University of Iowa president: Efforts to grow ‘starting to pay off’

The University of Iowa's 'only option” to avoid losing tens of millions of dollars under a new Board of Regents funding model is to increase its enrollment of resident students, UI President Sally Mason said Thursday.

During a President's Forum on campus, Mason talked about the new funding model - which ties 60 percent of state support to in-state enrollment - and what the university has done and is doing to grow both its in-state and out-of-state student numbers. Those efforts include reviewing recruitment strategies and tactics, pushing a statewide marketing campaign, encouraging more campus visits, offering new scholarship programs, and hosting events for variety of student and alumni groups.

'I am very pleased to share with you that our efforts are already starting to pay off,” Mason said Thursday, according to a transcript of her comments.

The UI Office of Admissions reported total first-year applications on Nov. 21 - compared to a snapshot from Nov. 22, 2013 - were up 8.4 percent. Among resident applicants, numbers were up 10.8 percent.

The university also this fall reported a 13.13 percent increase in the number of first-year applicants admitted - 14,454 were admitted through Nov. 21, compared with 12,776 admitted through Nov. 22 of last year, according to the Office of Admissions.

Emil Rinderspacher, director of UI admissions, said the university is continuing to receive 'lots of applications for next fall,” and it's too early to make predictions or draw conclusions about the total enrollment for fall 2015.

Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa also are reporting increases in applicants and those admitted for the next school year.

As of Nov. 1, ISU had 10,779 freshmen applications for fall 2015, compared with 10,211 last year. It had offered 9,711 freshmen admission for the 2015 academic year, compared with 9,112 offers of admission through the same date last year, according to ISU Admissions Director Katharine Suski.

And, at UNI, applications had reached 4,316 by Nov. 24 compared with 3,285 on the same date last year, representing a 31 percent increase, according to a UNI spokesman Scott Ketelsen. Admissions were up 28 percent at the end of November, with 2,904 this year compared with 2,276 last year.

On Thursday, Mason addressed some of the demands and challenges that come with growth and what the university is doing to address them.

'As I have said publicly in recent weeks, in terms of faculty, we will need to hire lecturers to plug some holes along the way,” she said.

But, she said, 'I would consider this a temporary fix.”

'As a major doctoral university, we know that tenure-track faculty are a critical component to the stability and excellence of the university,” Mason said.

She also addressed the issue of housing more first-year students, 95 percent of whom choose to live on campus. The university currently has 5,850 beds in UI-owned buildings, and 220 beds in UI-leased buildings.

'Clearly, even now our housing system is undersized,” Mason said.

A new 500-bed residence hall is scheduled to open next fall on the west side of campus, and the Board of Regents recently gave the OK for another new hall on the east side, near Burge. Mason said Thursday that the university likely will pursue a third new dorm - probably on the west side.

Beginning next fall, the university will have enough beds for 6,100 students.

'If we grow at 500 students per year, we run out of room in UI-owned buildings in the fourth year of growth,” Mason said.

Aside from housing, Mason said, the university will need more space on campus for classroom uses and other student-related functions.

'Addressing classroom needs will most likely require, for example, higher use efficiency and incorporating more academic spaces into such areas as the Iowa Memorial Union and University Capitol Centre,” Mason said.

In hopes of better managing enrollment, Mason said, the university over the summer hired two admissions professionals to conduct a 'high-level review” of recruitment tactics, enrollment goals, institutional messaging, and financial aid leveraging.

The Provost's Office also reorganized the management and coordination of admissions and financial aid under new Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management Brent Gage, who will start on campus next week, Mason said.

'As we look to and plan for the future, we will grow a larger student body,” she said, 'which in many ways is a strategy to help us meet these overarching aspirations that we have always aimed for.”