Colleges Seeing Huge Leap in Applications ; Yet to Come is the Class of 2009 Which Consists of 3.2 Million Students Nationwide.

By Stephanie Gottschlich Staff Writer

DAYTON — Applications for freshman admission this fall to four- year colleges and universities in Southwest Ohio are reaching new heights, raising the potential for wait lists and high rejection rates.

Seven local institutions are seeing double-digit increases in college applications compared with the same time last year, outpacing the national average increase of 6 percent.

At Wittenberg University, University of Dayton, Wright State University and University of Cincinnati, applications are up more than 20 percent compared with the same time last year. Applications to Central State University, which is aggressively trying to triple enrollment in the next 10 years, have nearly doubled. One small private institution, Urbana University, is seeing applications more than double.

Officials say the rush of applications is partly the result of demographics, more aggressive recruiting and the ease of online applications causing seniors to apply to several schools at once to evaluate a variety of financial aid offers.

Bianca Walker, 17, a senior at Fairborn High School who applied to WSU and toured the campus last week, said she was considering a half-dozen colleges in Pennsylvania and Ohio. She did her research on the Internet.

“Applying online is pretty easy,” she said. “For me, my decision will depend on what offers I get.”

Not only are there more graduating seniors, more of them are applying to a greater number of schools. For entering freshmen in fall 2006, the number of students applying to seven or more schools was up 18 percent, according to the National Association of College Admissions Counseling, and the trend is continuing this school year.

Yet to come is the Class of 2009, the largest high school senior class in U.S. history with 3.2 million students, according to the association.

Many of the additional applications are likely coming from low- and middle-income students in middle-class school districts. In the past, they might not have pursued four-year colleges, said John Ochsenbein, guidance counselor at Wayne High School in Huber Heights.

An increasing number of Wayne seniors are aiming for four-year degrees, Ochsenbein said. Increased awareness about financial aid and more aggressive recruiting of lower-income students has contributed to that, he said. With application fees averaging $40 waived at some institutions when students apply online, more are shopping around because they have nothing to lose.

“I see a lot more people applying to multiple schools, checking out more colleges than in the past,” he said. “The idea is ‘Hey, it doesn’t hurt to take a shot at it,’ ” he said.

While a flood of applications is generally good news for local colleges, some are feeling strained..

For students, the increase will result in rejections.

The University of Dayton, which has seen applications jump 24 percent as of Jan. 31, started a wait list two weeks ago for the first time in the school’s history. Most of the increase comes from outof-state students responding to the school’s largest national marketing effort ever, said Sundar Kumarasamy, UD’s vice president for enrollment management.

UD this year sent post cards to every high school in the U.S., or about 30,000 schools. At also adopted the “common” application, a universal, single application used by 300 schools around the country, enabling UD to instantly tap into a national pool of applicants.

But only 1,775 of the nearly 11,000 applications already in hand will be accepted this year, Kumarasamy said.

The University of Cincinnati, which saw applications increase 23 percent compared with the same time last year, is considering starting a wait list four months earlier than last year, said UC spokesman Greg Hand. The wait list in June 2007 was UC’s first in its history, he said. The institution, which plans to enroll 4,150 freshman this year — roughly the same number of freshmen it did last year — has mailed out offers to 8,128 students and closed admissions to its most competitive programs.

Schools are nearing or have reached their capacity for new freshmen and provide them the services they need, officials said.

At UC, more students are returning for their sophomore year, leaving less overall room for additional students the following year, according to Hand. In 2007, UC retained 82 percent of its freshmen compared with 80 percent in 2006.

“The amount of investment in a new student who is taking freshman English and general education courses puts a great demand on the institution as a whole,” Hand said. “Crafting the incoming class means taking all those factors into account and it becomes a very difficult numbers game for us.”

Wright State University, which has 25 percent more applications than last year, will also scramble to find room for more new students than it planned.

“Capacity-wise, we can manage about 1 to 2 percent in growth, but last year we had 3 percent increase in freshmen,” said Cathy Davis, WSU’s executive director of admissions. “We watch these numbers carefully. If you get a huge number of students, you have to really scramble to help all those new students.”

While the number Ohio’s graduating seniors will start declining in 2010, public institutions still face finding room for the 230,000 students who will be added over 10 years as part of Gov. Ted Strickland’s mandate to increase the number of Ohioans with degrees. Many of those students will be in their mid-20s to mid-50s.

With state budget cuts looming and the prospect of continued tight budgets, “we have to be efficient. Our university is taking a proactive role, and we’ll do everything we can,” Davis said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7404 or sgottschlich@DaytonDaily News.com.

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