It didn’t take long for
leaders from Utah State University to realize that a new policy regarding
mission age for members The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would
have a serious impact on admissions.
Now, after four months of
studying the landscape, the extent of that impact is becoming clear.
James Morales, vice president for student services at USU, was assigned to research and analyze how the change in the church’s policy — allowing men to serve 18 and women at 19 — would affect the university.
“In October when we heard the announcement, the president of the university asked me to lead this enrollment task force to decide how we are going to get through this,” Morales said.
Because 86 percent of USU
students are LDS members, Morales said, enrollment has dropped.
Two months after the announcement was made, hundreds of students deferred their enrollment.
“Due to the missionary age change in spring 2013, we lost 381 more students compared to the spring 2012 semester,” Morales said.
Having analyzed this semester’s enrollment, Morales and his team anticipate that this year’s loss of students is the beginning of a trend.
“We are expecting to lose about 600 current students between now and the fall,” Morales said. "On top of that, we expect to lose 650 students that would be incoming freshman or transfer students. Then the next fall we would lose another 650. The total loss we are looking at is about 1,900 students.”
As enrollment has decreased, so has revenue. Morales estimated that the university has lost $1.4 million this semester. Housing applications for next semester have also fallen by 20 percent.
“If you take 1,900 students it equates to about $19 million in lost revenue for the next two years, that’s tuition and revenue to our auxiliaries,” Morales said. “That will cause about a 2 percent budget cut, which is fairly large."
The university has struggled to adjust to the change in revenue.
“Fewer students means less fee money that goes around to the different departments,” said Christian Thrapp, president of Associated Students of Utah State University. “It is hard to tell whether or not those that are already receiving will get by with the lower student population and less money.”
Morales’ research has led USU admissions staff to seek future students outside of their typical markets. Efforts are currently underway to recruit out-of-state high school and transfer students.
“We are doing a lot of extra stuff just to try to find students to come next fall,” said Corey Mikkelsen, associate director of recruitment. “We’ve always done a lot of out-of-state recruiting, but right now we are doing a lot of recruiting in California. That is mainly because the education system in California is having a hard time.”
Mikkelsen said he and his staff are trying to capitalize on California’s struggling economy by hosting recruiting events at high schools and colleges across California. 69 of these events have been held, most recently in San Diego. The next event will be held on Feb. 27 in Ontario, Calif.
“I have two groups out in L.A. right now," Mikkelsen said. "Some areas it’s been hit and miss, other areas we’ve done really well."
Two months after the announcement was made, hundreds of students deferred their enrollment.
“Due to the missionary age change in spring 2013, we lost 381 more students compared to the spring 2012 semester,” Morales said.
Having analyzed this semester’s enrollment, Morales and his team anticipate that this year’s loss of students is the beginning of a trend.
“We are expecting to lose about 600 current students between now and the fall,” Morales said. "On top of that, we expect to lose 650 students that would be incoming freshman or transfer students. Then the next fall we would lose another 650. The total loss we are looking at is about 1,900 students.”
As enrollment has decreased, so has revenue. Morales estimated that the university has lost $1.4 million this semester. Housing applications for next semester have also fallen by 20 percent.
“If you take 1,900 students it equates to about $19 million in lost revenue for the next two years, that’s tuition and revenue to our auxiliaries,” Morales said. “That will cause about a 2 percent budget cut, which is fairly large."
The university has struggled to adjust to the change in revenue.
“Fewer students means less fee money that goes around to the different departments,” said Christian Thrapp, president of Associated Students of Utah State University. “It is hard to tell whether or not those that are already receiving will get by with the lower student population and less money.”
Morales’ research has led USU admissions staff to seek future students outside of their typical markets. Efforts are currently underway to recruit out-of-state high school and transfer students.
“We are doing a lot of extra stuff just to try to find students to come next fall,” said Corey Mikkelsen, associate director of recruitment. “We’ve always done a lot of out-of-state recruiting, but right now we are doing a lot of recruiting in California. That is mainly because the education system in California is having a hard time.”
Mikkelsen said he and his staff are trying to capitalize on California’s struggling economy by hosting recruiting events at high schools and colleges across California. 69 of these events have been held, most recently in San Diego. The next event will be held on Feb. 27 in Ontario, Calif.
“I have two groups out in L.A. right now," Mikkelsen said. "Some areas it’s been hit and miss, other areas we’ve done really well."
Overall, things look
promising, Mikkelsen said. “We’ve had about 100 more applications from
California than we typically do.”
Utah State will continue to recruit and accept mission-bound students, asking them to defer their enrollment.
“Enrollment will go down for two years but it will probably spike the third year and then level back out,” Mikkelsen said.
Even with Utah State's increased recruitment efforts, however, Morales and other administrators are trying to stay realistic about revenues in the coming years.
“If we are losing 1,900 students we are not going to replace all of those 1,900 students over the next two years,” Morales said. “Our goal is to recruit and replace 800 of that 1,900. We are going to lose revenue over the next two years. We realize that and we are just going to have to tighten our belts."
Utah State will continue to recruit and accept mission-bound students, asking them to defer their enrollment.
“Enrollment will go down for two years but it will probably spike the third year and then level back out,” Mikkelsen said.
Even with Utah State's increased recruitment efforts, however, Morales and other administrators are trying to stay realistic about revenues in the coming years.
“If we are losing 1,900 students we are not going to replace all of those 1,900 students over the next two years,” Morales said. “Our goal is to recruit and replace 800 of that 1,900. We are going to lose revenue over the next two years. We realize that and we are just going to have to tighten our belts."
Mary Taggart, Sam Bennion, Landon Kohler, Hannah Heninger and Amanda Ahlman contributed to this article.
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