High school students are applying to more colleges, so enrollment models are skewed
By Lacey Bitter
The University of Portland has received a record number of applications for the second time in two years. However, with the national economic crisis and a trend nationwide that current high school students are applying for more colleges than in the past, University officials are unsure of how many students will actually choose to come to UP next year.
"We've accepted more students than we did for this year," said University President the Rev. E. William Beauchamp, C.S.C.
The University received 9,300 applications this year compared to 8,200 last year, which was the record number until this year.
This seems to be the trend for many universities nationwide, as students and universities alike are deciding how to survive in this economy.
David Hawkins, director of public policy and research at the National Association for College Admission Counseling, described 2009 as "a typical admissions year - with a big asterisk."
Some admissions officers nationwide have speculated that the pinch of the economy will encourage high school students to apply to a greater number of schools to shop around for the best financial aid package. Others have suggested that students may prefer the lower tuition of public schools because of the financial climate.
The University admitted more students this year than in the past, but as of the beginning of April, the numbers seem to be on target for the year. The number of students that have been accepted to the University and paid their deposits is similar to that of past years, perhaps suggesting that the school's financial situation will remain stable throughout the nationwide crisis.
However, if either fewer or more students than expected choose to enroll at UP, the school is going to have to adjust its overall plan.
The University has models planned out for situations if 25, 50 or 75 fewer students choose to come to UP. While the University is faring well though the recession thus far, the school is largely tuition-funded, meaning that even just a few less students paying tuition would affect the economic situation as a whole.
Admissions has usually had a general formula for how many students to accept into the school compared to how many actually come here, but the economy has knocked this system off balance. The University could generally predict the yield rate, or the number of students that actually choose to come to UP, but UP has become one of the many schools unsure of what next year's freshman class will be.
"Schools next year don't know what that will mean because of the economic situation," Beauchamp said of the unpredictable situation.
The other potential situation that the University could face is that more students choose to come to UP than expected. This could strain the campus' class sizes and food services, but housing will be entirely able to accommodate a larger freshman class.
"We have so much space we won't have any problem," said Mike Walsh, director of Residence Life. "There's so much space available I'm not remotely worried."
The new Schoenfeldt and Fields Halls will house more than 300 residents, with many rooms reserved for freshmen, meaning that the freshman class would need to be more than a hundred students greater than expected before the housing situation would be strained at all. Even though many students have recently had to live in forced triples or converted lounge rooms, the new dorms will eliminate these situations.
While the economy has placed an extra question mark behind the already unpredictable admissions situation, the University is used to having to predict these circumstances. Nationwide, high school students may be applying to more colleges than in the past, but UP is handling the situation much like it handles each admissions year, but with even more care to the numbers.
"This happens every year," Walsh said. "It's part of the way we do business; we never know."
