Dive Summary:
- At the annual meeting of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling, several sessions focused on the changing face of funding for public universities and how that might affect recruiting and admissions.
- Many public institutions have responded to the funding decreases with increases in tuition and fees, though these increases have barely made up for the funding decreases despite now exceeding appropriations in many states.
- As a result, many institutions are becoming increasingly more likely to place greater admissions emphasis on students who can pay higher prices instead of "riskier" students who aren't as likely to stay four years, graduate on time, or study in a field valued by state lawmakers--a move that could undermine the goal of providing socioeconomic mobility held by many of these institutions.
From the article:
DENVER - It is often said that if you want to know what an institution values, see where it spends its money. Several sessions and much of the chatter here at the annual meeting of the National Association for College Admission Counseling centered on how changes in the funding landscape for public universities - both the increasing dependence on tuition revenue to fund operations and the emergence of performance-based appropriations - could change the way admissions directors at those institutions recruit students and who they admit. And the concern isn't limited to public institutions. ...