IU up in number of applications, down in deposits

The economy is down, students are poor and the Office of Admissions is behind on enrollment deposits. IU is trying to combat this problem by attracting students with scholarships and more financial aid funding.

Roger Thompson, vice provost of enrollment management, said in terms of institutional dollars, the money IU puts in for scholarships and merit and need-based aid has increased, although the state has cut back on financial aid and grants.

The money for need-based financial assistance comes from the Matching the Promise fundraising campaign and tuition-generated revenue.

“One of our four recruitment goals is to be diverse in terms of ethnicity and socioeconomic status,” Thompson said. “We are not interested in how much a family’s income is. I think in private universities, they are examining a person’s financial need, which makes sense because private universities are entirely tuition-driven.”

Thompson said for the fall of 2009, the numbers at IU are up in applications and admitted students, but behind in deposits. He said about one-third of students in the fall of 2008 received a merit-based scholarship.

Sarah Booher, director for the Office of Scholarships at IU, said a new scholarship program was enacted for the fall of 2008 in order to make a bigger impact and give more money to high-achieving students.

“With the rising costs of higher education in general, and that was one of the reasons we re-structured the scholarship program,” Booher said. “We’ve seen an increase in people with challenging financial circumstances asking for scholarships and they are looking for every possibility they can find.”

The program offers several automatic merit-based scholarships to in- and out-of-state students based on SAT or ACT scores and GPA.

Two of these scholarships, IU Excellence and IU Distinction, increased from $8,000 to $9,000 per year over a four-year period for students who enroll in the fall of 2009.

Mary Ellen Anderson, IU director of admissions, said students and their families under pressure because  of the economy and tighter money situations will deal with the college admissions process differently.

“I think students are going to look much more carefully at the decisions they make,” Anderson said. “Because IU is a public university, there could be more students who decide to come here, even for out-of-state students. There could be more students from Indiana who stay in state.”