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Bradley Freshman Enrollment

tornado

tornado

New member
As most know, the sharp decline in freshmen enrollment has been a major issue at Bradley, but there is some good news....it appears to be turning around.
The BU Scout has an article detailing this. (not given any coverage elsewhere)

Freshman enrollment usually averaged around 1,050-1,075 or more...and was still pretty stable at 1,080 in fall of 2013.
Freshman enrollment took a huge hit in fall of 2014, dropping to 940 - way more than anticipated
Then freshman enrollment dropped a little more this fall to 927, but that was less than anticipated and shows that the new moves are stemming the tide of decline.

Administration tried blaming national trends and the PJS bought that line - but as one can easily see, that just isn't the answer-
as many colleges are not seeing the same decline....most MVC schools are seeing enrollment increases. LINK, LINK

Dr. Liberty, Bradley's current Interim President says the problem is ...
"The decreased enrollment can be attributed to Bradley’s inability to adjust old marketing strategies.."

the university has been slow to use technology ..“Younger people are all mobile and into social media..“We got out of tune with that.”

“The marketplace is changing, and we haven’t adapted well to that,” Liberty said.
However, Liberty said the declining enrollment trend would stop after this year ...there will be a steady increase.”"


BTW- freshman Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye is quoted in this article on enrollment
 
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Good news again...
PJS is reporting that this fall Bradley will once again - for the 2nd straight year under Dr. Gary Roberts...

RECORD FRESHMAN ENROLLMENT at Bradley will surge to possibly 1,250!

Freshman enrollment history...

Pre-2013: averages 1,050-1,075
2013: 1,080
2014: 940
2015: 927
..then Joanne Glasser leaves at the end of the 2014-5 school year..and Dr. Roberts takes over as President
2016: 1,100 (LINK)
2017: 1,250 (est)

NOTE** that because those two poor enrollment years of 2014 & 2015 still comprise almost half of the current classes (next fall's juniors & seniors) - revenue will still be down as Bradley relies mainly on the revenue from tuition - and the overall four-year enrollment is down because of those classes. We are recovering faster than anyone had imagined, but there are still revenue problems that will linger for a few more years due to the disaster from pre-2015.
As usual the PJS article dwells heavily on the debt but completely fails to point to where the debt problem came from and who was responsible, so I think it is important for those facts to be made known.


Great job Dr. Roberts!!
 
EIU is so concerned about dropping freshman enrollment that they just announced they are waiving enrollment fees!!

University of Missouri just announced another huge drop in freshman enrollment -
they had 6000 in 2015
they had 4700 in 2016
and this year, 2017 they are at 4000 - HUGE

Many other midwest universities are also seeing big drops, but Bradley is surging!
 
New York's Andrew Cuomo just signed legislation to give free college tuition to many in New York just to bolster falling enrollment in all the State University schools in NY...
Enrollment there is at the lowest in decades and has fallen for the 6th straight year.
 
it's great to see enrollment improving at Bradley. Frankly the difference of 100 students in a year can make a massive difference in profitability for the universe. The Missouri enrollment is insane! That's a 10s of millions drop in revenue per year. Pretty nuts.

With the student loan bubble about to burst any year, only the universities providing the most value to their students are going to survive. There will be massive fallout eventually.
 
Stryker said:
it's great to see enrollment improving at Bradley. Frankly the difference of 100 students in a year can make a massive difference in profitability for the universe. The Missouri enrollment is insane! That's a 10s of millions drop in revenue per year. Pretty nuts.

With the student loan bubble about to burst any year, only the universities providing the most value to their students are going to survive. There will be massive fallout eventually.
Click to expand...

Don't imagine the riots helped any either.
 
I am sure some will describe it different but it went like this...
..the football players didn't like something the University President said or did or didn't do - they never really said, just claimed there was "inaction"- so they turned on him and the whole campus decided to riot...
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/08/us/missouri-football-players-protest/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/10/us/missouri-football-players-protest-presidents-resigns/index.html

recall this was just a couple months after the Ferguson thing - which was all blown up over a bunch of lies....but heck - never let a good reason to riot go to waste..

In the end - the University CAVED big time to the protesters, they canned the President and offered nothing else...but parents of kids all over - Black & white - decided the actions of the University amounts to giving in and wasting tax dollars on a bunch of disgruntled football players who were getting a FREE COLLEGE EDUCATION.
In the end - who cares, since nobody's actually accountable for the spending and waste - it's all someone else's money they're spending.
 
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The freshman enrollment for 2017-18 is even better than expected....

Dr. Gary Roberts just announced that 1,312 freshmen have enrolled and submitted their deposits to hold a spot in the freshman class!
(Over 10,000 student applications were processed in 2017 - the largest number ever)

That exceeds expectations...

Enrollment numbers:
Pre-2013: averages 1,050-1,075
2013: 1,080
2014: 940
2015: 927
..then Joanne Glasser leaves at the end of the 2014-5 school year..and Dr. Roberts takes over as President
2016: 1,100
2017: ACTUAL 1,312

(some may still withdraw or drop out) but Dr. Roberts also makes this statement:
".. it is virtually certain that the Class of 2021 will be the largest in Bradley's modern history,
and it's academic quality (thanks also to the Athletic Dept.) will be undiminished from prior years."

Incredible job by Dr. Roberts and staff........
 
A few more numbers regarding Bradley's record freshman enrollment

-Bradley recceived more than 10,000 applications for enrollment this year -
"Bradley received more than 10,000 applications, a first in the university’s 120-year history"

-"The number of Hispanic applicants was more than 20 percent higher this year than last"

-"For African-Americans, application numbers increased by just less than 20 percent."

-All of this was done without lowering admission standards.

-Per Time's study - "Recent grads do well immediately after school ... earning an average of $51,000, which is 14% more than their peers who graduated from comparable institutions."
 
ouch- that is almost a 10% drop..
I would like to know what all the factors are. Maybe with the economy improving the privates look like better options.
There have been several articles on how the Illinois State Universities are in serious financial trouble so potential students probably do fear a big spike in tuition is coming..
http://www.chicagotribune.com/subur...t-sta-berg-column-st-0317-20170316-story.html
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/moodys-downgrades-7-illinois-universities-5-are-junk/
 
More from that link:

While enrollment was down at many Illinois campuses last fall, Illinois State University weathered the fiscal crisis in better shape. The University drew record-breaking freshman classes in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Click to expand...


"The last four classes we've had here are the largest freshman classes we've had in decades," added Jeff Mavros, ISU's director of admissions.
Click to expand...

And while Freshmen enrollment is down some from last year, overall enrollment is still going very strong at Illinois State:

According to Mavros, Illinois State University is the No. 1 destination for transfer students in Illinois.

"About 34 percent of ISU students started elsewhere. That's a real point of pride for us," he said.
Click to expand...
 
That's good, I hope they all graduate, since all of us Illinois residents are paying taxes to subsidize your students. :)
 
cpacmel said:
And while Freshmen enrollment is down some from last year, overall enrollment is still going very strong at Illinois State:
Click to expand...

They haven't released overall enrollment but it sounds like it's down.

https://www.ilnews.org/news/schools...cle_40cfa788-866e-11e7-93a4-87620ce15b90.html

"ISU spokesman Eric Jome said he actually expects fewer students on campus this year.

"The last three years we've set some records for freshman enrollment," Jome noted. "Last fall, our enrollment topped just over 21,000 students. This year we expect that's going to moderate just a little bit.""
 
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