Key near-term investments include the hiring of a vice president of marketing which is expected during spring quarter and the development of social media and other advertising campaigns aimed at attracting new students. The Student Association of La Sierra University (S A L S U) organized a mixer so that current students interacted with prospective students, to share the amazing ways is adding value to them. Nyla Provost, S A L S U president said, “S A L S U wants to be a part of the ‘enroll 500’ initiative. We want prospective students to know about the positive experiences we have, because of La Sierra.” 

Other strategies are underway toward directly boosting enrollment over the coming months with plans moving forward for developing tactics such as pinpointing competitive advantage and the university’s brand promise with a focus on rapid execution.

"We want prospective students to know about the positive experiences we have." -- Nyla Provost, S A L S U President

Toward increasing campus engagement with university strategic and enrollment progress as well as transparency on operational matters, administrators held a first employee meeting on Jan. 23. Faculty and staff filled an amphitheater classroom in Cossentine Hall to hear updates and ask questions. Quarterly employee meetings will be held going forward.

“La Sierra’s best days are ahead,” Arthur said. “There is energy, there is excitement on campus. We are putting our best minds to pursue our greatest potential. We recognize that we will not grow simply by solving problems – we shall become great by leveraging our differentiated growth advantage.”