Enrollment Strategy to Increase Student Diversity, Academics
With USF applications and enrollment at an all-time high, a university admissions proposal calls for increasing the diversity and academic talent of incoming classes.
With 950 freshmen entering this fall, the university’s largest class in history, and approximately 400 more students on a first-ever wait list, USF is preparing to become a more selective university over the next six years. According to a draft of the admissions proposal, ?Strategic Enrollment Management at USF,? the university is considering capping its freshmen classes at 950-1,000 students while improving the scholarship and ethnic and socio-economic diversity of its admits by 2010.
“We have so many more students for whom we are their first choice school,” said B.J. Johnson, dean of academic services and the lead administrator in drafting the proposal. “We’re looking at where we would like to be and also what we need to get there.” The proposal reflects input from deans, faculty, staff, and students, she added.
The proposed cap of 950 was calculated based on the number of faculty, beds, and classrooms on campus. Until 80 more beds are added by fall 2005 with the renovation of the Lone Mountain ballroom, and Campion Hall rebuilt by 2007, residence halls and classrooms ?will continue to be stretched,? Johnson said. Those projects, however, will be ready in time to accommodate the overall larger campus population, she said.
Johnson said even as the enrollment proposal calls for capping admits, the university will remain committed to accessibility by continuing to grant need-based financial aid to about two out of three students.
Improving incoming students’ academic quality is one of the main goals of the enrollment initiative. Johnson said a long-term goal is to increase entering students’ grade point averages from an average of 3.31 currently to 3.5. This fall’s class average is 3.45. In addition, for the first time the university has not admitted any conditional applicants this year, or students who must fulfill a set of eligibility requirements their first year before they are given regular student status.
Overall, the university’s student population is projected to be 8,274 this fall. The proposal suggests a goal of about 8,950 students by 2010, with slight increases in all the schools and colleges except the School of Law, which will hold steady.
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