Posted on 02/22/2005 12:29:50 PM PST by ken21
CU's out-of-state applicants drop 19%
Decrease may mean $15 million loss in tuition revenue
By John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News February 22, 2005
BOULDER - The number of out-of-state students applying to attend the University of Colorado this coming fall has dropped 19 percent compared with last year, school officials said.
If actual enrollment figures for the next school year follow that trend, CU officials project the decrease could translate into a loss of $15 million in tuition revenue.
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CU and higher-education officials differ on the reason for the drop. Some cite a grueling year of bad press that included a football recruiting scandal and controversy surrounding CU professor Ward Churchill.
Others counter that a steep climb in out-of-state tuition, coupled with a soft economy, is the real culprit.
But everyone is concerned that the numbers are down.
By the Feb. 15 application deadline, CU had received 9,553 applications from potential freshmen living outside Colorado. Last year, the school received 11,771 nonresident applications.
That is the second decline in two years and the lowest number of out- of-state applications the university has fielded in five years.
The drop is significant because CU relies heavily on revenue from nonresident students to subsidize the cost of education for its Colorado students.
Roughly three in-state students are subsidized by every out-of- state student, said CU spokeswoman Michele McKinney.
"This is important to us," McKinney said.
In addition to the out-of-state applicants, in-state applications are also off by 4 percent, she said.
Last fall, the Boulder campus enrolled 5,149 freshmen, of whom 2,165 were nonresidents. Typically, 9,000 applicants will not yield 9,000 students.
Five percent of the initial applicants fail to fill out the necessary paperwork. Another 5 to 10 percent are rejected for not meeting CU's standards. Of those nonresidents who are admitted, only about 20 percent actually enroll.
Reasons behind the drop in applications are in dispute.
Rick O'Donnell, executive director of the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, blames 15 months of bad press that started with a sex-and- recruitment scandal in the CU football program.
In December 2003, CU found itself enmeshed in a scandal after Boulder District Attorney Mary Keenan accused CU of condoning the use of sex and alcohol as recruitment tools for the football program.
Her allegations stemmed from a lawsuit in which three women said they were raped by CU football players or recruits in December 2001.
The story went national after former CU football kicker Katie Hnida alleged she was sexually assaulted by a former player.
None of the allegations resulted in criminal charges. However, the controversy led to an independent investigation that recommended sweeping reforms in how CU administers its athletics department.
The matter also resulted in a still-sealed grand jury report that sharply criticized CU officials for failure to properly manage the football program.
Then, three weeks ago, another national controversy erupted over an essay written by Churchill.
Churchill wrote that some of the victims in the World Trade Center attack were not innocent victims. He called them "little Eichmanns," referring to the Nazi technocrat who oversaw the systematic execution of the Jews during World War II.
CU Regent Thomas Lucero said he believes "distorted media coverage" of the football scandal, plus the Churchill matter, have soured parents of prospective students.
Lucero said he has received e-mails from parents whose children have been accepted to CU or are already attending the university but who intend to send them elsewhere by the fall.
CU admissions officers said about 99 percent of the current applications were received before the Churchill controversy began. They know of no one who has withdrawn from the school over the matter.
O'Donnell, however, said the cumulative controversies are having an effect. "Parents are smart people, and they want to send their children to a college with a great reputation," he said. "I would say this decrease has a lot to do with CU damaging its reputation."
School officials acknowledged the impact of what they called "negative media coverage." But they also pointed to another factor behind the decrease: steadily climbing out- of-state tuition rates.
Since the fall of 2000, out-of-state tuition has increased from $15,244 to $20,592, a jump of 35 percent.
CU is not the only public university in Colorado experiencing a drop in out-of-state applications.
At Colorado State University, where the price of out-of-state tuition also has climbed, the number of nonresident applicants fell from 5,735 in 2002 to 5,031 in 2004, a decrease of 12 percent.
That trend appears to be continuing this year. As of last week, CSU had received 3,998 nonresident applications, with a deadline of July 1.
CU Regent Michael Carrigan said he believes the costs imposed on out-of-state students have a lot to do with dwindling applications.
"While it's easy to point to the negative issues last year, the real story is how incredibly expensive it is for out-of-state students to attend CU- Boulder," Carrigan said. "It's time for the state to show leadership and recognize that excellent universities don't come for free and that tuition can't cover the whole costs."
Barbara Schneider, executive director for admissions at CU, said the cost of tuition is the most frequent reason she hears from out-of-state high school guidance counselors when they are asked about the declining number of prospective CU students.
"The counselors are telling us, 'You're pricing yourselves to the point where some of the students here can't do it anymore,' " she said.
Schneider is hopeful that the 9,553 students who have applied this year are serious candidates and that their group will yield the same number of nonresident students as last year when the enrollment deadline arrives in May.
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"It's time for the state to show leadership and recognize that excellent universities don't come for free and that tuition can't cover the whole costs."
There is no reason that tuitions have been outpacing inflation, except for the fact that government has been subsidizing more and more of it. The universities have been smart enough to capitalize on that by raising their tuition...and the cycle continues. They have absolutely no incentive to control their costs such as paying salary to idiots like Churchill.
It can't help alumini donations for it to be known that Churchill Ward is paid $96,000 per year.
I can proudly state that I graduated from CU - Colorado Springs :)... YYYEEEAAHH!!
The answers is Ward Churchill.
"Some cite a grueling year of bad press that included........" They made their collective beds with their stupid antics, decisions and behavior and now they blame the press. If it weren't so sad, it would be funny.
Oh, it is funny, nevermind.
As far as CU is concerned, it must be the equivelant of UC Berkeley in committing itself to leftist dogma.
Cheers!
At the start of this school year there were three alcohol related deaths, followed by this creature Churchill, I would think the school needs to focus on something other than being known as the party school of the USA.
Apparently so does 20% more of the population.
Clearly, parents need to do some research before they choose a school for their child.
And yes, a college freshman is a child.
Boulder campus is notoriously left leaning with lots of time spent marching on Pearl St. protesting the US and referring to President Bush as hitler.
A Useless (UCCS) Alumni? ME TOO!
Screw Boulder. UCCS costs less, and the academics were a thousand times better, IMHO.
"There is no reason that tuitions have been outpacing inflation, except for the fact that government has been subsidizing more and more of it."
Just an aside... I had heard that TABOR (taxpayers bill of rights) has had an impact on CU, too. My understanding is it places a cap on state expenditures and limits increases in per capita expenditures to the inflation rate. So, all state funded organizations, including CU have to fight over a fixed amount of $... Thus, I imagine CU's only alternative to not getting as much state money as they want (notice I wrote "want" and not "need"), is to increase tuition.
CU administration is in denial. They think absolutely nothing is wrong with them - everything wrong is on the outside.
Morons.
Boulder, the Bezerkley of the Rockies! Right up there with those other university enclaves of Austin and Madison.
It's probably the beginning of the end. Nothing grows forever.
Enrollment and tuition can't keep inflating faster than the economy and society grows. At some point, the benefit to cost ratio doesn't make sense and gets worse. As far as real job skills go, the community colleges have done a better job of producing work-ready graduates. But I seriously doubt this society can stand any more pretentious and pompous ethnic studies and philosophers, gay studies and other bogus disciplines. Most of those employed by the universities and schools candidly admit that it's almost a crime for getting paid for doing what they do. But that doesn't stop them from demanding more each year -- or making threatening sounds as though civilization is going to collapse without them eating at the trough and riding the gravy train. I say we give that money to the truly deserving.
No more handouts for liberal professors who teach nothing but that they're entitled -- as though they've never gotten anything in their life.
keep in mind that these "intellectuals" usually come from monied families, and consequently it takes them a while to figure economic matters. (/s)
they hate capitalism.
not to mention their football team's not doing well due to rape allegations.
yup
BREAKING: CU names Chruchill head football coach
Education is a function that can be done very cheaply and unquestionably better by computer and the Internet.
You don't need hundreds of mediocre professors on every college campus in the country. You need the best -- getting out to the various workstations wherever people want it.
The best teacher is the good student. All those others are just high-paying jobs doing something that doesn't need to be done that way anymore. That's the obvious truth of these times.
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