Albrecht: enrollment problem will be solved in 18 months
Drops in enrollment at Utah State University may be a problem of the past thanks to increased recruiting efforts, but university officials know they’re not out of the woods yet.
“I promise you in 18 months we’ll take care of the enrollment problem,” USU President Stan Albrecht said to members of the Board of Trustees Friday.
The goal of the university is to have 5,000 potential students apply at USU in order to receive about 2,400 more students for fall semester 2006, Executive Vice President Raymond Coward said.
“In terms of increasing enrollment, this is the first inning, not the ninth, so we still have eight more innings to go,” he said. “Obviously it’s critical for the future of the university.”
An enrollment committee meets weekly to review any other additional activity possibilities to attract more students. The university has already expanded relations with surrounding communities by means of its Road Scholars Tour.
Nearly 2,000 prospective students and their parents attended open houses held in Sandy, Provo and Layton during the past two weeks. Advising from all seven colleges as well as housing, admissions, honors, financial aid and student life information was available.
“These kids came from all over the valley,” Albrecht said. “We’re just extremely pleased.”
At the open houses, many prospective students applied to USU and some walked away with scholarship letters in their hands, said Joyce Kinkead, vice provost for undergraduate studies and research.
“They really appreciated the personal touch,” said Juan Franco, vice president for student services. “We’re going to get more than our fair share this time around.”
The only drawback from the open houses was that the university was not able to visit other communities such as Morgan and Rich counties, Abrecht said.
“I wish we could do this in every area of the state,” he said.
USU officials will also be visiting Preston, Idaho, in February to increase enrollment from neighboring states. The university is also hoping to receive 400 out-of-state tuition waivers from the Legislature for fall semester 2006.
“We’re not getting any resistance to this,” Albrecht said. “The goal is to apply these waivers this year.”
Additional recruiting efforts include improving the application process and financial advising as well as having more fact-to-face contact with potential students, Coward said.
“We think if [potential students] have the opportunity to interact with other students on campus, that will seal the deal,” he said.
-mmackay@cc.usu.edu