Admissions at MFS have been declining in recent years. Over the past 10 years, enrollment dropped from 720 to just over 600 in the 2025-2026 school year.
Admissions is, and always has been, an important department within MFS, serving as the key identifier in choosing students who will best fit MFS’s program and community. At the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, Evan Haine-Roberts became the Director of Enrollment Management, and Keith Meyers became the Assistant Director of Admissions for Middle/Upper School. The other members of the team are Kate Hilgen, Assistant Director of Admissions for Lower School, and Gabi Vovsi, Admissions Coordinator.
Increasing marketing for MFS has been an important part of the team’s plans this year.
Meyers stated, “We’ve started doing more targeted marketing campaigns in areas where our students come from … [people] might start seeing more marketing materials or might be hearing from [their] neighbors that [they] might be getting more marketing materials, and that’s because we’re trying to zero in on some of the communities that our students come from.”
Meyers also spoke about pinpointing those targets for marketing instead of “sending it blindly to all of South Jersey or just to one part of it.”
Haine-Roberts said the team also hosts shadow days and open houses.
“We want [potential students’ families] to see our real classes, our real teachers, our real students, and to be like, ‘Yeah, I can imagine my kid here, or I can imagine myself here,’” said Haine-Roberts.
Following the Quaker testimonies that are important at MFS, Meyers eagerly spoke about his ideas of hosting community events after school or during school hours to promote its Quaker ideas and build connections, inside and outside of the current MFS community.
“We’re looking to get into more community events … we can increase after-school gatherings or activities for our friends and our families,” explained Meyers.
The admissions team is also thinking about the school’s financial aid program.
“We’ve thought a lot about our financial aid and how we offer it, and the extent to which we offer it … [With] our mission as a Quaker school, we need to make sure that we’re offering financial aid in a way that can make the school accessible to the greatest number of mission-fit, academic-fit, social, emotional, [and] community-fit students as possible,” said Haine-Roberts. “Thinking strategically and thoughtfully about financial aid [and] rethinking our tactics in terms of how we appeal to people during the admissions process” will help increase numbers.
The incorporation of potential students who will join the community and fit our school’s values also matters to MFS admissions; Haine-Roberts and Meyers also explained this as “MFS’s message.”
“When they hear the mission of Moorestown Friends as a Quaker school, a diverse community that’s interested in academic excellence and ethical leadership, do they resonate with that mission? [Is that potential student] a social, emotional, and community fit?” asked Haine-Roberts.
He continued, “How [do we as the Admissions Department] translate the mission of Moorestown Friends and the community to this moment in time, culturally and academically? How do we make sure we’re sharing that in clear ways and continuing to maintain a diverse and accessible community?”
The criteria for becoming a part of the MFS community does not solely depend on academic fit at the school. Potential families need to be aware of Quakerism and the Quaker values that are embedded into many aspects of the school’s program.
Meyers said he shares the Quaker values during tours, shadow days, meetings, and his day-to-day conversations with prospective families, explaining MFS’s main Quaker message of holding everyone “in the light.”
Meyers said that Quakerism is “interwoven into the curriculum.” He said he explains to families that MFS has classes to educate students on Quaker beliefs, but more importantly, Meyers believes that “[these classes help you] grow as a leader and just grow your mind to understand different beliefs and accept different beliefs.”
“I also think that at least I try to make it pretty clear in the admissions process, where the school stands with [Quaker values] … [if] I don’t get the sense that a person’s personal beliefs align with our community and our values, [it’s] my job is to talk things through,” said Meyers.
