Numbers cruncher

With the launch of its master's in data science program, New College of Florida welcomed graduate students onto its Sarasota campus for the first time in its 56-year history. The inaugural class of seven students started the program in February 2016, with a second class of seven students in August 2016.

The program was designed with a limit of 15 students per year, and program director Patrick McDonald expects to hit that number in fall 2017. “We were forbidden from recruiting students until after we were accredited, and that unfortunately came in after the recruiting season for graduate students for this fall ended,” he says. “But the interest level is going up as the word is getting out.”

He expects that 15-student limit to remain in place for the foreseeable future, despite New College's plans to increase its enrollment from 850 students this fall to 1,200 by fall 2022. (The honors college, which is part of the state university system, is awaiting approval of that proposal from the Board of Governors.)