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Education Dive
As coronavirus spreads, college enrollment officers report concern filling fall classes
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
March 18, 2020
Dive Brief:
College enrollment officials are reporting widespread concern that they
won't be able to fill their fall 2020 classes due to the novel
coronavirus, a new EAB report reveals.
The consulting firm surveyed about 250 enrollment leaders and asked on
a scale of 1 to 5 how worried they were about meeting their enrollment
goals for the coming semester. Three-quarters answered with a 4 or 5,
the highest levels of concern.
College leaders are developing digital and other novel recruitment
strategies as the virus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, leads to
mass campus closures.
Dive Insight:
Many colleges typically would be preparing to hold on-campus
recruitment events designed to entice students who already received
admission offers to commit to the institution.
But as the new coronavirus spreads throughout the country, hosting
traditional campus fairs has become nearly impossible. About half of
administrators responding to EAB's survey said they have adjusted
admitted student programming in some way, including by promoting
virtual tours of the campus. Nearly 50% of officials said they are
adding live events on social media.
Still, developing alternatives has proven difficult for admission
officers because they are trying to replicate a feeling of excitement
that students get when they visit campus, Madeleine Rhyneer, vice
president of consulting services and dean of enrollment management at
EAB, said in an interview with Education Dive this week. Rhyneer also
wrote the analysis of EAB's survey.
Half of administrators polled reported to EAB that requests to come to
campus hadn't declined yet, but nearly 90% feared they would in the
future.
About two-thirds of enrollment leaders said they were working on a plan
in case the coronavirus prevented incoming students from graduating
high school. As of Wednesday afternoon, officials have confirmed more
than 214,000 cases of COVID-19 globally and over 7,660 in the U.S.,
according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Many colleges have moved classes online in light of the outbreaks and
asked students to vacate residence halls. Most institutions are still
adjusting to the shift to virtual instruction while also turning their
attention to their fall 2020 enrollment yields, or the number of
admitted students who ultimately attend.
Rhyneer told Education Dive that colleges face several barriers in
recruitment as a result of the virus, particularly for international
students, who tend to pay sticker price for tuition and as a result
have been historically relied on to help balance colleges' budgets.
Federal bans on travel, cancellations of college admission tests in
some countries and complications securing visas have made working with
this population difficult.
Economists believe the financial turmoil the coronavirus has set off
will likely turn into a full-blown recession, and so domestic students
may be less inclined to enroll in college.
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