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Dayton Daily News
Universities fear effects of drop in Ohio high school grads
UD, WSU, Miami try to diversify student bodies, extend outreach, programs
By Max Filby - Staff Writer
December 26, 2016

The number of Ohio high school graduates is expected to decline by more than 13,000 over the next 15 years, a shift universities have been trying to head off for nearly a decade but one officials fear could damage college enrollments and budgets.

Nationally, high school grads will decline by 140,000 over the same period, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, which released a report this month detailing the trend. By 2032, the decrease in Ohio high school grads is expected to surpass the number of students that make up the undergraduate student bodies at Wittenberg University, the University of Dayton and Wright State.

Enrollment is the main revenue source for most universities, meaning the looming drop in high school grads could result in less money an institution would have to spend and could mean increases in student tuition.

“Enrollment drives everything good at the university,” said Doug Fecher, chairman of the finance committee for WSU’s board of trustees. “That’s why a student should care…if enrollment drops then resources become smaller and it makes it more difficult to do things.”

A slump in state funding for higher education, officials said, means colleges have become increasingly dependent on tuition dollars. The state contributed around $5,078 per college student in 2015, close to $2,000 less than the national average. On average, tuition and student fees make up more than a fifth of revenue at four-year public colleges and around a third of revenue at private universities, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

“Just like most institutions, we are driven off of tuition revenue students provide,” Reinoehl said. “It’s a significant portion of the overall operation.”

Ohioans make up around 80 percent of all Miami University students, 87 percent of Wright State’s students, and 71 percent of Wittenberg’s students, meaning the three schools stand to lose the most tuition dollars of any Dayton-area university. Miami and WSU officials though said their student body diversity, outreach and unique offerings stabilize their enrollment.

“Any institution dependent on tuition revenue must do some forecasting,” said Susan Schaurer, assistant vice president for enrollment management at Miami. “We have a responsibility to the institution to be strategic and to forecast what’s coming down the road.

The University of Dayton is likely to fare the best as just 48 percent of its students hail from Ohio. UD enrollment management vice president Jason Reinoehl credited former UD President Dan Curran for the enrollment make-up.

“I would say we feel blessed to be where we are on this,” said Reinoehl. “Leadership is very important on this. (Dan) Curran was very attune to enrollment trends. I can’t say enough how important that is.”

Universities are competitive when it comes to enrollment which officials said has led to little collaboration to try to solve the problems arising from a decline in high school grads.

At the Southwestern Ohio Council for Higher Education, there is a group focused on almost everything except enrollment, said president Sean Creighton. As high school grads start to decrease though, Creighton said SOCHE will likely form some sort of task force to address enrollment.

Fecher has proposed Wright State create its own enrollment task force as it’s the revenue source the university can control.

“The only lever you really have to pull at the university is the enrollment lever,” Fecher said. “You need to drive enrollment up and if that supply of high school seniors is going to drop then it becomes more and more competitive to bring those students to school.”

Read the rest of this article, and others, at Dayton Daily News


 
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