Ithaca's official enrollment for fall 2005 numbered 6,412 students including 6,098 undergraduates and 314 graduate students. Undergraduate enrollment was virtually on target compared to last November’s projection of 6,087. Graduate enrollment , on the other hand, increased significantly.
Total enrollment for fall 2005 numbered 6,412 students including 6,098 undergraduates and 314 graduate students. Undergraduate enrollment was virtually on target compared to last November’s projection of 6,087. Graduate enrollment, on the other hand, increased significantly from the 230 enrolled last year (which had been carried forward as a constant in projecting this year). The increase in graduate enrollment is due primarily to an increase in Physical Therapy graduate enrollment as the new one-semester “Transition to D.P.T.” program opened this fall, effectively retaining the majority of last year’s PT master’s degree recipients for an additional semester enrollment to complete the new requirements for the Doctorate in Physical Therapy (D.P.T.). The combined numbers of this year’s master’s candidates with those returning/continuing for the D.P.T. increased the fall full-time graduate enrollment in physical therapy from 57 last fall to 115 this fall.
The enrollment figure central to Ithaca’s budget planning, the Annualized Full-time Undergraduate Degree-Credit Enrollment (AFUDCE), was projected to remain stable at 5,803 for 2005-06 compared to 5,793 last year. The current projection for 2005-06, which averages fall 2005 enrollments with anticipated spring ’06 enrollments, is 5,810, meaning we are right on target for 2005-06. In achieving this stability, a number of compensating factors occurred that include a small but welcomed increase in admission yield among freshman prospects, sufficient to offset minor shortfalls in the matriculation of new transfer students and the retention of continuing students.
This year’s undergraduate admission targets for new fulltime students included 1,594 freshmen and 182 transfers for a desired total of 1,776 new matriculants. As of the official annual census date for enrollment, October 1st, 2005, the final admission counts show 1,848 new matriculants. Freshman matriculants were 86 higher than originally planned, while the number of new full-time transfer matriculants was fourteen short of the original target, meaning we met our overall admission target albeit with a few less transfers and a few more freshmen than originally planned.
This incoming class was selected from an applicant pool that had the highest academic profile, and was the second largest, in Ithaca’s history. A higher academic profile generally means we can expect a drop in yield and adjustments were made accordingly in our planned numbers of offers of admission. We also were aware that our original target for transfer students was overly ambitious, given the lack of corresponding growth in the transfer applicant pool, which led us to compensate mid-cycle by accepting a few more freshmen prospects than initially planned.
One of the primary goals in Ithaca’s institutional plan has been to increase racial and ethnic diversity in its enrollment. This year’s enrollment counts show that Ithaca is making progress. Over the last several years ALANA enrollment numbers have grown. The entering class this fall includes the largest number (175) of students of color ever, comprising the second largest percentage of the total student body (10.4 percent versus 10.5 percent in fall ’03). This year’s record success combined with the relative successes of other recent recruitment cycles, make this year’s enrollment the most racially and ethnically diverse population in Ithaca’s history. ALANA enrollments for fall 2005 numbered 589 (9.2 percent) of Ithaca’s total enrollment, including 552 (9.3 percent) of full-time undergraduates. The enrollment counts for fall 2005 show record numbers in every ALANA category. Congratulations are due to all who contributed to this year’s success! In particular, hats off to the staff in the Offices of Admission, Financial Aid, and Marketing Communications; to the Admission Planning team (Larry Chambers, Martha Gray, Jim Mica, Paula Mitchell, Yuko Mulugetta, Holly Tavelli, and Gerard Turbide) for their success, and thanks too to the hundreds of faculty, staff, alumni, and students who contributed so generously of their time at each stage of the process. Prospects routinely tell us that it was the quality of their personal interactions with campus representatives that proved the single greatest influence on their decision to attend.
The number of continuing students projected for fall 2005 was 52 higher than realized (4,127 projected versus 4,075 actual). The shortfall, while due in part to the margin statistical error in the enrollment model and offset nearly one-for-one by the larger number of incoming freshmen, does reflect a slight downturn in student retention -- most notably through the third semester of an entering class or cohort. By comparison, retention through the 3rd semester of the entering freshman classes of 2001, 2002, and 2003, numbered 86.6 percent, 87.7 percent, and 87.5 percent respectively, whereas retention to third semester for the class entering class in fall 2004 declined to 86.2 percent.
A primary enrollment planning goal has been to optimize enrollment in all programs while continuing to build a strong academic profile. This year’s enrollment numbers show success in reversing downturns experienced last year in business, physical therapy and the exploratory program in H&S. The growing strength of profile in the applicant pool allowed us to accept larger numbers of prospects without negatively affecting the overall profile of the entering class. Targeted out-reach efforts involved greater faculty participation in key program areas including business, communication, and HSHP. Special diversity initiatives including the MLK, Jr. Scholarship search and the student led Inside Look initiative brought record numbers of ALANA prospects to campus for a first-hand experience of what it means to be a student attending Ithaca. The result: progress realized in our goal to engage greater numbers of faculty and students in our outreach initiatives and a record number of new ALANA matriculants.
It is important to note that outreach efforts continue in our effort to enroll greater numbers of students from abroad. However, as the image of the US grows more negative abroad and US immigration makes it more difficult for prospective students to obtain the necessary authorization to enter the USA, Ithaca, like the majority of institutions nationally, will likely experience continued decline in the number of international students it is able to matriculate,.
In summary, Ithaca’s fall ’05 undergraduate enrollment is nearly identical to the enrollment targets adopted last fall, with a few more new matriculants offsetting a comparable shortfall in the numbers of students projected to be continuing. Enrollment at the graduate level benefited from the extended curriculum in physical therapy which enables M.S. degree recipients to stay on for an additional semester to complete requirements for the Doctorate in Physical Therapy (D.P.T.).
Finally, in addition to meeting our recruitment objectives, this past year was one of extensive systems planning, as the Offices of Admission, Financial Aid, the Bursar, the Registrar, Institutional Research, and ITS, along with representatives from the faculty and the Offices of Student Affairs and Campus Life, Residence Life, Graduate Studies, Marketing Communications, and various academic support services, commenced conversion of data files and business processes to be functionally supported via HOMER, Ithaca’s new administrative software support system purchased last summer from SCT-Banner. Admission was first to go-live on the new system in mid-September 2005, and will soon to be followed by the Offices of Financial Aid, the Registrar, and the Bursar; with later go-live dates that will include systems support for judicial affairs and residence life. It is hoped that this new system will provide the necessary systems support and flexibility necessary for Ithaca College to continue to compete successfully in an increasingly competitive enrollment market.
Further detail regarding Ithaca’s official enrollment numbers for fall 2005 can be viewed on the registrar’s website (https://www.ithaca.edu/registrar/enrollment.htm) and on the website of institutional research (https://www.ithaca.edu/ir/).
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20051101192512587