In a year marked by uncertainty and upheaval, officials at
New Orleans universities that draw applicants nationwide are not following the
usual rules of thumb when it comes to college admissions. The only sure bet,
they say, is that this fall’s entering classes----the first since
Katrina----will be smaller than usual.
In typical years, most
college admissions officials can predict fairly accurately by this point in the
admissions cycle how- many high school seniors will commit to enrolling in their
situations. Many of the most selective schools require students----who
increasingly are applying to multiply institutions---to make their choices by
May 1. Loyola University, whose trustees will vote May 19 on whether to drop
several degree programs and eliminate 17 faculty positions, received fewer
applications---about 2,900 to date, compared with 3,500 in recent years. The
school hopes to enroll 700 freshmen, down from 850 in the past few- years.
Historically black Dillard University, which is operating out of a hotel and was
forced to cancel its annual March open house, also saw drops, as did Xavier
University, a historically black Catholic institution that fell inside its
recruitment schedule. Dillard won’t release numbers, but spokeswoman Naureen
Larkins says applications were down and enrollments are expected to be lower
than in the past. Xavier admissions dean Winston Brown says its applicant pool
fell by about half of last year’s record 1,014; he hopes to enroll 500
freshmen.
In contrast, Tulane University, which is the most
selective of the four and developed an aggressive recruitment schedule after the
hurricane, enjoyed an 11% increase in applications this year, to a record
20,715. Even so, officials predict that fewer admitted students will enroll and
are projecting a smaller-than-usual freshman class----1,400, compared with a
more typical 1,600. Tulane officials announced in December that they would
eliminate some departments and faculty positions.
Like Tulane,
other schools are taking extra steps this year to please admitted students,
often by enlisting help from alumni (校友会) around the country and reaching
out to students with more e-mail, phone calls or Web-based interactions such as
blogs. In addition, Loyola is relaxing deadlines, sweetening the pot with larger
scholarships and freezing tuition at last year’s level. Dillard, too, is
freezing tuition. It’s also hosting town meetings in target cities and regions
nationwide, and moved its academic calendar back from August to mid-September
"to turn away from the majority of the hurricane season," Larkins says. Xavier
extended its application deadline and stepped up its one-on-one contact with
accepted students. And Tulane , among other things, has doubled the number of
on-campus programs for accepted students and hosted a community service weekend
program.
While the schools expect applicants to be
apprehensive, the admission officials also see encouraging signs of
purposefulness among applicants. "A lot of students who are choosing to come to
this city are saying, ’I want to be a part of the action," says Stieffel, noting
that Loyola’s transfer applications were up 30%. And while applications to
Xavier are down, Brown is betting that students who do apply are serious. "The
ones who are applying, we feel, are more likely to come," he says.The passage is mainly concerned with ______.
