Welcoming the Class of 2030
Skidmore College is welcoming 711 talented and academically accomplished first-year students and 25 transfer students to campus for the 2026-27 academic year.
The full incoming class reflects another year of strong demand for a Skidmore education, with members of the Class of 2030 selected from more than 11,800 applicants. The new students hail from 38 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, as well as 23 countries around the world — as far away as Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Timor-Leste, and Tunisia.
The robust numbers also reflect the College’s continuing commitment to affordability. This year, 72% of incoming students are receiving grant aid from the College, which now invests $96 million annually in financial aid to help make a Skidmore education possible for talented students from a wide range of economic circumstances.
“You arrived at Skidmore with intellectual curiosity, different experiences and aspirations, and tremendous potential for growth,” Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Jessica Ricker told the incoming class at New Student Convocation.
Ricker, a first-generation college graduate, also reminded students that growth “isn’t always comfortable. If something doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.”
Fourteen percent of incoming students will be the first generation in their families to attend college, and 17% are eligible for federal Pell Grants. Their prospective academic interests span the liberal arts, with psychology, management and business, biology, environmental studies, political science, English, studio art, and education among popular prospective majors.
A warm welcome
The Skidmore community formally welcomed its newest members with academic regalia, bagpipers, and celebration at New Student Convocation on Tuesday, Sept. 8.
Director of the First-Year Experience and Professor of Mathematics Rachel Roe-Dale encouraged students to embrace the opportunities and challenges ahead.
“Now more than ever, our world needs thoughtful, well-rounded, engaged citizens willing to wrestle with complicated questions,” Roe-Dale said. “Your liberal arts education at Skidmore will prepare you not simply to understand these questions, but to engage with them creatively and thoughtfully.”
“We — the faculty, staff, and returning students of Skidmore — are excited to have you here. We are excited to see what you discover, what you create, and who you become. And we are here to support you on that journey. Welcome to Skidmore! ”Rachel Roe-Dale, Director of the First-Year Experience and Professor of Mathematics
The welcome for the Class of 2030 began long before Convocation. Faculty, staff, current students, coaches, alumni, and others across Skidmore all played important roles in enrolling the new class.
This year’s New Student Convocation also included the presentation of the College’s new Land Acknowledgement. Vice President for Strategic Planning and Institutional Diversity Joshua C. Woodfork read the statement, which was approved by trustees in May.
Author and storyteller Joseph Bruchac, a tribally enrolled member of the Nulhegan Abenaki Nation, encouraged new students to think about their relationship to their new home and their responsibilities to the future.
“Don’t forget to think, as my Haudenosaunee ancestors put it, of seven generations to come,” Bruchac said. “How will what you do today affect the future?”
Student Government Association President Dylan Kostbar ’28 spoke of stage fright while encouraging new students to take risks and pursue experiences that challenge them. Kostbar then led the Class of 2030 in affirming the Skidmore College Honor Code.
“I’m sure you’ve all gotten the advice to step outside your comfort zone once you arrive at Skidmore. But I did not get on this stage by stepping; I’ve been backflipping, cartwheeling, superhero landing,” Kostbar said. “And I made all that progress at Skidmore.”
President Marc C. Conner encouraged students to embrace both the extraordinary possibilities of a Skidmore education and the kindness that characterizes the Skidmore community.
“There is a kindness to the Skidmore students and the Skidmore community unlike anything I've seen at any other college,” he said. “And there is no virtue that our world so needs right now as kindness.”
Conner concluded with a three-part charge: Be fearless and bold in pursuing a liberal arts education; take care of themselves and one another with kindness, respect, and honesty; and welcome the perspectives of those who see the world differently.
Classes began Wednesday, Sept. 9.
