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Freshman enrollment is third largest in UB's history
By DONNA LONGENECKER
Reporter Assistant Editor
Riding on the coattails of last year's significant increases in enrollment, UB's 2002 freshman class is the third largest in its history, and overall enrollment at the university, at 26,168—up from 25,838 last year—is the seventh highest ever.
The number of graduate students also increased this year by 4.3 percent—from 8,548 to 9,114, with a goal of reaching 9,500 students by 2005. "We've never had more than 8,800 graduate students at UB in our history," reported Sean Sullivan, vice provost for enrollment and planning who presented the enrollment figures at the Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday. Increasing graduate enrollment is a major thrust of overall enrollment plans for UB, and Sullivan said it would be accomplished without sacrificing quality or negatively impacting programs.
The 2002 figures put UB on pace to meet the enrollment goals set forth in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between SUNY and UB. In many areas, UB already has exceeded its targets.
And, noted Sullivan, this year's freshman class is one of the best prepared classes UB has ever had, highlighting successes in improving the quality of incoming students.
The number of full-time continuing undergraduate students at UB is also at an all time high, up by 5 percent—10,813 to 11,082—from the previous year due, in part, to the increase in the size of the freshman class over the past couple of years and an improvement in retention rates, Sullivan said.
As part of the MOU, UB is focusing on four enrollment-related areas for improvement: increasing enrollment growth and the diversity of the student population and improving retention and graduation rates. Additionally, improving the progress or time to receive a degree and overall recruitment efforts are part of UB's strategic enrollment plan.
While much of the enrollment news is good, some areas saw declines—the number of transfer students decreased by nearly 14 percent, while the number of part-time undergraduates decreased by nearly 20 percent.
"After Sept. 11, the system (administration) really knew that we were going to be facing budget constraints that put a real halt on the aggressive growth goals in all areas of the MOU," explained Sullivan, so when enrollment targets were being developed last March for the coming fall, a decision was made to limit the number of transfer students.
Sullivan also attributed the significant decline in the number of New York metro-area students applying to UB to the events of Sept. 11, but added that the number of students from that region already enrolled at the university had not declined.
The terrorist attacks also may have contributed to UB not meeting its freshman international-student enrollment goals, Sullivan said, although the university exceeded its goals for the proportion of international students (12.3 percent) and the number of minority students (13.6 percent) enrolled at the university.
The ratio of graduate students to undergraduates at UB is another area targeted for improvement. SUNY would like to see the make-up of the overall student population reflect a 60/40 mix—60 percent undergraduates and 40 percent graduate students. UB nearly met that goal for Fall 2002, with a ratio of 65.2 percent undergraduates to 34.8 percent graduate students.
The "selectivity matrix," a method of measuring freshman selectivity for SUNY institutions, points to improvements in the quality of the incoming freshman class over the past five years.
Projected 2002 figures show that about 40 percent of this year's freshman class is part of the "highly selective" group, according to the selectivity matrix, with a minimum high school grade-point average of 94 and minimum SAT score of 1400. This was a 2 percent increase over 2001 figures.
A projected three-point increase—from 44 to 47 percent—is likely in the number of students falling into the "most selective" group, with a minimum GPA of 85 and minimum SAT score of 1100 to 1300. The goal, says Sullivan, is to enroll 90 percent of the incoming class in those first two selectivity groups.
"We have systematically, slowly, steadily been taking the less well-prepared student out of the freshman class each year," explained Sullivan.
The SAT mean score for incoming freshmen, at 1160, is up four points from Fall 2001, the highest it has been since the SAT methodology was changed in 1996, Sullivan noted, with a slow steady increase in scores since Fall 2000.
In addition, the freshman acceptance rate further declined, to a 10-year low of 67.2 percent, with a goal of reaching 60 percent, but the yield on accepted applicants, at 30.2 percent, is the highest yield in the past 21 years.
"We are attracting better and better students," Sullivan said, adding that UB continues to focus on retention and progress toward a degree, both major areas of concern.
"We lose a lot of students in the first two years—and a lot of seniors aren't getting their diplomas in four years," Sullivan pointed out.
Moreover, he said. "We are low in the system and low across the country in our four-year graduation rate."
"We need to support the undergraduate student at UB," Sullivan said of efforts to connect undecided students to the university community and expressed hopes that increasing freshman admission to programs might increase retention rates.