Colleges and universities nationwide report a record-breaking number of applications, according to the College Board, a not-for-profit association that keeps statistics related to more than 5,000 schools of higher learning.
The University of Vermont had a 36.6 percent increase in applicants from 2005 to 2006, according to data from the National Center of Education Statistics. At Boston College, the number of students applying early rose 20 percent in 2006, and regular applications increased by 15 percent. According to the College Board, the reason is that many high school seniors are applying to 20 or more colleges rather than the traditional five to eight.
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor has seen a similar rise, though not nearly as pronounced. Robbin Steen, director of admissions, said she has seen applications arriving in greater numbers every year. She said the school receives about 2,000 applications a year and accepts about, 500 into the freshman class.
“We call them ‘softer’ applications, meaning that students are putting out more applications and shopping for colleges more than they used to,” Ms. Steen said.
One of the reasons is more students are applying online, which speeds up the process. Students are also discovering common applications, which enable students to apply to multiple colleges with just one standardized form. Online applications are less labor intensive for admissions departments, lowering the price to file an application and making it feasible to apply to a dozen schools or more.
The College Board sees this trend as harmful because, as applications increase, admissions decrease. Schools have to spend more time finding replacements for students who reject admission in favor of other schools.
“You’re not quite as sure who’s as serious and who’s not,” Ms. Steen said. “It kind of skews your figures. But students are becoming more consumer savvy and shopping around more, which is a benefit.”
In addition to applications, she has seen a rise in students “depositing” for colleges. May 1 is the enrollment deadline for UMHB and a deposit is required as a commitment to attend the school. Now students are depositing for multiple schools to delay a decision.
“That deposit used to mean ‘I’m coming to your school for sure,’ Ms. Steen said. “Now they’re depositing at more than one school and putting off their decision until later in the summer.”
Community colleges do not see this trend because they generally accept anyone with a diploma who applies. However, Dr. Marc Nigliazzo, president of Temple College, said the crunch comes during registration when large numbers of students try to enroll in campus programs with limited space - particularly in the health science department.
He said TC has seen a record number of students turn out for early registration. As of Tuesday 3,208 have registered for spring classes compared to 2,747 by this time last year.
“I remember just four or five years ago if we enrolled 1,200 or 1,500 students before the Christmas break then we were excited,” Nigliazzo said. “Many of the students interested in TC know of the enrollment increases and know that classes get very, very tight if you wait until the last days of registration. In the past we enrolled 70 or 80 percent of students in the last three days of registration.”
