Raise Tuition and Enrollment Both, Now?

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The intensity of the protests in California also raises questions about why officials there did not make the less difficult decision of maintaining or increasing enrollments without raising tuition fees, or raising them modestly. This is a strategy that more public and institutional officials across the country and around the world should consider as they deal with continuing shortfalls in public funding for higher education.

Arthur M. Hauptman argues that public institutions should examine carefully the option of increasing enrollments and raising tuition rather than holding tuition steady and capping enrollments. He examines four options: Capping enrollments and cutting sosts; Changing the mix of enrollments; Increasing tuition fees for existing students; and Increasing enrollments while maintaining current tuition fees.

Follow this link to more information.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA

Why Aren't There More Poor Students at Rich Colleges?

US News & World Report has new data out on the numbers of poor students at rich colleges. The numbers are remarkably low. At least one analysis finds that well-qualified poor students have "sticker shock" and are unlikely to know how much financial aid they would qualify for at a rich school.

She found that low-income students who are qualified to attend selective schools
(based on their board scores and other measures) have a probability of applying
to such schools of just 8 percent. Once they apply, though, they’re likely to
get in and receive a generous financial aid package — and once they receive
their financial aid packages, they are very likely to enroll. But many such
students may be put off by sticker shock.
“A low-income student who applies
to Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Princeton is not going to pay a dime,” she said,
“but it’s not clear whether that message gets out to them.”

Leading Indicators Provide a Peek at the Fall Admissions Story

A NACAC study shows that students have more interest in public schools, including community colleges, than before the financial crisis. Despite the challenges this presents for admissions staff, they're getting their budgets cuts at public (46 percent of schools) and at privates (30 percent of schools).

Read about it here:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/06/09/nacac

The top link is to the Inside Higher Ed story, this one is to the full report: "Effects of the Economy on the Admission Process, 2008-09, National Association for College Admission Counseling June 2009":
http://www.nacacnet.org/AboutNACAC/PressRoom/2009/Pages/EffectsoftheEconomy.aspx

School Superintendents and Community College Presidents a Great Marria

Stephen Jones writes about the synergies that are possible, but rarely effected, if community colleges can work more closely with the leadership of area high schools in ways that go beyond traditional dual enrollment initiatives:

Community college admission staff and faculty need to spend more time connecting with high schools. These professionals can play a role in changing student expectations. Some high school students say they never have received a visit from an admissions officer from any college. When community colleges reach out to schools it sends a message that students are welcomed to apply. And it might benefit parents to learn that the cost of a community college education is often half the cost of that from a four-year institution.

Facebook Applications: The Game Changer?

Subtitled, "New ways higher ed institutions can use social networking," this article takes a look at how some institutions have begun using new capabilities Facebook provides:

In November 2007, Facebook launched a series of new features including 'Pages,' which allow colleges, universities, and other schools to create a presence and recruit 'fans' among the users of the popular social networking website. Until then, institutions as well as organizations, big companies, or even small businesses were not really welcome on the popular college student online hangout. All were barred from setting up a user profile by Facebook's terms of use. Some institutional offenders even had their accounts taken down, losing all the connections established over time with their Facebook 'friends.' Before Facebook Pages, institutions could only set up groups, the same groups used by the aficionados of the wildest beer parties or the proponents of the weirdest campus causes. Within a month after the launch of the new feature, more than 700 Facebook Pages were created by institutions, alumni associations, university offices, and college departments.