I don’t think any of your proposals are difficult to conceive. The question is whether the school makes those things high priority in the name of rankings. It would be unfortunate in the face of many other missions of the University…thought retention rates are certainly worthy.
LehighHawkDad, enrollment has seemingly gone from 4,800 to 5,000 students rather quickly. And I don’t think any new housing has been built during that time. If yield is too high, the number of offers has to drop, especially in light of increased applications. I suspect Lehigh’s actions are just a function of mathematics and less their interest in managing rankings. A telltale sign of a school playing the rankings game is when supplemental essays go away…sure way to increase application numbers.
You make some great points, for sure…although, contradictory conclusions…adding more admits does not help yield…but, really, it’s hard to know…but I can assure you that there are institutional priorities. My own vote is to increase diversity, manage test scores and rankings, and market…the school is a great place in many ways!
Marketing: beautiful campus, extraordinary students, life-changing experience and exceptional outcomes.
Plans to build 200+ units of student housing units by a private developer recently reported in the Brown & White.