College Choice a Family Affair

When a student chooses to attend the alma mater of a parent or other family member, institutional leaders are certainly as proud of the decision as the family is. So imagine the excitement at Hope College (Mich.), a 3,200-student liberal arts institution, when officials did the math on their freshman class:

• Four freshmen are FIFTH-generation students. That is, at least a parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, and great-great grandparent went to Hope. Each fifth-generation student in the class of 2012 traces an unbroken line of Hope College-attending ancestors dating back to the 19th century. For one of those students, both parents and both grandparents attended.
• Ten additional freshmen trace their Hope pedigree back four generations.
• Another 32 freshmen are third-generation Hope students.
• There are 77 freshmen who are second-generation Hope.
• In all, a record 123 of the freshman class of 848 can say that Hope runs in the family.

Of the many enrollment stat e-mails that hit the in-boxes of University Business staff at this time of year, the one received about Hope wins on the WOW! factor hands-down -- in this editor's opinion, at least.