Monthly Archives: November 2011

Jessica Stevens

11/17/2011

                In the article titled “Assessing the Impact of Enrollment Growth on Student Services” the Hanover Report touches on many of the different ways institutions use to encourage increased enrollment. Because in reality there is no one way to do so effectively. It is a combination of efforts from all parts of the University of College. It is important to remember that “enrollment management” is just the obvious offices like the Bursar or the Registrar’s office, for it to be effective the entire university needs to participate.

                The first and one of the more obvious, yet I would argue not always common steps, is to plan and project for the growth. A university needs to know how many students is realistic for the size of the university and what it offers. Some universities I have seen do this very well. They put in time and effort to calculate how many more students they can accommodate without loosing their image, yet others seem to forget this important step. Some don’t appear to have planned at all while other plan for growth but don’t plan for a number, which to me means that they didn’t really plan effectively. Too often a university just increases enrollment when economic times are tough. They become more focused on the short term versus the long term.

                One example of this, which is outdated but interesting nonetheless, is that of the GI Bill in the late 1940s and early 1950s. so many more students enrolled for classes than anticipated that some had to sit on the floor for lectures because there wasn’t enough seats. There was such an influx after World War 2 that the higher education institutions couldn’t keep up with the demand. I don’t think that any university would be able to do something so drastic today but there are similarities. For example where I work at St. John’s University I have seen an increase in the number of students however not  of sections offered. In turn, there are students that are close to graduation but are missing first-year classes because they are always so full. I think that this is a problem across most universities. They accept more students, yet hire the same amount of faculty and have the same amount of space to utilize. So where are they going?

                One solution that many universities are using is technology. With the use of internet and video, they can offer more sections and classes without needing more space. As everything in life this has its pros and cons. I understand the necessity and know some people love online classes, however I am still not sold. I think that there is a lot of learning that happens in the classroom that can not be replicated in a virtual setting. In my opinion hybrid classes would be a better option that most university don’t maximize on. Combining the two, in-class and virtual, utilizes the best of each. Less physical space is needed but there is still somewhat of a classroom feel.

                A second point that the Hanover research writes about is that of the necessity for proper staffing within the Student Affairs department. Again I would think that this is an obvious step, if you have more students a university would need more staff to support these students. Some universities ensure that the quality of education and services that the students are receiving does not change as the student body grows, others I have heard begin to lose some of the positive reviews when the service diminishes. This is very difficult to repair as often it is word of mouth.

                Facilities and space on campus is another that once the word gets out, repairing the university’s name came be challenging. Honestly this is one area that I never gave much thought to before this class. I knew that space is always challenging at whatever university one attends or works. There never seems to be enough. However I never thought about the impact of so many people having to use the same space, for class, activities, meetings, programs, etc. Something as simple as garbage removal and toilet paper can change people’s opinion and start to slowly decrease enrollment and work against growth.

                In the case studies I find it interesting that the four universities; Oklahoma State University, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, and Shawnee State University, have many similar trends in how they plan to grow their student populations. Many are those discussed above that Hanover noted as some of the most important – for the students affairs department to plan for such growth, use technology and virtual classrooms to maximize on the space capabilities, and increase staff.

How each university plans to change and accommodate the growth varies. I believe that is one of the most important points that each university plans for its own growth. Every institution has its own nuisances and differences which are important to highlight in situations of growth. That is one of the best parts to American Higher that every university ranges from just a little bit or extremely different. While it is helpful to have guidelines and recommendations to work from, it should not be a cookie cutter model in my opinion, as would would lose part of what makes American Higher Education so wonderful. This means that it is even more important that university’s plan effectively how they deal with enrollment management and growth of their student populations.