
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, December 28, 1993                   TAG: 9312280119
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WHY A DROP AT VA. COLLEGES?

Why does a recent American Council of Education poll show Virginia suffering from declining college and university enrollments in the last year?

Gordon Davies, director of the State Council of Higher Education, says Virginia's college enrollment declined slightly because fewer students are graduating from high school.

"I am concerned about tuition," Davies said. "But there is no hard evidence that students are staying away from Virginia colleges because of cost."

Virginia colleges have raised tuition and fees 44 percent since 1990, largely because of cuts in state aid.

Enrollment at Virginia's colleges and universities was 350,762 in 1993, a drop of 0.2 percent from 1992, the survey showed.

David Merkowitz, spokesman for the American Council of Education, said 16 states - representing more than 40 percent of the students in the nation - responded to the survey. Besides Virginia, eleven other states also showed declines.

The council said the results showed the "most severe" decline in six years of surveys.

Merkowitz said the shrinking pool of 18- to 24-year-olds "may be a factor, but not much of one" in the decline of enrollment nationally. He said 40 percent of today's college students are "non-traditional" - older, attending part-time and supporting dependents.

These figures come on the heels of enrollment increases over the last several years for many of Virginia's state colleges.

Virginia Tech reported a record number of applications in February 1992, a spike of almost 800 more potential students.

In 1991, Virginia's four-year colleges experienced a 1.9 percent increase, while community college enrollment increased 3.8 percent. That translates into almost 7,000 additional students.

Similarly, enrollment figures were up 3.3 percent in 1990.

Although the pool of high school graduates has shrunk in recent years, demographic experts expect a 30 percent increase in undergraduates by 2005, as more high school graduates opt to attend college.

The American Council of Education gathered its data through written and telephone surveys of state higher education offices and private college associations.

Staff writer Karen Barnes contributed information to this story.

by CNB