Fall 2007 Enrollment - Reversing the Negative Trend
Fall 2007 enrollment is down over 3% compared to Fall 2006 enrollment figures, both headcount and student credit hours. While the administration may offer up various demographic explanations for this decline, the following thoughts have been sent to Washburn University board members for their consideration.
1. Business has found that it costs less to retain current customers than to gain new customers. Washburn University may want to consider that lesson.
I am a former Washburn University student. I didn’t deliberately choose that status, it just snuck up on me.
I enrolled in a Fall 2007 class. On the first day of class, I checked online to confirm the location of my class. I couldn’t find my class listed. Assuming it was an internet browser glitch, I went to a different location to use a different computer and a different internet browser. Still, I couldn’t find the listing. So, I went to the building where I knew the class would be held, hoping to find the classroom, or a note regarding the class. Ultimately, I discovered that the class was cancelled due to low enrollment.
I wasn’t notified of this fact, nor was I invited to enroll for an alternative course. It seemed that my enrollment was insignificant to Washburn University.
Later in the semester, my MyWashburn account was disabled, further disenfranchising me from this institution of higher education. Access to the spring, 2008 course schedule was no longer available to me online.
Thus, my new status - a former Washburn University student.
2. Tuition rates have become unaffordable for a significant segment of your population.
One-third (33%) of the Washburn students are enrolled part-time. These students are not eligible for the financial aid, such as grants, jobs, scholarships, and loans, that assist full-time students with the costs of a college education.
A comparison of the Fall 2006 with the Fall 2007 enrollment report indicates that 30% of your student credit hour decline came from the loss of 158 undergraduate and non-degree seeking students enrolled for less than twelve credit hours. This decline of 751 credit hours had a dollar value of almost $140,000 for the fall semester.
With tuition currently at $185 per credit hour, a typical three hour course now costs over $500. That high tuition rate is certainly discouraging students that already provide significant support through their tax dollars from taking advantage of an institution that should be there to serve their educational needs.
3. Maybe Transformational Experience wasn’t such a great idea.
Watch the trend of declining enrollment past freshman year very carefully. Hopefully the retention report promised by Institutional Research will specifically address the impact of the $1.0 million Transformational Experience program on student retention.
Sophomore undergraduate enrollment declined by 5.5%. These were the first students enrolled in Fall 2006 with the new Transformational Experience graduation requirement.
Educational Priorities
Finally, you may want to consider that the investment in brick and mortar, without the equivalent investment in the educational programs, may result in some very nice, but empty, buildings on campus. You lost 6.6% of your students at the junior level.
Your students are out here. You need to figure out how to get us back into your classrooms.