by Frank Brazell
Manna University is no stranger to growth, especially over the past five years. It began in 2019-2020, when the university’s annual unduplicated headcount grew by 30% in a single year. During the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and May 2023, the university continued to experience growth, and at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year, enrollment across the university had grown an additional 41%.
As enrollments continue for the last two sub-terms that remain during the 2023-2024 year, Manna University is pleased to announce that for the seventh straight academic year, our annual unduplicated headcount has increased…
Already, this has become yet another boring data dump, filled with triumph, but lacking substance.
Do numbers matter?
Absolutely.
But why?
Because numbers represent people, and people matter.
Yes, it’s huge that we currently have 339 students who have taken at least one course during the 2023-2024 academic year. But the bigger win is that as a university, we are working to have 339 emerging leaders start well and finish better as they pursue biblical higher education. The data matters, but what matters more is the countless number of stories behind the data, stories of students who represent a family, a local church, an oikos, or a nation. Together they represent 15 countries and 33 U.S. states. They include pastors in full-time ministry, missionaries on the field, and worship leaders. They also include stay-at-home parents, public school support staff, business owners, nursing assistants, soldiers, behavioral health technicians, speech therapists, retirees, and more.
Each student took a different path to get to Manna University, and each has a unique calling given by God. One thing they all share, whether they’re in Texas or Tanzania, Fayetteville or Flanders†, is that they bear the name “Major”.
† We’re not just being alliterative, we really do have a student in Belgium.
