Trends in enrollment at Wright State have shown a decline in the past five years.
In an effort to bring enrollment numbers up, the university has introduced a number of new recruitment methods that target demographics including international students, high school sophomores and Indiana residents who live close to Ohio, according to information provided by Seth Bauguess, Director of Communications at Wright State.
Regressions can be attributed to, among other things, a decreasing high school population in the Midwest, changing demographics and the climate of international politics, according to said Susan Edwards, executive vice president for Academic Affairs & provost at Wright State.
“This is not a unique problem to Wright State,” Edwards said. “This is something that is happening all over the nation.”
“Higher education just needs to communicate the value of what a higher degree is,” Edwards said.
New initiatives to increase enrollment in general include the following, according to information provided by Bauguess:
· Stepping up marketing of reciprocity agreements with 16 counties in Indiana whose students are eligible to study in Ohio at the cost of in-state tuition
· Becoming more active in high schools at financial aid night presentations
· Joining the Common Application, which allows potential students to use one application to apply to many different universities
· Implementing a Transfer Peer Mentor program, in which transfer students will guide incoming transfer students through their transition to Wright State
The number of students enrolling from Raider Country, the contiguous 16-county region in Ohio anchored by Wright State’s Dayton and Lake campuses, has shown only a slight decline, according to Bauguess.
“The story of the university’s enrollment decline is largely driven by international student declines,” Bauguess said.
The University Center for International Education (UCIE) has also engaged in initiatives to bring in more international students to Wright State.
WSU’s international student body largely comes from four countries, according to according to Bill Holmes, associate vice president of UCIE.
“My worry is that we’re overly reliant on those (countries),” Holmes said. “We need to be very strategic, and our plan that we’ve put in place for his year with recruiting addresses that.”
New methods to increase international student enrollment include the following, according to Holmes:
·Outsourcing recruiting by working with two recruiting agencies to put full-time agents on the ground in foreign countries
· Expanding its agent network into new areas, including Morocco, the Baltics, and Central Asia
· Working closer with other offices on campus, including the office of Marketing and Communications and Student Legal Services
· Implementing Sunapsis, an international case management software for processing international students
“We are very hopeful that this year is going to turn the corner for Wright State in getting a greater bit of diversity,” Holmes said.
The university declined to share enrollment data at this time, given that it has not reached its census date, the date by which the university finalizes enrollment. The data will not be available until Sept. 11.
