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

DATE: TUESDAY, August 23, 1994                   TAG: 9408230067
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

WOMEN'S COLLEGES SEE MUCH GROWTH

Enrollment at Hollins College for the coming year is up 30 percent from last year, and applications are up 17 percent to a record 704 for the 280 freshmen slots.

``I've been suspicious as to whether this was a blip or a trend,'' said Jane Margaret O'Brien, president of the school near Roanoke. But reviewing the data has convinced her that it is a trend.

Freshmen enrollment is up nearly 20 percent at Sweet Briar College outside Amherst, to 189 students. Overall enrollment is up 16 percent at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg.

At Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, applications have swelled by 28 percent to 832. Freshman enrollment has increased almost 13 percent with 288 new students this fall.

The sudden popularity of women's colleges follows years of stagnant or declining enrollments. Since 1960, more than two-thirds of the nation's women's colleges have gone coeducational or shut their doors. And with the survival of some of the remaining 83 schools in doubt, this fall's enrollments took many schools by surprise.

School administrators say that part of the increase may be the ``Hillary factor.'' Hillary Rodham Clinton is a graduate of the all-women Wellesley College.

``She's so different,'' O'Brien said of Clinton's policy-shaping status. ``To understand why she's so comfortable in her role, you look to her background.''

Ann White Spencer, Mary Baldwin's communication director, said, ``There's a lot of information out there now on how women's colleges cultivate leaders.''

A number of studies have shown that women's colleges are producing more Ph.D. recipients, especially in the sciences, than their coeducational counterparts.

Statistics showing the success of women's college graduates in the business world impressed Marla Snitkin, a 17-year-old Niantic, Conn., student who will be heading to Hollins as a freshman next month.

``All the other [schools] were very impersonal and very big. I didn't know what kind of education I'd be receiving there,'' she said.

``At Hollins, everyone was friendly and very interested in me ... It seemed like a great place to grow. It seemed easier to achieve your goals at a woman's school.''

``The entire focus is on women, academically, socially and in support services,'' said Skip Kughn Jr., admission vice president at Randolph-Macon Woman's College. ``They can take on every position of leadership within the student body.''