Increasing the Freshman Class

March 2008 issue

Is DePaul increasing the size of the freshman class for next year? Our Vision Twenty12 meeting talked about a cap on undergrad enrollment and an increase in selectivity. Is this being rolled out yet?

Response

Source: David Kalsbeek
Title: Senior Vice President
Unit/Department: Enrollment Management and Marketing
Email: dkalsbee@depaul.edu

Response:
It is important to note at the outset that enrollment goals are reviewed, reevaluated and revised routinely. They are often modified in light of changing institutional needs and updated information about capacity, mix, demand, and competition.

It is also important to note that the enrollment assumptions reflected in the financial model of the VISION twenty12 plan show continued undergraduate enrollment growth, not an undergraduate enrollment cap as stated in the question. Specifically, that growth is dependent more on increasing the number of transfer students than new traditional freshmen, bringing the ratio of freshmen to transfers closer to the 1:1 ratio we had before the Vision 2006 plan (during which we doubled the freshman class from 1,200 to 2,400).

The VISION twenty12 plan outlined an enrollment strategy and a financial model whereby DePaul would hold the freshman class at about 2,400, while achieving continual annual increases in demand (e.g. inquiries and applications) through our successful marketing and recruitment efforts ad improved market position. Holding to any fixed goal in the face of increasing demand will require us to admit a smaller percentage of that growing applicant pool (e.g. greater selectivity), all other things being equal.

It should be noted that over the course of the Vision 2006 plan, DePaul's freshman selectivity improved from 80% to 70% while we increased freshman enrollment dramatically; in other words, increased selectivity is not a new goal introduced in the twenty12 plan. But if our objective is to hold the Fall 2007 freshman class equal to the Fall 2006 enrollment of about 2,540 students and do so in the wake of a substantial increase in applications for admission we've achieved this year, we may need to reduce the admit rate significantly to 60-62%. Managing that increase in selectivity while simultaneously attending to goals of diversity, access, program mix and net revenue is the quintessential balancing act we call 'enrollment management'.

The current freshman enrollment goal is a freshman class about the same size as last year's 2,537, which would exceed the budgeted freshman target for FY07-08 of 2,450.

The much-publicized concern about increasing freshman housing and denying housing for upperclassmen resulted from an unclear communication to next year's juniors and seniors. While the number of beds allocated to freshmen in Lincoln Park housing for Fall 2007 has increased and thereby reduced upperclass housing capacity, those additional freshmen allocations enable us to house new freshmen in residence halls with more structure and support while they make their adjustment to college life. This increase in freshman housing is driven more by a commitment to the quality of the freshman experience than by a decision to increase enrollment.