Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 25, 1993 TAG: 9305250046
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The small liberal arts college in Salem issued a news release last week announcing a record year for new admissions. It had received enrollment deposits from 442 new students for the 1993-94 academic year - 40 more than this time last year.
"There are just fewer possible students out there," said Michael Maxey, Roanoke College's vice president of admissions services. "That's why a gain is especially significant."
The announcement came on the heels of Hollins College's delay in salary raises for faculty and staff while it awaits firm 1993-94 enrollment figures. And though Hollins' pool of applicants is limited by its all-woman status, private colleges are feeling the push to recruit and recruit big.
The climate is competitive, said Ernest Chadderton, dean of enrollment for Lynchburg College. A poor economy and a drop in the 18- to 22-year-old population "makes for a tough situation, especially for private schools, which are so much more expensive than public," he said.
The cost of educating a student at a private institution is pretty much the same as at a public institution, said Robert Lambeth, president of the Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia. But students at private institutions pay more because of the lack of state subsidy, he said.
Couple that with a declining federal aid role in assisting students and limited state assistance, and circumstances become difficult, Lambeth said. Private colleges and universities have countered in part by spending more of their own money on financial aid to make up for losses in state and federal support, he said.
At Hollins, financial aid costs have gone up substantially, said Tim Hill, vice president of business and finance. In the last three years the percentage of Hollins students receiving financial aid went from 35-40 percent to 60 percent, Hill said.
Roanoke College's financial aid costs have doubled in 10 years, Maxey said.
"College funds and scholarships have increased as federal funds have flattened or declined," he said. "What's happened with Roanoke College and others is that we have to go in and take care of the people who are being left behind by cuts in some other form of aid."
Recruiting has become an aggressive, creative undertaking for private institutions, Lambeth said.
"Admissions offices are under a lot of pressure to work hard and put in long hours," he said. "Schools that are working hard, been creative and gone all out are holding their own. Schools that are not as geared up and as responsive to a declining pool are having more problems."
Roanoke College last fall embarked on a method of interactive admissions recruiting using a computer disk. The disk provided a multimedia presentation and an application for admission.
Though the computer disk cannot be credited solely for the college's admissions gain, "it certainly helped," Maxey said.
What really helped, he said, was getting information about the financial aid process into the hands of prospective students, he said.
"That helped a lot of families who were concerned about the financial situation and the cost of college," Maxey said. "We pressed ahead to make sure we were doing things as we would normally do them. That was an extraordinary commitment."
Emory & Henry College increased use of mailings, organized more student visitation days and did much to promote campus visits, said Patsi Trollinger, director of public relations and publications.
"We changed some of our basic procedures that had to do with how thoroughly we followed up on prospects," Trollinger said.
It paid off. The college will welcome 90 new students this fall - a 51 percent increase in new student admissions over this time last year.
"We needed to have a good year," Trollinger said. "It's interesting that it wasn't any one glamorous thing. It was a series of a lot of little things that added up to work well together."
Being listed by U.S. News & World Report as one of the best regional liberal-arts colleges in the South did not hurt, Trollinger said. Nor did having the quarterback of the school's football team featured in the Washington Post. Or the basketball team coach in Sports Illustrated.
"That gets your name around," she said.
Chadderton says he is optimistic about Lynchburg College's new student enrollment figures. The college's freshman goal was 400, and 403 have paid the enrollment fee. The goal for transfer students was 80. Sixty have paid the fee.
"I think we will be well over last year in transfer students and even in freshman numbers," Chadderton said.
Washington and Lee University in Lexington offered admission to more students than last year - 32 percent of applicants compared to 29-30 percent - "to get our class," said Julia Kozak, associate director of admissions.
Kozak said 3,313 students applied, 935 were offered admission and 442 have paid their enrollment deposits.
"The class size is about the same," she said. "We may have a little more than last year but we accepted more this year. We'll lose some, I'm sure, over the summer but we're happy. We have our class."
Hollins is treading cautiously despite its success in recruitment for the next school year. The projected new student enrollment of 218 - up over this time last year - is a result of "efforts by a lot of people, faculty and administrators to communicate with prospective students," Hill said.
"We're trying to do a good job at making people aware of the advantages of coming to Hollins. We're trying to do the right things - those things that set Hollins apart."
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