Overall enrollment on campus has dropped by about 700 applications since last year, leaving enrollment of incoming freshmen at the lowest it’s been in the last 10 years.
Gary Swegan, director of undergraduate admissions, said freshmen enrollment has been dropping since 2007.
Before then, from about 1999 to 2006, enrollment experienced a surge when the average number of incoming freshmen hovered around 3,650.
Swegan said since 2007, some University scholarships were revamped to benefit a wider range of students. Prior to the changes, more money went to fewer students, but now, less money is going to more students.
‘Changes surrounding aid and scholarships definitely cost us a few students,’ Swegan said.
Swegan also said the economic problems sweeping the country this year affected people’s decisions.
He said considering the financial situation affecting families across Ohio and the nation, he was happy to have as many new freshman apply as they did this year.
‘The impact the economy seemed to have on us was we had fewer applications for freshmen,’ Swegan said.
But while both freshmen and overall enrollment is down, transfer students are up from last year at 625 students enrolled as of Aug. 18.
Swegan said transfer applications were still down in the spring, but a slew came in over summer, and they increased by about 60 applications.
Enrollment at Firelands campus also increased this year.
Deb Divers, director of admissions at Firelands, said this year, 2,432 students overall are registered for fall, which was up 133 from last year’s 2,299.
‘We’ve grown over 1,000 students in the last 10 years,’ Divers said.
She also said so far this year 406 freshmen have enrolled, along with 115 transfer students.
In 1999, Divers said 259 freshmen and 75 transfer students were enrolled. Overall, about 1,200 students were enrolled in 1999, she said.
According to enrollment reports on the Firelands Web site, enrollment has been increasing overall since about 1998.
Divers said she thought more students were looking at Firelands as an option to start a new career, or to just save money.
‘The economy is really helping our enrollment,’ she said.
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared in the Aug. 22 issue.
