October 20, 2009

Sometimes Cliches are True

Oct. 20, 2009 at 03:32 PM | By Dan Obregon | Comment Count

"Doing More with Less." Since the beginning of the global recession, it's an expression that you've no doubt heard dozens of times. If you work in higher education, you've probably even seen presentations from peers or industry experts that highlight this point.

However, does this expression still hold true? The Dow's above 10,000 again. Stocks are rebounding. And many schools are seeing enrollments spike despite the down economy. Looks like business is booming, so do you really have to do more with less?

According to data released today by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), the answer is still, "yes." As reported today by Mary Beth Marklein of USA Today, the demand for higher education has never been greater, however, yield continues to drop for many colleges and universities. As a result institutions have been forced to dramatically alter their admissions procedures to make their classes.

A few of the highlights Marklein points out:

The average acceptance rate at four-year colleges declined from 71% in 2001 to 67% in 2007. But while that may look at first blush like the admissions process is more selective than ever, the decline is tempered by other trends, particularly a rise in the number of colleges to which students are applying. NACAC's analysis of Education Department data from 2002 to 2006, for example, found that applications to college increased by almost 24% and the number of acceptance letters mailed out by colleges increased 20%. The college acceptance rates decreased 4% but yield -- the percentage of students who are admitted by a college that ultimately enrolls there -- dropped even more, 9%. (The average was 45% in 2007) And, the number of new freshman grew by nearly 10%, suggesting that colleges made room for the steady rise in the number of high school graduates (it peaked this year at 3.3 million).
21% of colleges reported that they had revoked an admission offer for the fall 2008 admission cycle, compared with 35% in 2007. The average number revoked was 10. The most common reasons: final grades (65%), disciplinary issues(35%), falsification of application information (29%). Public colleges were more likely than private colleges to have rescinded an offer because of final grades, and selective colleges were more likely to have revoked an offer because of disciplinary reasons.
After a decade of growth, the number of high school graduates peaked in 2008-09 at 3.33 million. The number is expected to decline with the 2010 graduating class, and then to rebound to 3.31 million by 2017-18. College enrollment also reached an all-time high; as of 2006, approximately 17.8 million students were enrolled in degree-granting postsecondary institutions. Total college enrollment is expected to continue increasing until at least 2017.

Increased demand. Limited capacity. Shifting demographics. I'm sorry to say it, but it looks like we may be hearing the old "Doing more with less" cliché for some time to come. That is...unless you can think of something better to encapsulate these times.

So now that we've come to terms with this permanent reality, the question is no longer, "Are you doing more with less?" but "How are you doing more with less?"