Applications to local colleges and universities have flooded admission offices in record numbers this application season, in part the result of demographics and the relative ease of applying online, admission experts say.
Some schools, such as Rhode Island College, are reporting double-digit increases. RIC spokesperson Jane Fusco said the number of applications received so far this season was up 12.9 percent in comparison with the same time last year. As of Jan. 18, the school had fielded 2,009 applications, with the deadline still months away.
The school’s recruitment efforts might have played a role in the increase, Fusco said, but the school’s relatively low tuition also has been a factor. “When the economy gets tough, people look for value and affordability,” she said. “That affordability is prime.”
Roger Williams University said last week that its applications count is up 20 percent over the same time last year – 7,800 applications as of Jan. 30.
And at Bryant University, officials reported a 17.3-percent increase in the number of applicants. Although the school did not release overall numbers, a spokesperson said Bryant had received an additional 800 applications in comparison with the same time last year.
These increases come on top of record application numbers in recent years, according to some schools.
Cynthia Bonn, the University of Rhode Island’s dean of admission, said 13,155 freshmen applications had been received as of Jan. 28 – 5.3 percent higher than at the same time last year.
But the university has seen rising application amounts for several years, Bonn said. For example, the school received 12,965 applications in 2003; last year, that number had grown to 14,364 – then a record amount.
As the Feb. 1 deadline approached, URI projected last week that it would surpass that number. “They’re coming in by the hundreds every day,” Bonn said.
Independent college adviser Cristiana Quinn, who is based in Providence, is not surprised by the numbers, saying it fits a trend that she’s seen of high school seniors applying to more schools.
“Admissions have become so competitive that they need to apply to more schools in order to have options,” Quinn said
One of her clients applied to 16 schools, although she recommends limiting it to between nine and 12 schools – ranging between “safety schools” and “stretches.”
Technology certainly makes it easier to apply en masse.
The Common Application, an admission association, allows students to apply to any of the 339 member schools by filling out one application, plus some supplemental information depending on the school.
“You can click a button and send to any of those schools that you want,” Quinn said.
Apparently, that’s what tech-savvy youngsters have been doing. The Common Application says 1.1 million applications have been submitted through its Web site – commonapp.org – since July. And in one 72-hour period between Dec. 30 and Jan. 1 – a peak time for The Common Application – 171,490 applications were processed, the group said.
Locally, members of The Common Application association include Bryant, Roger Williams, Providence College and Salve Regina University.
The influx of applications does create problems for enrollment officials. Lynn Fawthrop, vice president of enrollment management and retention at Roger Williams in Bristol, said the larger pool of students raises the acceptance standards. But, she said, that has to be balanced with the knowledge that many applicants will enroll somewhere else, even if accepted at Roger Williams.
Brown University is not a Common Application member, but the school’s admission chief said 95 percent of the applications arrive there electronically.
As of Jan. 29, the school had fielded 20,562 applications, close to an 8-percent hike over the same time the year before.
The growth in applications in recent years can partially be attributed to the “baby boomlet” – a large number of high school seniors nationwide that is supposed to peak next year, said James Miller, dean of admission at Brown.
Also boosting the number of applications: Brown’s switch to a “need-blind application” a few years ago, in which the financial needs of applicants no longer play a part in the admission decisions. “That was reassuring to a lot of people,” Miller said.
Fawthrop credited the 20-percent increase in applications at Roger Williams to the school’s emphasis in recent years on marketing its “brand,” highlighted by the tagline, “Learning to bridge the world.”
“The brand has certainly raised the school’s visibility and the reputation,” she said.
URI, as with many other schools, is raising its profile among prospective applicants through a different type of marketing – such as e-mails and online chats. “We’re really getting up to speed on electronic marketing,” Bonn said.
Other local schools that have seen application increases include:
• Salve Regina, in Newport. As of Jan. 22, the school reported a 9-percent increase to 5,365 applications.
• Rhode Island School of Design. School officials said applications were running ahead of last year’s amount by 8.6 percent.
• Johnson & Wales University said last week that its application count is up 14 percent year over year.
The Community College of Rhode Island, where everyone who applies is accepted, has experienced substantial increases in enrollment. As of Jan. 29, CCRI’s spring enrollment stood at 15,971, the highest it has been in 14 years.
The only school reporting a decrease: Providence College.
At its Jan. 15 deadline, the college had received 8,750 applications, an 11-percent drop from the year before. The reason is two-fold, according to Christopher Lydon, PC’s dean of admission.
PC experienced a large spike in applications the year before, when it no longer required standardized test scores in the application. Then this year, the school decided to mandate a once-optional second essay on the common application, scaring off all but serious applicants.
“At that point, the casual shopper decided to opt out,” Lydon said.
But that’s no problem, he added. There are still plenty of applicants to fill the 985 slots in the Class of 2012. •
