USU recruiting new students
With the next admission surge not due until 2018, USU’s new recruitment technique will help sustain admission.
Utah State’s traditional students surge every few years in a mini baby boom, when a large number of people of the same age begin reproducing. Members of USU’s most recent baby boom graduated in 2004. Now many of their children are in about kindergarten and won’t be applying for college till 2018.
At the same time a huge surge in immigration from Latin America has lead to a huge student body that does not traditionally pursue secondary education.
“It is not that they are not interested, it is that they are not prepared,” says John DeVilbiss, the Executive Director of Public Relations and Management. “A lot of the students are from underrepresented minorities and there is probably a mindset that college is not within their reach, and that’s something we want to correct.
DeVilbiss said, “Recruiting these students begins early with a program
called ‘Gear up.’ It goes to middle schools and outlines how to prepare for college.
The program is designed to show that college is an option for those who don’t traditionally plan for it.
“Hopefully we will see in results in the next six or seven years,” DeVilbiss said.
Eighty-six percent of Utah residents who attend Utah State consider it their first choice with 40 percent only applying to USU.
But with the decrease in that admission potential, it has forced USU to look to other states for new students. It has been an uphill battle with House bill 331 greatly increasing the requirement for obtaining residency. In-state tuition waivers were introduced last year to help combat the problem of residency.
“BYU-Idaho becoming a four-year institution also has really impacted the transfer students, with numbers decreasing from thousands to less than a hundred,” DeVilbiss said.
Recruitment is only one factor, though, and the admissions office can also help shape the student body.
Jenn Putnam, director of undergraduate admissions for USU, said, “The most important factor in admission is that the student can handle the work load expected of a USU student. Test scores aren’t everything. Students demonstrate
that they are prepared for college through grades in classes they took in high school.”
To prevent some students from being limited by language barriers, a single semester of language intensive study help prepare for college.
When asked if an influx of students like the one expected in 2008 would inflate admission standards, Putnam responded “That’s a possibility. Another possibility is that we accept more students, receive more funding and be able to accommodate that growth.”
Recruiters for the university help show USU’s adaptation; three traditional recruiters pursue the same students that USU has always sought, but two newer recruiters are bilingual.
Looking forward to the future, Putnam said she is excited to see all this work, time and effort finally start to pay off.
“Looking ahead, I see some good things,” she said.
-skjohnson@cc.usu.edu