Photo by Chase Snyder.

At my first youth convention, I found out the real truth about the five Mennonite colleges – they’re so different.

Goshen College has wonderful purple pens; Bluffton University has cool little bags; Bethel College has neat, light-up key chains; Hesston College has pencils with erasers that actually work; and Eastern Mennonite University has puzzles.

Does it seem odd that Mennonite higher education is spending money and resources to compete against other Mennonites? It’s not exactly a perfect picture of loving one’s neighbor. Especially in the current economic reality, are we willing to watch a Mennonite college close down?

What if Mennonite colleges could work together to portray our shared aspects of Mennonite liberal arts education: community, global education and peacemaking? We could create a larger wave in the college market.

I don’t think it’s important which Mennonite school someone chooses. What matters is that a person chooses a Mennonite college.

The reality is that the Mennonite colleges are not prospering. And it’s not because everyone is choosing the same Mennonite college – it’s because people are not choosing Mennonite colleges at all.

I think that at Convention 2009 in Columbus this summer, we should tell the thousands of youth why they should chose a Mennonite college. In the era of hyper-individualism, why do we need to be just Goshen College? I’d rather be “Goshen College, neighbor and friend to EMU, Bethel, Bluffton and Hesston.” This feels more confident amidst our uncertain realities.

When the college mail starts piling up for overwhelmed prospective students, the single Hesston College letter can easily get buried under the other state schools. It is more difficult to bury the idea of THE MENNONITE COLLEGE.

We could even make a Mennonite college T-shirt with a thresher, beaver, maple leaf, lion and larks if necessary.

Annalisa Harder is a sophomore English and history double major from Bluffton, Ohio.

The high school seniors and potential classmates visited Goshen College to interview for the President’s Leadership Award, Gorsline and Anglemyer scholarships, Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning scholarships and music scholarships.

“We want to bring all of these students to the college so they can meet more faculty and learn more about Goshen,” said Lynn Jackson, vice president for enrollment management. “The students on campus had a great attitude, were up-beat and excited to meet potential classmates.”

This year there were 100 applicants for the P.L.A., the most prestigious scholarship given to first-year students. Last year only 68 prospective students applied for the award.

The increase in Goshen applicants isn’t limited to those going for the P.L.A.. Already this year the admission office has received more first-year student applications (566 as of Tuesday afternoon)  than they received last year by the end of August (557).

Last fall the college announced a significant decrease in first-year students from the previous class (172 compared to 202 in 2007).

The admission team has drafted 22 new initiatives to increase enrollment. Additionally, admission moved up the priority application deadline from Dec. 15 to Nov. 15.

Unlike last year, there is now a full admission staff.

In other changes, the admission staff adapted how often prospective students receive certain mailings. “We send information when [prospectives] need it and not overwhelm them,” Jackson said.

The college is working hard to attract regional students. There are now four counselors who focus on regional admission, which includes Indiana, western Ohio, southern Michigan and parts of eastern Illinois.

“We believe there are students within that area that have never heard of Goshen College who would make great students,” Jackson said. “We found that [regional] students didn’t know we were here.”

But the admission office isn’t forgetting traditionally Mennonite locations. “We have not stopped traveling to the places we traditionally go to recruit students,” Jackson said. “We aren’t cutting anything. We’re expanding. We want to continue to work with students who are coming from Mennonite Church USA.”

Despite the high number of applications so far this year, Jackson was cautiously optimisitic, and said there is still work to be done before new students arrive on campus next fall.