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- Oct. 20, 2020 | Enrollment Down But Does Not Significantly...
- Title:
- Oct. 20, 2020 | Enrollment Down But Does Not Significantly Impact Budget
- Date:
- 2020-10-20
- Category:
- Presidential Memos
- Harvested from:
- https://perma.cc/H79Z-9K2U
- Type:
- text
- Digital Format:
- text/html
- Reference Link:
- https://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/fridayletter/letters/president_memo_2020-10-20.html
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Oct. 20, 2020 | Enrollment Down But Does Not Significantly Impact Budget
TO: University of Idaho Students, Faculty and Staff
FROM: Scott Green, President
DATE: Oct. 20, 2020
SUBJECT: Enrollment Down But Does Not Significantly Impact Budget
Our recruitment efforts pre-COVID-19 showed much promise, with our applications up as much as 16% and acceptances up 14%. With those numbers, we were looking forward to an increase in enrollment. No one knew what to expect for Fall 2020 when campuses across the country closed in March because of COVID-19. Forecasts were for drastic declines in enrollment — as high as 20%. Our Strategic Enrollment Management team, with the help of many of you, took the problem head on and continued to reach out to prospective students to show them what they have to gain from higher education. We had six colleges that saw increases in new student enrollment.
Fall 2020 enrollment is 10,791, with a 3% decline in full-time student and overall decline of 9.5%. A dip of 584 high school students through the dual-credit program was larger than expected and is most likely due to COVID-19. We also saw a large decline in non-degree students. These students are not full tuition-paying students, so while there is a decrease, it is not a substantial hit to our budget. We will, however, need to work harder to get these students into the college-bound pipeline.
While we are seeing a decline in full-time enrollment there are some bright spots. Namely, we saw a significant increase in higher-margin WUE students, that together with an adjustment in tuition waivers, brought savings that will offset the decline in enrollment.
Undergraduate Enrollment
Overall undergraduate enrollment is 6,830.
First-time undergraduate student enrollment is 1,429, down 56 students from 2019. Conversely, students participating in the Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) — students from a Western state who, as part of the WUE consortium, pay less than out-of-state tuition — are up 21%, underscoring that U of I is a great value to students from our neighboring states.
Three years ago, we expanded WUE to make the experience at the University of Idaho more accessible and affordable to students in all 16 participating states and territories of the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education (WICHE). We knew it would take four years to account for the full financial impact of the transition. We made the decision this year to build both years three and four into the budget and absorb the deficit into our most recent round of budget cuts. As a result, the loss was built into our revenue budget and we closed this gap a year earlier than planned.
Students from outside the Western consortium, or non-resident students, are down 27% to 441.
Graduate Enrollment
New graduate student enrollment is 573, up 4% in a continued trend from 2019 when graduate student enrollment increased 2.6%. The university has in recent years invested in more competitive packages for graduate teaching assistants and plans to invest further in the coming year.
International Students
The pandemic and international relations have had significant impacts on international student enrollment. This group is down 29% from 652 in 2019 to 464 in 2020. While many of our international students remained in Moscow over the summer, most new students were not able to attend this fall.
Law
The College of Law saw a significant increase after the university accepted transfer students from the now-defunct Concordia Law School in Boise. U of I took in 110 students in the largest-ever transfer for a Western law school.
Diversity
Native American, Native Hawaiian and students of more than two races are all up this fall. Native American students are up 8%, or 8 students; Native Hawaiian students are up 27%, or 10 students; and students of more than one race are up 14%, or 50 students. The university has received two separate $1 million grants in recent weeks. Both are to aid Native American students with scholarships.
Retention and Graduation
A year ago, the university implemented a number of strategies to improve retention. These efforts resulted in retention holding steady at 77%. With all that has happened with COVID-19 and the economy, this is truly impressive. It is also worth noting that the Spring 2020 graduating class was the largest in the past six years — requiring us to bring in even more first-time students to fill the gap created by successful completion of degrees.
A lot of work went into recruiting students during challenging times. Thank you to each of you who played a role. As we look to better days ahead there is no doubt that students will return in larger numbers. They will understand that a college education is proven to make you healthier, wealthier and wiser. We will continue to deliver on the high-quality education and unique Vandal experience that has made the University of Idaho great for 130 years.
Financial Impact
Late last spring, we made a decision to wait and see how FY20 ended and what our fall enrollment numbers were before taking any concrete action on the legislature’s FY21 2% base reduction. That proved to be a good decision as we outperformed expectations in FY20. Considering waiver savings, higher-margin WUE enrollment and the much smaller financial impact of dual-credit and non-degree enrollment shortfalls, we do not anticipate the need to make additional reductions in the FY21 budget. There are certainly still risks to our financial health. Our financial forecast assumes that we are able to keep our university open for live instruction, that our units continue to live within their budgets, and that we do not have any further COVID-19-related shocks or government holdbacks. We are in a much better place than last spring, despite operating within the confines of a pandemic.
Thank you to all of you who have helped us arrive at this more sustainable position. Let’s keep on the path and all work together to attract those students who decided to sit out or forego dual-credit this year. Together we can help them improve their lives by going on to higher education.
Scott Green
President