Does anyone know when we see the stats for the 2018 freshmen class? I will be interested to see if we are still going on President Bell’s trend of lowering amount of incoming freshmen and increasing graduate students. I see that the amount of girls that participated in Greek life (Bid Day) decreased quite a bit this year and wonder if that is an indication of freshmen enrollment figures. Also, next year look for 2019 incoming freshmen numbers from in-state to rise quite a bit due to new scholarship thresholds.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see the stats out within a few weeks. last year the info came out mid Sept
http://oira.ua.edu/new/reports/5b9a6ebfd7005c7c3be281bc?Report%20Type[0][0]=Census%20Enrollment#/5b9a6ebfd7005c7c3be281bc/Table%20E1.1:%20New%20First-Time%20Undergraduates%20and%20New%20Transfers Freshman Enrollment is dramatically lower this year than last. Till the data for this Fall class is released however, we won’t know if this is a positive or negative. Personally, I hope it means UA has raised standards to improve its 6 year grad rate, reduce the stiudent/faculty ratio, and raise the quality of the lower percentile of students. In the long run, this will increase UA’s prestige.
If it the enrollment drop does not reflect a raising of standards, then I think UA admin will make some changes to return the positive momentum we have seen ever since around 2003. Perhaps the generous changes to merit scholarships, especially for in state students, are meant to reverse this decline in new students that we have seen the last two years. But I would bet that UA’s freshman class is still the second largest one in the SEC, behind only Texas A&M.
l compared this Fall’s new and total students in Graduate programs to last Fall’s and noticed an increase in both from 2017, so that is in harmony with the school’s Strategic Plan.
@Atlanta68 thanks for the information. I looked at the stats comparison from last year and came away disappointed in the number of in-state students decreasing by a large margin. Now the disparity in the larger cities in the state are even wider than before. I think that is something that HAS to be fixed. I’m hoping with the newer scholarship thresholds that it will turn next year more in our favor. I wouldn’t be surprised if the state cuts more funding to the University, and I don’t think I would blame them. They aren’t going to continue to help fund a university that keeps bringing more out-of-state students and ignoring the in-state kids.
I am encouraged by the uptick to graduate enrollment. Let’s get that research money!!!
@Atlanta68 thanks for the information. I looked at the stats comparison from last year and came away disappointed in the number of in-state students decreasing by a large margin. Now the disparity in the larger cities in the state are even wider than before. I think that is something that HAS to be fixed. I’m hoping with the newer scholarship thresholds that it will turn next year more in our favor. I wouldn’t be surprised if the state cuts more funding to the University, and I don’t think I would blame them. They aren’t going to continue to help fund a university that keeps bringing more out-of-state students and ignoring the in-state kids.
I am encouraged by the uptick to graduate enrollment. Let’s get that research money!!!
But increasing out-of-state enrollment has several benefits for the state of Alabama: 1) money from out of state. Most people from Illinois never give money to Alabama. But those with kids in Alabama do. 2) some graduates stay in Alabama after graduating.
Don’t get me wrong, I love that we have diversity of kids from all over; however, the statement of these kids staying in Alabama after graduation is not realistic. Most kids will gravitate to the places they came from because they are familiar with that area.
UA2009, There were fewer new students from out of state as well, so while I agree that UA needs to increase the number of in state students, it seems more a function of the overall shift in recruitment focus, from undergrad to grad students. Perhaps the drop in new students was larger than intended and UA has decided to finetune the recruitment with the added scholarship money for in state students. I just wish the admin would focus on making the scholarships more generous ONLY for students whose ACT/SAT is closer to the current ACT avg of 27. I don’t see the point in giving two people with a 21 and 24 ACT score and the same GPA, the same scholarship, and one that is not that much smaller than the one for those with an ACT of 25. There are plenty of state schools in Alabama for the lower scoring students. Why not let the Troys and Univ of North Alabama, South Alabama attract those students?
Another thing to notice is the increase in transfer students, which is another met goal. If you bring in students with lower test scores, only AFTER they have proven themselves at lower tier schools, then everyone benefits in the long run.
Here is the UA release:
@Atlanta68, they’ve also started offering automatic scholarships to transfer students from Alabama community colleges. That should help with in-state enrollment too:
The decrease in Freshman enrollment was planned, and it was due to a lack of resources. UF did the same thing about 2 years ago. Freshman/Sophomores all tend to take the same intro classes, and it’s something of a bottleneck (at any public university). I don’t expect UA will increase the number enrolled FTIC students, at least for a few years.
On the other hand, UA has plenty of resources available for junior/seniors and grad students. Hence the effort to increase the number of transfer students and grad students (grad students also help fuel research).
Roll Tide!
Regarding the OOS kids going back to their home states, I would imagine that happens everywhere. However, with the upcoming Career Fair, a lot of the companies seem to be in the southern states. And many are very highly rated w/ job satisfaction. So if offered a position, I imagine most would take it.
I have encouraged my DS to very seriously consider staying south, we live in the NE, with very limited opportunities.
For whatever reason Alabama has dropped off the radar at our HS in MD.
2016 - 9 applicants/7 accepted/2 enrolled
2017 - 17/16/4
2018 - 2/2/1
Not quite sure what happened last year.
UA had raised the minimum ACT requirement for out of state presidential scholarships from 32 to 33, so that is likely the main reason. But for this coming 2019 application process, they lowered it back to 32. Could also be due to less resources devoted to recruiting that area. UA is now focused on growing its Graduate programs.