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denials by federal student aid officials of Parent Plus Loans (PPL) — low cost college education loans whose repayment is guaranteed by parents.
"We did not anticipate this," Robinson said, referring to the number of students who would not be able to complete registration. "We thought we were pretty much on target. Late in the cycle, the anticipation [of an incremental enrollment increase] looked pretty promising."
While the inability of students to pull together sufficient funds stood out as the headline explaining the enrollment decline, Robinson said officials suspect the shopping list of other deterrents includes the changes in financial aid verification. The legendary FAFSA form, the voluminous document required of all students seeking financial aid, now requires an Internal Revenue transcript to verify certain family income data. Any "new wrinkle" in the registration process becomes another hurdle for some prospects in the path of going to college, Robinson said.
Florida A&M University, which saw enrollment fall by nearly 1,000 students from this time a year ago to 12,027 students, cites a combination of factors in its enrollment decline — increased admission standards, a 12 percent boost in tuition that made it even more financially challenging to attend the university, and the tarnished reputation it suffers in the aftermath of last fall's death-by-hazing of a university drum major.
In Houston, Texas Southern University (TSU) trumpeted how it has been able to increase freshman enrollment this fall to 1,364 students while honoring its goal to "optimize enrollment of college-ready students" by gradually raising admissions standards by half a point since 2009 to 2.5. The freshman class admitted this fall had a high school grade point average of 2.7.
TSU President John M. Rudley credits the university's newly-formed admissions committee with helping the university meet its recruitment and enrollment goals, including screening so-called "borderline" students with a GPA of 2.5 or below and deciding to admit 158 students with these lower grade point averages based on other showings of potential to succeed in college.
The strategy of aiming higher was much the same at the University of Texas San Antonio, a Hispanic-serving institution. Dr. George Norton, vice president for student affairs, said the overall slippage from the university's enrollment goal by nearly 500 students was "anticipated" once the university realized its freshman enrollment would be down. The silver lining in the enrollment decline is that the smaller student body signed up for more semester hours. That helps offset the loss of some revenue from overall head count, Norton said, suggesting that students who are attending the university are more focused on graduating on time, if not sooner than the standard four years.
Like tweaks to an automobile to prepare it for the rigors of winter driving, institutions are employing a variety of strategies as they try to lure prospects for Fall 2013.
Even with a steady overflow of applicants, Hampton plans to become even more selective as part of its plan to reduce enrollment while attracting top students.
"It's a competitive process for recruiting overall," said Boyd. "Everybody is recruiting almost the same students. To win, you offer a quality experience."
Bowie State's Robinson said the university is planning a "more robust" recruitment of honors students and prospects who want to focus on science, technology, engineering and math. The university is "beefing up" its recruitment of transfer students, especially those coming from community colleges. It has hired an additional person for its admissions and recruiting staff to focus on articulation agreements with other institutions of higher learning and "strengthening" the university's relationship with community colleges.
When reminded that enrolling more transfer students would not impact how federal and state agencies measure graduation rates (they are based on following freshmen cohorts through their scheduled four-year or six-year path), Robinson echoed officials at other institutions, saying, “We are focused on graduating all the students who come to us. What matters is not how many students you have, but how many you graduate.”
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undergraduate majors. Maintaining an appropriate level of peer recognition for professional graphic design work.
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