By Colter Hettich, Features Editor
For the 12th-day enrollment number, the administration reported 4,305 active students on campus this spring. The university calculates official student enrollment on the 12th day of the term – the fall number being the universally accepted and reported count for the year.
Yet since fall 2006, overall enrollment has been on the decline.
Out of around 900 entering freshman, 90 percent returned for the spring semester. The other 10 percent- between 80 and 90 students- either dropped out or transferred.
Phil Schubert, executive vice president, expects this 10 percent loss every spring. Typically, spring numbers do not heavily concern the administration. Schubert said total enrollment always “bumps around within a certain range.” But the consistent decline over the last few semesters has caught their attention.
“We are concerned that our freshman numbers for fall have dropped a little bit,” Schubert said,” and that’s something we are taking a very close look at.”
Though the quantity of students is vitally important to the business aspect of the university, the university focuses on more than just sheer numbers.
“It is not our enrollment strategy to enroll as many students as we can,” Schubert said. “We want to enroll the right students and that means looking for students who are a good fit, academically and spiritually.”
ACU has done reasonably well in maintaining the high-quality they look for in incoming students, Schubert said,” But the numbers are off a little bit. The numbers from the last two falls have fallen short of our goals.”
The university primarily competes with Baylor, Harding, Oklahoma Christian, Texas Tech and Texas A&M for incoming students.
Schubert said it would take several years of a steady decline for enrollment to begin affecting the campus. Only then would the administration make an evaluation of all departments and decide where to cut expenses.
“In terms of direct impact on specific areas or departments, there has been none directly tied to enrollment so far,” he said.
Though the university may be struggling to meet its goals for on-campus enrollment, its online program continues to grow.
ACU Online currently has 120 to 130 nonresidential students actively pursuing their degree online. Carol Williams, dean of the Graduate School and associate provost of distance education, expects nonresidential numbers to continue rising. Though hesitant to predict specific numbers, Williams hopes to see ACU Online enrollment double by this time next year.
Meanwhile, Admissions and Recruiting will continue to try to improve their efforts. Hayley Webb, director of admissions, said ACU is becoming more refined and strategic in their recruiting efforts.
“In addition, we have been intentional about making recruiting a campuswide initiative by more actively involving faculty and staff,” she said.
