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Vol. 21 No. 3
November 2006
The Talk Was Tech at NACAC
"PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS
are open to cutting-edge recruitment efforts that employ the
latest social networking technology." That's the conclusion
of a new study from Noel-Levitz and the National Research Center
for College and University Admissions (NRCCUA) in a report released
October 26 called "The E-Savvy Class of 2007." This
second annual "E-expectations Survey" found that blogs,
MySpace pages, podcasts, instant messaging and cell phones to
send messages are taking over the admissions process. The survey
also found that 43 percent of college-bound students have created
profiles on a college site; 46 percent would like to do so.
"The Internet is serving as a social network for high
school students," the report said. More than three-quarters
of the 1,000 respondents access the Web using broadband, nine
percent have participated in online chat on a school Web site,
but 51 percent said they would if they could. Another 56 percent
said they preferred Web to print. Yet 64 percent said they prefer
college information in the mail compared to 36 percent who had
a preference for email. Thus, "while schools may be eager
to go entirely paperless and send all communication via email.
paper still has a role to play in outreach and recruitment efforts,"
the report added.
WHY TRADITIONAL COMMUNICATION
STRATEGIES DON'T
WORK (ESPECIALLY WITH THE MALES)
Meanwhile, at the National Association for College
Admissions Counseling's annual conference in Pittsburgh last
month, Mary Napier, NRCCUA, noted that there are cultural changes
occurring as a result of the communication changes over the last
10 years with students now using the Web as a research tool,
sending bulk applications via online applications, social networking
on the Web and the way students do their college search.
"It used to be fairly simple," Ms. Napier said.
Colleges would mail information to interested students and if
they wanted more information they would send a reply card via
the postal service or telephone numbers with unique numbers.
If students were not interested, it would go in the trash.
Now when colleges mail to students by a search letter, they
also suggest a reply via email or a visit to a Web page. But
this means that it is more difficult for colleges to track student
interest. "They can stay in the shadows," she said.
In a broadcast survey of "tough kids to reach,"
Ms. Napier said that NRCCUA found students report they receive
50 pieces of mail or email from colleges in a year. Women perceived
they received more mail than males. But women also respond at
a higher rate than the males and earlier in the admissions process.
Marcia Nancy, Barry U., said that this research matches what
her experience has been. Barry is a private, Catholic university
founded in 1940 as a women's college and became coed in the 1960's.
Its fall entering class numbers increased from 600 to 1,000 from
1997 to 2005. It also increased males in the entering class by
6 percent from 29 percent to 35 percent. Ms. Nance said that
the most important strategy Barry uses is to search for men and
women differently and separately. Communication strategies and
the timing of them are also designed differently for men and
women, and by major.
Andrew Flagel, George Mason U., cited a Kaiser Family Foundation
study (released in 2005) that found that by age 18, time spent
on media by a student exceeded six hours a day. This included,
however, multi-tasking-listening while watching something while
Instant Messaging.
Girls do more interaction via their communication. Males surf
the web and play video games, leading to their being dubbed "the
gamer generation."
Mr. Flagel said that what this means is that students "are
not approaching things in a linear fashion. They have a different
set of abilities."
As opposed to older adults, students today don't use "site
maps" on Web sites, for example. They click around a Web
site. They look for things on their own. They use search engines
such as Wikipedia or MySpace for information on universities
and assume what they read is true. Thus, the information students
gather is often beyond a college's control.
What to do? Mr. Flagel recommends that colleges leverage that
"nonlinear" approach in what they provide students.
George Mason created Masonmetro.com. It is purposely not on its
"edu" site. It drives students to the site from such
sites as Facebook, MySpace and You Tube. It has admissions information,
videos, a talking mascot and interactive surveys of students.
Also, last year, George Mason created an online community for
admitted students with 900 students participating.
THE BLOG REVOLUTION
Another session at NACAC focused on "blogs."
Panelists noted that two years ago, the use of "blogs"
in admissions was little known. Since then, though, a number
of colleges and universities have started using blogs as a way
to make the admissions process more "transparent" and
to create a connection between applicants and the school community.
These include the U. of Chicago's "Uncommon Student Application
Blog," and blogs at Case Western U., UVA, Bryn Mawr, Loyola
Marymount, Oregon State, Connecticut State U and Olin School
of Engineering.
MIT Blog. Matt McGann, the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, said MIT created a blog space on its web site
two-and-a-half years ago. He sees a blog as a way to demystify
the admissions process. And he believes it lessens the stress
of admissions by telling students what is going on throughout
the process and by directly answering questions.
"Conversations are going on in cyber space right now whether
we like it or not," he said, noting College Confidential
where students post questions about individual colleges. Thus,
Mr. McGann said that college blogs are a way to control the discussions,
rather than have high school seniors give each other information
about a school. See www.mitadmissions.org.
Hopkins Interactive. Daniel Creasy, Johns Hopkins U.,
launched "Hopkins Interactive" last December with early
decision students who were sent their acceptances via emails
and invited to communicate via "HI." Johns Hopkins
tries to add to the blog every week and has included eight student
blogs and guest blogs. Students have been profiled studying at
Hopkins. HI also kept a message board to build a community with
future and enrolling students. Hopkins is now preparing for Hopkins
Interactive Version 2.
Why blogs? In addition to dispelling myths and attempting
to personalize the admissions process, "It is important
to communicate with students the way they communicate today.
It is important to share information on a timely basis,"
said Mr. Creasy. Students can visit HI weekly and get new information
about the university. The blogs can communicate deadlines and
events for students and fill the gaps from the time they apply
to decision.
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NACAC
Bans "Deadline Creep"
In an effort to stop the "deadline creep"
in college admissions, NACAC members weighed in on the early
admissions discussion last month at its annual meeting in Pittsburgh
by voting to ban programs that let students know if they have
been accepted to college before mid-September and to bar colleges
from setting application deadlines before October 15. (Exceptions
may be made for the recruitment and admissions of college athletes.)
This action followed on the heels of a survey last year that
found that 68 percent of four-year colleges allowed students
to begin the application process before September 1 of their
senior year, and 25 percent of colleges offered admission decisions
prior to September 1 of their senior year. Colleges that don't
abide by the new rules can be barred from college recruiting
fairs and from membership in NACAC.
Members also voted to ban the use of standardized-test scores
as the sole criterion for admissions or awarding financial aid.
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THE COUNSELOR'S CORNER
Do Any Colleges Accept
"B" Students Any More?
- A student with a solid "B" average and good test
scores thinks he isn't good enough to go to college.
- An admissions officer from a school that accepts "B"
students finds counselors walk right by her at a college fair.
- A high school posts only the "elite" colleges where
students are accepted.
These were examples cited at the National Association for
College Admissions Counseling conference in Pittsburgh last month
in a session on the "B" student. The geneses of the
discussion, they said, was prompted by the "craze"
about the college selection process driven by the media's attention
on students getting into just certain colleges, by parents who
view colleges as a "commodity" and with the public
focus on college rankings.
According to Jacqueline Giordano, consultant, formerly of
Newbury C. in Brookline, Massachusetts, "We have come to
a point where we need to take back the profession and our views
and ownership of where students are going and how they're getting
there and what the craze is doing to our families. Why is all
the focus mostly on highly-selective institutions?"
She noted she's gathered "countless articles about how
colleges are seeing record applications, and are becoming more
selective, and that colleges are seeing more highly-qualified
applicants which, of course, makes students apply to more colleges,
which means they see more applications.
"These articles are talking about the highly-selective
and elite institutions. And this has just intensified the craze.
In reality, a very small percent of students are actually being
served by these institutions. The vast majority of colleges accept
students with a 'B' to 'C' GPA."
WHERE DO THE MAJORITY OF
STUDENTS GO TO SCHOOL?
According to Kimberly Johnston, the U. of Maine in
Orono, NACAC's "State of College Admissions" trends
survey in 2005 indicates that about 19 percent of institutions
have Early Decision; nearly 22 percent use Early Action; and
35 percent have a Wait List.
"This is a very small percentage," she noted, adding
that only around 21 percent of the institutions deny more than
50 percent of their applicant pool. And 79 percent of students
are in their first-choice institution.
Ms. Johnston also noted, however, that some people wonder
if any colleges still take "B" students any more. "Yes,
we at the University of Maine take 'B' students," she said.
"I suspect that many, if not most, of the colleges in this
country take 'B' students. That is the story about students going
to college."
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY A "B"
STUDENT ANYWAY?
In reality, there is no single definition. James Rawlins,
the U. of Washington, said, "What is the definition of a
'B' student?. A lot of this is relative. Do we mean 'the average
student'?"
"Is a student with a 3.9 GPA who barely took the bare
number of core classes to get to college and had low test scores
and blew off their senior year an 'A' student?" he asked.
"Is the student with a 3.2 automatically a 'B' student if
they barely scraped that out when they were working full time
to help in their home because their family has little money?....
One campus's 'B' student is another campus's 'Presidential Scholarship'
recipient. So what is a 'B' student?"
Mr. Rawlins said that the U. of Washington used to have index-driven
decisions to admit students. It recently switched to considering
"holistic factors," he said, and less of the number-driven
decisions, adding that without this new approach, many students
self-selected themselves out of the process, thinking they wouldn't
get in.
Some factors now considered include what potential students
have when they get to college and whether they are a first-generation
student or what their family income is.
Joseph Bellavance, Regis C. in Weston, Massachusetts, noted
that one half of Regis students are first-generation college
students, many come from the inner-city and one-third are from
families where English is not the first language.
He said that he is frustrated that the headlines are also
about the elite colleges' attempts to meet income needs. But
many students elsewhere face financial obstacles and are struggling
to go to school. And many of these students are "B"
students.
WHAT CAN EDUCATORS DO?
High schools should stop printing lists of where their
students are going to college unless they put every school
on the list, said Mr. Bellavance, not just the elite institutions.
Ms. Giordano added that admissions officers and counselors need
to realize "it's OK that we don't accept only 30 percent
of our applicants. It's OK that we accept 70 percent of our applicants.
In fact, that's a good thing for those students that we serve.
Let's be proud of it and let's be honest about it. Let's stop
promoting these rankings. U.S. News & World Report
can do it, but let us look holistically at the students we are
trying to serve."
Counselors need to expand their knowledge of colleges and
counsel "the whole student," she said. "Don't
let them ignore schools that could be a great fit for them."
Ms. Johnston further said that the language around admissions
should be changed. "Why push 'reach' schools?" she
asked. "Maybe 'the safety' school is 'the one.'" Yet
too often students feel disappointed if they get into "a
safety" school.
To find colleges that might be "a good fit" for
the "B" student, the following resources were recommended:
- The U.S. Dept. of Ed's IPED COOL (College Opportunities Online
Locator); www.
nces.ed.gov/ipeds/cool/.
- College consortiums that offer tours. The Vermont Consortium
of Colleges, for example, has 23 colleges in its group. Guidance
counselors can see campuses off the beaten path; www.vtcolleges.org.
- NACAC College Fairs. (Pick two institutions you know nothing
about.); www.nacacnet.org.
- Local college fairs. Counselors should attend with students
to familiarize themselves with a variety of schools.
- The National Survey of Student Engagement; http://nsse.iub.edu/html/2006_inst_report.cfm.
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THE COUNSELOR'S BOOKSHELF
The State of Teacher Ed. The second of four reports
from the Education Schools Project charges that teacher education
is out of step with the realities of today's classrooms, "with
curriculums in disarray and faculty disconnected from classrooms
and colleagues." The report adds teacher education schools
have "not kept pace with the changing demographics."
The report outlines recommendations for reform and notes model
programs such as Alverno C. in Milwaukee, Emporia State U., The
Teacher's C., U. of Virginia Curry School of Education and the
Stanford (U.) Teacher Education Program. For a copy of the report
see www.educationschoolsprojects.org.
Writing Tips. "As
the newest addition to the SAT, the writing section is still
a mystery to test takers," says Newsweek's "How
to Get into College, New 2007 Edition." The article, "How
to Get a Great Score on the Essay" provides readers with
a few tips to follow when attempting the writing section: "keep
it simple" and "be personal." It also recommends
that students start with an outline and edit their work. The
conclusion: students should stick to the good writing tips they
have always known; write about what they know as clearly and
concisely as possible and double-check their work. Available
at newsstands, $9.95.
"Best Colleges."
U.S. News and World Report released its "2007 Edition:
America's Best Colleges." In addition to the "Best
National Universities" and "Best Liberal Arts Colleges,"
the guidebook reported on schools that are academically strong
as well as easy on the wallet. The article, "Great Schools,
Great Prices" calculated the "best value" by comparing
"a school's academic qualities, as indicated by the U.S.
News ranking, to the net cost of attendance for a student
who receives the average level of need-based financial aid."
The top five universities in this category are: California
Institute of Technology, Harvard U., Princeton U., Yale U. and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The top five liberal arts
colleges: Williams C., Amherst C., Wellesley C., Skidmore C.
and Pomona C. At newsstands, $9.95.
Other Publications
College Exploration on the Internet: A Student and Counselor's
Guide to More Than 500 Web Sites; ISBN 0-9745251-0-3; $19.95
and They Teach That in College!? A Resource Guide to More
Than 75 Interesting College Majors and Programs; ISBN 0-9745251-1-1;
$19.95; both from www.collegeandcareerpress.com.
Higher Education and the Color Line: College Access, Racial
Equity, and Social Change, edited by Gary Orfield, Patricia
Marin, and Catherine L. Horn; Harvard Education Press; ISBN 1-891792-59-8;
$29.95.
Your College Experience: Strategies for Success, John
N. Gardner and A. Jerome Jewler; Wadsworth/Thomson Learning;
ISBN 0534645216; $40.95.
New Web Ventures
The Common Application website added two new features this
year: Instructions in Spanish and Word Templates for completing
the Teacher Evaluation, School Report, and Midyear Report forms.
See www.commonapp.org
for more info.
A new news blog called "the Paper Trail," states
it will be a daily roundup of the top news stories from college
newspapers around the country. Called "the Paper Trail,"
it is geared toward college students and higher education professionals
who want to keep tabs on major happenings and trends at campuses
nationwide," said Brian Duffy, editor of U.S. News &
World Report, the sponsor. The blog is available at http://www.usnews.com/papertrail.
"The College Ladder: Linking Secondary and Postsecondary
Education for Success for All Students" reviews 22 programs
that provide opportunities for high school students to earn college-level
credit or take college-level courses to determine their impact
on a range of student outcomes, including credits earned during
high school, performance on high school tests, high school graduation
rates, college-going rates, college remediation, college grades,
retention in college, and degree and job market attainment. "The
College Ladder" also describes various characteristics of
effective programs; available at http://www.aypf.org/projects/LuminaProjectonSPLOs.htm.
People are talking about.
"Brains and Brawn," The Chicago Tribune Magazine
(October 22), that profiles the Big Ten and includes "Did
you know" facts about the schools.
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ENROLLMENT TRENDS
Admission Anxiety Spreads. The college admission
frenzy has spread beyond traditional "hot spots" such
as New York, New England, California, Chicago and Houston, the
American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions
Officers reported in October. "In states below the Mason-Dixon
line, enrollment in Kaplan SAT/ACT prep classes has increased
at more than seven times the company's overall national growth
rate over the last five years," AACRAO said. Likewise, the
number of private college counselors is growing, along with the
number of college-bound high school grads.
"The Science of Recruiting."
Inside Baylor U.'s office of admissions every contact with a
student ends in a quantified number, according to The Chronicle
of Higher Education October 13. Baylor has 15 predictive
models used by the admissions office. The new sophistication
has helped push applications up from 2,600 applicants five years
ago to 4,000. Information gleamed from phone calls, visits, emails
and applications are entered into a data base which calculates
the probability of the student applying or accepting an admissions
offer.
DePaul U. Enrollment at
the nation's largest Catholic university was essentially unchanged
from last year: 14,893 undergrads and 7,161 graduate students.
But according to DePaul's "Newsline," the new freshman
class is the largest in school history; 2,539, exceeding the
target of 2,400 by about 6 percent. Minority students comprise
about 28 percent of the new class and men nearly 44 percent,
a 13 percent increase over last year.
Florida Dip. Private colleges
and universities in pricey Palm Beach County Florida saw a decrease
in enrollment this year, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
At Lynn U., enrollment fell for the first time in five years
by 6 percent. Florida Atlantic U. is down by about 350 students
from last year. The public Palm Beach Community College is down
by more than 100 students. Officials blame hurricanes, high housing
prices and a booming economy that attracts people to work instead
of school, But the numbers are up at Palm Beach Atlantic U. by
3 percent.
Ohio Gains. Enrollment
gains were recorded by 24 private colleges in Ohio, for the 21st
consecutive year, according to the Marietta Times, citing
the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio
research. At Marietta C., for example, enrollment increased from
1,467 to 1,530. It has already fielded 1,000 applications for
next fall, and accepted 600 students. Overall, private enrollment
in Ohio was up by almost half a percent. At the same time, Ohio
students have been receiving more financial aid. The Project
on Student Debt says that despite tuition differences, a graduate
from a private Ohio college graduates owing about $1,000 more
than a public college grad.
Penn State. This fall,
Penn State U. admitted its largest freshman class ever, 8,302
students, according to The Daily Collegian. The increase
forced some upper classmen to live off campus. PSU's University
Park campus attracted 42,000 students, up from last year's 40,709.
An additional 1,500 showed up at other PSU campuses. Applications
to University Park are already up 24 percent above this time
last year. PSU uses rolling admissions and usually receives the
majority of its applications during November.
Sacramento State. This
fall, 28,529 students enrolled at Sacramento State U. in California,
an increase of nearly 600 students. (A large number of transfer
students boosted this statistic.) First-time freshman enrollment
was up by 5 percent, according to the school. Students of color
represent 63 percent of the first-year class, up from 60 percent
last fall.
South Dakota Privates.
Enrollment at South Dakota private colleges also increased this
fall, the Sioux City Journal reported. Dakota Wesleyan
in Mitchell led the way with a 6.4 percent increase. Augustana
C. in Sioux Falls grew by 1.3 percent. The U. of Sioux Falls
hit a record with 1,674 students, 68 more students over last
year. Mount Marty C. in Yankton increased by 2.5 percent.
Swarthmore Also Increases Transfers.
In addition to the 372 new first-year students enrolled at Swarthmore
C. in Pennsylvania, the school admitted 16 transfer students,
more than in recent years. "We hope to have a robust transfer
community here," Jim Bock, dean of admissions, told The
Phoenix, the student newspaper. "We want to diversify
the transfer pool." Bock said the school is reaching out
to students beyond those attending the Ivy League.
U. Michigan Record. Enrollment
at the U. of Michigan set a new record, but fallout from the
Supreme Court's Affirmative Action decision continues. The new
first-year class of 5,339 students includes only 330 black students,
the fewest in a decade, according to The Ann Arbor News.
Last year, black students made up 7.5 percent of the freshman
class, this year 6.4 percent. Asian American students account
for 12 percent of the class, down from 13.4 percent last year
and 5.3 percent of the class is made up of Hispanic students.
Native American students account for 1 percent. Overall, 40,025
students are on campus this fall. This month, Michigan voters
are deciding whether to ban all Affirmative Action college programs.
International Shift. The
Post-9/11 world saw a slight shift of where international students
head to school. After several years of decline, the number of
international students applying to American colleges and universities
is rising again. This year 565,000 international students enrolled
in U.S. institutions of higher ed, more than any other nation,
contributing about $13 billion to the U.S. economy. However,
the U.S. "market share" of international students is
still falling. And now, few new Middle Eastern students apply
or gain entry to the U.S.
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TUITION TABS
Tuition Still Rising. The annual College Board
report on tuition, released the end of last month, indicates
that the cost of college at four-year public colleges is up by
35 percent over the past five years, after adjusting for inflation.
The 2006-2007 increase again is above the rate of inflation,
at 6.3 percent (2.4 percent when adjusted for inflation.) The
average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges averaged
$5,836 per year, a $344 increase. The total cost including housing
for in-state students is $12,796. But the average published tuition
and fees at four-year private colleges averages $22,218 for 2006-2007.
The total cost with housing and board rose to $30,367.
About two-thirds of full-time college students receive financial
aid. In 2005-2006, that amounted to $134.8 billion in aid from
the federal and state governments, colleges and universities
and other sources. But in all federal programs, the amount of
per student aid was lower, in inflation-adjusted dollars. Total
Pell Grant funding declined for the first time in six years from
$13.6 billion in 2004-2005 to $12.7 billion in 2005-2006. The
average Pell Grant fell by $120 from $2,474 to $2,354.
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COLLEGE BOUND's Publisher/Editor: R. Craig
Sautter, DePaul University; Chief Operating Officer: Sally
Reed; Illustration: Louis Coronel; Board of Advisors:
David Breeden, Edina High School, Minnesota; Claire
D. Friedlander, Bedford (N.Y.) Central School District; Howard
Greene and Matthew Greene, authors, The Greenes'
Guides to Educational Planning Series; Frank C. Leana,
Ph.D., educational counselor; M. Fredric Volkmann,
Washington University in St. Louis; Mary Ann Willis, Bayside
Academy (Daphne, Ala.). Contributor: Emma Schwartz
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