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March 1999
by Dr. John W. Bardo -- jbardo@wcu.edu
This year much of the attention of the campus has been focused
on issues involving admissions and retention of undergraduate
students. Additionally, Dean Turay has begun the process of
re-examining our approach to graduate student recruitment
and services. I know that many of you are interested in where
we are this spring and what the trends seem to be for fall.
I also would like to make sure that you are aware of emerging
state issues with regard to enrollment planning.
SPRING ENROLLMENT
We have passed the "freeze date" (the date on which
all student data files are frozen and official institutional
reports are submitted) for spring enrollment and the numbers
are set. You may recall that last fall we suffered a decline
in headcount enrollment of approximately 250. This reduction
seems primarily to have been the result of two factors: 1)
we substantially increased admissions criteria, and 2) many
students failed to meet your increased academic expectations.
The implementation of the computing admission standard may
have had some modest impact in causing some students not to
choose Western, but we also know that there are many students
in the freshman class who enrolled at Western because of the
requirement.
Data are now available for the fall semester and indications
are that the work in which you have been engaged is making
a difference. Student achievement is up significantly, as
is student retention, and the number of serious problems experienced
by students is down very significantly. Although the percentages
are still higher than we would like, suspension rates are
down more than one-eighth and probation rates are down more
than one-fifth for freshmen. Discussions with faculty members
indicate no "backing off" with regard to academic
expectations; there is a general consensus that students simply
performed better academically.
Your work this fall has had an impact on our current spring
enrollment. Our fall-to-spring retention rate is up significantly.
In fact, it is the highest we have experienced since 1992
and it reverses a seven-year trend of decline. At the undergraduate
level, we are beginning to see the impact of higher expectations,
learning contracts, learning communities, and the increased
attention you are giving to individual students. At the graduate
level we are continuing to see softness in enrollment in Cullowhee,
but a significant increase in enrollment in Asheville. The
net effect is that we have cut the deficit in headcount students
from 250 in the fall to approximately 50 this spring.
Another important corollary of your increase in expectations
is that we are seeing a significant decline in problems associated
with alcohol abuse. In the first two months of the fall, the
number of serious alcohol incidents in the residence halls
declined approximately 57 percent. Also, the Counseling Center
reports that it has had a major reduction in the number of
crisis interventions.
I have been asked several times about the budget implications
of the enrollment decline and I know that many of you are
concerned. We will not hear from the General Administration
for some time about this issue, but we are taking precautions.
Rick Collings is holding vacant positions so that if we do
suffer a budget cut, current full-time faculty will not have
reason for concern. From discussions with him, I believe that
he has prepared for any reasonable eventuality. And, while
this leaves a number of departments in "limbo" regarding
searches, it is the prudent approach to these circumstances.
Rick assures me that he will release any remaining open positions
as soon as we know where we are budgetarily.
FALL 1999 ENROLLMENT
Fall 1999 enrollment depends on both recruitment and retention.
We are making significant progress, but we need to continue
to focus on these issues. It is too early to get a read on
graduate admissions, but we are beginning to see a trend in
undergraduate admissions. As of February 15, we are running
somewhat ahead of last year in total applications. The number
of applications received each week seems to be stronger than
those received in the equivalent week last year. The average
applicant seems to be somewhat better than last year, but
our final SAT will result primarily from our ability to convert
better applicants into enrollees. We have every chance to
break 1000 on the SAT average for the first time if we improve
our conversion of academically talented applicants. It is
especially critical that we work with students who have SATs
between 1000 and 1200 and GPAs between 3.0 and 3.5. These
students do not qualify for the Honors College, and they generally
are not awarded academic scholarships. However, they still
are excellent students who can contribute a great deal to
the University and to your classes. It also should be noted
that, even though currently we are using a minimum SAT that
is 140 points higher than we used in 1996, we seem to have
fewer applicants who do not meet our minimum standards. High
school counselors seem to be more aware of our increased admissions
standards.
It is significant that we seem to be attracting a number
of excellent applicants. This year, thirty-seven North Carolina
Teaching Fellow regional finalists named Western as their
first-choice institution. Also, we have applications from
ten National Merit semifinalists. We expect eight or nine
of these students to be named finalists. This is particularly
important because we are in our last year of candidacy for
"National Merit" status. The Honors College has
admitted more than 210 students who have an average SAT of
1221 and an average weighted high school GPA of 4.07. We need
to actively recruit every one of these teaching fellows, National
Merit Finalists, and Honors College applicants. They will
make a difference in your classes and in the reputation of
your University.
The critical issue for us at this time involves our ability
to convert admitted students into registered students. The
Pappas Group, our admissions and retention consultants, continue
to press on the notion that creating a personal relationship
with prospective students is the very best way to convert
them from applicants to enrollees. This "personal relationship"
form of recruiting is much more effective if it involves people
with whom the student will interact once he or she comes to
Western. Therefore, we have asked faculty, staff, and students
to call, write, or otherwise contact accepted students. I
cannot overemphasize how important these contacts are. Major
universities-Clemson and Kentucky for two-understand that
faculty members and current students are by far the best contacts
for prospective students. On average, a student who enrolls
in a university should get seven contacts from the campus.
The more of these that are personal and directly address the
student's needs and interests, the more likely the student
is to enroll.
Last fall, we had current students telephone prospective
students. They were able to complete more than 1,500 calls.
Data show that students who received a telephone call from
Western were 2.7 times more likely to complete an application
than ones who did not. This spring, we have continued calling
prospects and as a result we have sent out more than 200 additional
applications to people who had not yet applied. Personal contact
works.
I would like to thank each department that is actively calling
prospective students and to especially thank those faculty
and staff members who have taken responsibility for making
these calls. It is time consuming, but it will pay off. You
will see good students in your classes who are interested
in your field of study. You are not only helping grow the
institution, but you are helping attract really good students
to your major. If you have not yet taken part in contacting
students, please consider doing so. After all, would you have
preferred to go to school where you were wanted or where no
one cared about you?
ENROLLMENT POLICY ISSUES
We have been discussing for some time the need for Western
to grow. It is interesting to note that state policy now seems
to be moving in a direction that should assist us.
Members of the General Assembly and Board of Governors are
concerned about projections that indicate that demand for
university enrollment in North Carolina will increase very
significantly over the next several years. Adding to their
concern is the fact that UNC-CH and NCSU are already large
and space is at a premium. Therefore, they are looking to
the regional universities to absorb much of the new enrollment.
According to an article in the Asheville Citizen-Times, Western,
ECU, and UNC-Wilmington are specifically targeted to grow.
To assist with enrollment and capital planning, President
Broad engaged the firm of Eva Klein and Associates. Ms. Klein
visited campus in the fall and she recently made her preliminary
report to the Board of Governors. Her projections are based
on national space utilization standards and a detailed analysis
of the capacities of each university campus. Further, she
considered the degree to which the local infrastructure could
manage the increased enrollment. The tentative conclusions
of her analysis regarding Western are:
- Based on national utilization standards, our existing
gross square footage of academic space is sufficient
to accommodate 9,000 or more students. Much of the
space is poorly configured and would need renovation
to be used more effectively. The sciences may require a
new building, or the existing buildings will require
extensive renovation.
- To accomplish significant growth, we will need additional
residence halls and student support spaces. Of particular
note was Ms. Klein's support for a major indoor recreation
center.
- Because the University controls most of its own
infrastructure, we have the potential to make necessary
modifications to accommodate additional enrollment.
- To allow for appropriate capital planning and orderly
development of the campuses, there is need for a new
capital funding model. This model should consider
total campus need for capital construction and be based
on a combination of funds, possibly including state
appropriations, bonds, and student fees. Currently,
residence halls and recreational facilities are paid
for solely by student fees. The new proposal would focus
attention on institutional need rather than on type
of facility.
In addition to Ms. Klein's work, General Administration staff
has completed a study of tuition rates. The study's preliminary
conclusion is that out-of-state tuition rates at the regional
universities are somewhat higher than at similar institutions
nationally. Therefore, the Board of Governors has under consideration
a proposal to increase out-of-state tuition little, if at
all, until rates at regional institutions nationally catch
up with those charged in the UNC system.
In addition to these general issues of physical plant and
tuition, I have been discussing with Ms. Klein and several
staff members at General Administration other educational
policy issues that can affect growth of the regional campuses.
Most important among these issues are consideration of locating
popular academic degree programs at the regional universities
to encourage students to enroll; development of a merit-based
in-state scholarship program to encourage academically talented
students to enroll at the regional campuses, thus increasing
both the campus's reputation and enrollment; and assisting
with marketing the regional universities. Although there are
no conclusions to these conversations, the issues are being
entertained.
I expect that there will be differences of opinion regarding
the impact of growth on the University and the actual numbers
of students that we should enroll. While there will be a great
deal of discussion of these issues, we are all too aware of
the implications of not growing. What I believe is most critical
as we grow is that we not lose focus on our essential culture
and traditions. Western has consciously kept classes small
and focused a great deal of our time and talent on teaching
our students. The quality of their experiences on campus should
increase as we improve services-if we continue to keep our
class sizes small. North Carolina has a long tradition of
funding enrollment increases; it is in large measure local
decisions at universities that create large classes. We can
resist this temptation and retain our focus on quality education
with a personal touch. An overall increase in student enrollment
does NOT necessarily mean we would have to lose our small-classes
advantage. Your willingness to spend time and effort on individual
students is truly what makes this campus special.
Again, thank you for all your hard work and your willingness
to make the moves necessary to assure Western's future.
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