Dr. David Thomas
When he took the reins of the men-only historically Black college in 2018, the institution was still struggling with declining enrollment that began with the 2008 recession. Thomas says the recession drove down enrollment from about 2,700 students then to about 1,700 when he arrived. And the college didn’t have much money for its rainy-day fund.
“We had little to no unrestricted reserves, which meant we didn’t have enough money to run the college for a year if the economy fell apart on us,” Thomas says during a recent phone interview with Diverse.
“Today, that’s reversed,” he says. “Our liquidity is great. We could run the college for almost two years just on our unrestricted reserves and quasi endowment. We’ve doubled our endowment,” he says, adding that the endowment grew from $127 million in 2018 to $285 million today.
“I’m most proud of the fact that we moved the college from a precarious financial position to a very solid one,” Thomas says.
As for student enrollment, in 2023 it stood at over 2,738, federal data show. Thomas is also proud of the fundraising success that the college has enjoyed during his presidency, which will end when he retires in June.
“In the last seven years we’ve raised $330 million,” Thomas says. “And most of that has gone toward student scholarships and affordability.
“A good chunk has also gone toward campus infrastructure,” Thomas says, rattling off a list of construction or infrastructure projects, such as a new residence hall that will house more than 300 students, a new 58,000-square-foot campus center, and doing about $20 million in deferred maintenance.
But more money in the bank and more students on campus is just part of the story. Thomas says Morehouse has also increased its graduation rates. The graduation rate currently stands at 54% – just four percentage points shy of the 58% midpoint for four-year schools – according to The College Scorecard, whereas Thomas says the four-year graduation rate was less than 37% when he arrived.
Morehouse has also become more selective about who it admits, Thomas says, mentioning figures that show the acceptance rate was 75% in 2018 versus 33% now.
“So, we’ve grown our enrollment both by increasing applications but also by increasing our retention, and we’re much more in demand,” Thomas says. “We had a 1,500-student waiting list this year and, five years ago, a thousand of those 1,500 would have been directly admitted, so we’ve become more selective and much more in-demand.”
Thomas attributes the college’s success during his time to doing things that generated positive press for the school.
“We had a number of strategically managed events at the college that created buzz about us,” Thomas says.
