Multiple choice: More choosing CMass colleges
Nichols leads local higher ed in terms of growth
Forgive Diane Gillespie if she sometimes seems more like a traffic director than the director of admissions and financial aid at Nichols College in Dudley.
"It's like Grand Central Station in our office," Gillespie said. "There's a lot of interest at this point."
Nichols College has received 47 percent more applications for admission for the fall of 2007 than last year at this time.
But they're not alone.
Application numbers at undergraduate institutions across the region have risen again this year as the number of regional high school graduates has increased and interest in higher education continues to grow.
Growth at a price
Of the local colleges surveyed, Nichols reported the largest gain in application numbers, but gains were the trend all around, ranging from five to 18 percent at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester State College, College of the Holy Cross, Assumption College and Becker College.
For area admissions directors, the rising application rates, while welcome, pose difficult challenges as schools determine the best ways to cope with growth and stay competitive in a changing marketplace.
"We're trying to figure it all out," said Kathleen Murphy, dean of admissions at Assumption College in Worcester.
Assumption reported approximately 500 more applications for enrollment this year than last, an increase of 13 percent. "Does it mean more students are graduating? Does it mean they are applying to more places? It has been a very confusing year. It's a very chaotic mess in terms of admissions in many places."
Electronic options
Most local schools are trying to keep pace with the current high school generation's online obsession. All schools surveyed reported an increase in online applications this year, a trend they expect to continue. As a result, schools are beefing up their Web presence with virtual interactive tours, personalized electronic communication and online chats.
"We're trying to keep (the current generation) engaged in many different ways," said Murphy. "Through snail mail, e-mail, online chatting, sending different communications to parents than to students. We're trying to communicate using their own frame of reference. They're used to communicating 24/7. It's a challenge to keep up with all that's gone on technologically in the past 10 years."
Schools are also trying to differentiate themselves from the pack as they vie for student interest. Last year, College of the Holy Cross in Worcester made submitting standardized test scores optional for applicants, and saw a 47 percent increase in applications last fall. This year, they reported an additional five percent bump, to 7,060 total applications.
Other schools have begun offering unique courses of study to attract more students. New for this year, WPI added the nation's first undergraduate bachelor's degree program in robotics engineering. Becker College added a behavioral analysis program to its psychology department, in addition to offering more options for nursing students. Both schools said the new courses are enticing to prospective students.
Victims of success
"Becker has a lot of niche programs," including such diverse fields as interior design, computer game design and equestrian training, said Karen Schedin, dean of admission at Becker College. "We know where we compete. Where we set ourselves apart is in other, unique programs."
Some schools, however, are victims of their own successes. As a result of ever increasing numbers of applicants, schools are forced to either become more selective in their admissions process or to try and grow with their applicant pools.
WPI chose to grow as interest in the school rose in recent years. That growth, however, must not come at the expense of student service, said Kristin Tichenor, associate vice president for enrollment management at WPI.
"When we started seeing a significant rise in academic enrollment, we were forced with choosing to become more selective or growing," Tichenor said. "We have become more selective, but we have also made every effort to ensure that students that want to take full advantage of everything we offer can attend."
Tichenor said ground will be broken on a new residence hall within a month's time to accommodate growing enrollment. Between the new dorm and recently constructed classroom space, she said the physical infrastructure is in place to accommodate more students.
"The challenge facing us is wanting to enroll very talented and enthusiastic young people, but at the same time keeping the great services we have for them. But we are comfortable planning for growth," said Tichenor.
Other local schools are more committed to maintaining their small size, either by choice or by necessity.
"We're committed to being a small college. We have a close student-to-faculty ratio, and we don't want to lose that," said Murphy of Assumption. "We're also at our limit in terms of dorm space."
Hunting bears
The recent boom in college applicants in the region may not last, however. A 2003 study by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education suggests that the number of high school graduates in the northeast will peak in 2007-2008 and begin to decline slightly thereafter, making an already competitive New England education market even tighter. On the flip side, the western and southern areas of the country are expected to produce more high school graduates in coming years.
For area schools, it is one more challenge to face as they look toward the future. All local schools surveyed said they draw a heavy majority of their applicants from the northeast.
"You have to be strategic, knowing that most students stay within 200 miles of their home," said Murphy. "Recruiting is always a challenge. If we go much farther north we'll be hunting bears, and any further east and we'll be catching fish. It's always a challenge, and we're always trying to expand geographically."
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