The gamble behind Maryland’s most affordable university

Anthony L. Jenkins believes in calculated risks.

When he took over as president of Coppin State University in 2020, the long-struggling historically Black university was losing half its freshmen every year and having trouble recruiting more. The financial situation was dire for the institution on Baltimore’s North Avenue, Jenkins said.

So he made a bet: Rather than raising tuition to bring in more revenue, he slashed it, wagering that a more affordable college would draw more students. And so far, it’s paid off.

While colleges across the state and country face a shrinking pool of students, applications to the 126-year-old university have skyrocketed from 2,519 in 2021 to 18,381 in 2025, and enrollment is up from 2,101 students to 2,790 in the same time period. That’s thanks in large part to a first-of-its-kind program offering in-state tuition to students from more than 30 states that lack historically Black colleges and universities.

Maryland’s most affordable university, its leaders say, is winning over families who might otherwise skip college because of higher education’s rising costs and investing in the support they need to stay with it.

Today, Jenkins said, the campus is in a better financial position with more students who pay less.

‘I knew we had to try’

When Jenkins told his team he wanted to offer in-state tuition to students living as far away as California, they thought he was crazy.

“They didn’t think that the system and the state was going to support such an effort,” Jenkins said in an interview.

But by 2022, Coppin’s enrollment had dropped 44% in 10 years, “beyond the point of urgency,” he said. The university, he noted, had never had a retention or enrollment management plan.

His pitch to the University System of Maryland Board of Regents: Nearly 80% of Coppin’s graduates remain in Maryland after earning their degrees, and over 50% of them remain in Baltimore. Bringing those students onto campus would help them fall in love with the region and spur economic growth.

“We knew that we couldn’t get this wrong,” he said. “It would have been a disaster. But sometimes in leadership, you have to take a calculated risk, and I knew we had to try.”

The regents approved the program, dubbed Expand Eagle Nation, in 2023. Since then, the student body has begun to bounce back.

“Our enrollment has grown every year over the last four years at a minimum of 5% annually,” Jenkins said. “Last year we saw a 26.6% growth, making us the fastest growing university in Greater Baltimore.”

Coppin won’t know the official size of its student body until this fall, but Jenkins said he believes it will be “somewhere in the mid-3,000s.”

Marybeth Gasman, a professor studying historically Black colleges at Rutgers University, said Coppin State has historically “been one of the weaker” public HBCUs and called the Expand Eagle Nation program a “brilliant move” to recruit new students.

“I hadn’t heard that Coppin was doing this, and it’s quite impressive,” Gasman said.

Enrollment at HBCUs has been on the rise for a few years, she said, and it often comes with growing pains, like the dearth of on-campus housing at Coppin.

The university is now constructing a new residence hall, which Jenkins hopes will open sometime this fall.

Full-time tuition for in-state students is $7,524 per year, the cheapest tuition rate for a public four-year college in Maryland. For out-of-staters, it’s $14,726, though many now pay the in-state price.

Other schools in the university system, like Frostburg State University, are experimenting with discounting tuition for students from neighboring states. But none so far offers the wide-ranging discounts that Coppin offers.

Affordability was the selling point for Shy-Heem Breedlove, a rising junior from the South Bronx. He qualified for Expand Eagle Nation because the state of New York doesn’t have any historically Black universities.

“My mother, a single parent, and I were going back and forth about how I was going to pay for tuition,” said Breedlove, who chose Coppin over Howard and Morgan State universities. “When I got in-state tuition at Coppin, I knew I would go.”

The university, Breedlove said, made him “more confident as a man.” He hopes to become a special education teacher when he graduates and live in Maryland for the foreseeable future.

‘An easy sell’

The top floor of the Parlett L. Moore Library on the Coppin State campus features panoramic views of Baltimore, shiny new offices, and many studying students.

The university, focused on retaining an influx of new students, turned the floor into an academic penthouse with a writing center, math tutors and a suite of advisors to make sure students are staying on the right path.

In 2020, Coppin State’s retention rate, or percentage of students who returned to campus after their first year, was the lowest in the public university system at 55%. In 2025, it hit 71%, the highest in Coppin State’s history, though it’s still 10 percentage points below the university system average.

“That energized people on campus,” Jenkins said. “We’ve been on a historic ride.”

Coppin students are more likely than most to need extra support. Nearly 60% of them receive Pell Grants, federal aid for those with exceptional financial need, and almost 65% are the first in their families to attend college. About a third of students had high school GPAs between 2.5 and 2.9, according to the College Board.

The university has drastically expanded its peer mentoring program, introduced financial wellness courses and embedded tutors into the most difficult classes offered. Students receive “audits” from their advisors once they complete 30, 60 and 90 credits to make sure they remain on track to graduate.

Most students have multiple advisors who help them pick classes and teach them study strategies. And those who need extra help adjusting to college life can participate in a free summer program before starting their first year.

If a student completes 30 credits in a year — most do — they are allowed to earn six credits for free over the summer, equivalent to two classes.

James Stewart, the university’s associate vice president for student development and achievement, said students see the value in all that support.

“Affordability is top of mind of students,” he said. “When they uncover that the affordability is not about an inferior product, it becomes an easy sell.”

‘Invaluable and irreplaceable’

Higher enrollment allowed Coppin leaders to negotiate a more cost-effective dining services agreement. Starting this year, students will see a 12% drop in their meal plan costs.

The university is also building a new residence hall so more students will be able to live on campus. And, Jenkins said, Coppin State hasn’t cut any academic programs since he arrived.

Like other public universities in Maryland, Coppin still relies heavily on state funding, said Stephen Danik, the university’s vice president for administration and finance.

Even though the university’s balance last year showed losses of about $10 million, that was mainly due to depreciating facilities and equipment, he noted.

“Like a lot of other small schools, we’re challenged with maximizing the resources we have,” he said.

Coppin is now focused on recruiting more transfer students from two-year colleges out of state. The university has signed two memorandums of understanding with the community college systems in Colorado and California that allow their students to apply more credits toward a Coppin State degree. That includes credits that count toward their major, courses most four-year colleges require students to retake.

According to Jenkins, partnerships with two-year colleges in Massachusetts, New York and Philadelphia are in the works.

Shamonique Harris, a rising senior at Coppin, transferred to the university from Long Beach City College, a two-year college in California. She wants to become a social worker or work in public policy, ideally in Maryland.

“This university has transformed my life,” Harris said.

That’s the university’s goal, according to Jenkins.

“We’re going to continue to move low-income students into the middle and upper class,” he said. “We are invaluable and irreplaceable to Baltimore and Maryland.”

About the Education Hub

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