While fewer students are crowding the streets of Ball State University this semester, admissions for Fall 2007 are up, which could mean more freshmen will be moving in.
Ball State's population has decreased by about 500 students compared to Spring 2006, but 25 percent more students have been admitted for next year.
Increased admissions, however, does not necessarily translate into higher enrollment, said Chris Munchel, associate director of admissions. It reflects the effort Ball State put into recruiting strong students this year, he said.
A new advertising campaign, including billboards, commercials and a Web site, as well as visiting more high schools in and out of Indiana, helped increase the number of applications submitted, Munchel said.
"We have always worked hard, but I think this year we have gone above and beyond and put forth an effort that was absolutely amazing," he said.
Flight nominee applications also helped recruit more better-performing students, Munchel said. Those applications are sent to predesignated, high-performing students early in the year. Once the applications are filled out, they can be updated with specific information so potential students do not have to resubmit information Ball State already received, he said.
When Ball State receives more applications, it has a better chance to increase the number of qualified students enrolled, said Tom Taylor, vice president for enrollment, marketing, and communications. From 2002 to 2005, freshman classes decreased from 3,751 to 3,347. In Fall 2006, however, freshman enrollment increased to 3,629.
The increase was not enough to make up for the smaller classes before that, so the overall student population is still lower than previous years, Taylor said. He said he expects another large class of freshmen to enroll at Ball State again for Fall 2007, which could cause overall enrollment to increase for the first time since 2003.
Once the student population is up again, he wants to try to even out annual freshman enrollment so Ball State's population does not vary substantially from year to year, Taylor said.
"We are not looking to grow substantially," he said. "We want to stabilize enrollment. We certainly don't want to see decline, but that doesn't mean we want to grow significantly."
Additionally, four-year graduation rates improved 10 percent from the 1996-97 class to the 2001-02 class. According to the university's Web site, 30.3 percent of that class graduated in four years, and 53.4 percent finished in five years.
Ball State's expanding distance education programs are also affecting student population and graduation rates. As more students complete courses online, they are able to graduate earlier, Taylor said.
Munchel said increasing and then maintaining class size is one of Ball State's goals, but improving the quality of students admitted to Ball State is also important.
"Right now it is pretty good," he said. "When it's all said and done, we hope it will be higher than it was last year. Obviously, if we can increase quality and numbers, we are obviously looking to increase quality before numbers."
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