Uncertain future for Frostburg State University: Less
students, less money.
Frostburg State University journalistic writing blog,
11/30/17
(1,359 words, 4 interviewees)
Author: Alissa M Mattis
 |
| (Main entrance at Frostburg State University) |
At the start of the Frostburg States University (FSU) 2017 fall semester, students and professors noticed the decrease in students in FSU classrooms. The dwelling number of students could only mean one thing, low enrollment.
But why? What is the
reasoning behind the lack of students at FSU during the fall 2017 semester?
According to Wray N. Blair, there are several reasons why FSU enrollment is
down, and some of the issues he believes are out of FSU control.
Blair (assoc.
VP/Enrollment Mgt. Admissions) says, “The low enrollment issue isn’t just affecting
Frostburg State, but other Maryland schools as well.”
According to Blair (Assoc.
VP/Enrollment Mgt. Admissions) the low enrollment issue isn’t just affecting
FSU but other Maryland school as well.”
“2008 was the biggest
year for student graduation, Maryland alone had 69,000 students.” He said. Ever
since 2008 enrollment has dropped, and by our projected numbers it looks like
enrollment is going to continue to drop until 2012.”
So what’s the issue? Why
has the enrollment rate been down since 2008? Are seniors coming out of high
school opting out of a college education, or could it be something else?
According to Blair, no he doesn’t
believe incoming freshman are opting out of a college education. But he said “they
are now choosing other alternatives.”
“It’s become a popular
trend now to do two years of community college before transferring to a
four-year institution.” He said, “It’s definitely a cheaper option for college
students. I get it- the less student loans, the better.”
He understands that
college is expensive and that a lot of students would like to minimize their student
debt as much as possible.
But he also picked up on
another trend among college students: “Another trend we noticed is that a lot
more Maryland students are commuting to colleges like UMBC, Towson, and
University of Maryland. And since the bulk of our students come from Maryland
high schools, this is a problem for FSU.”
“The majority of the
students that attended Frostburg are coming from Carroll County, Howard County,
and Baltimore County, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to commute here when
they have closer alternatives.”
While Blair believes that
student enrollment is down because of the new trend of attending community
college first, and the trend of commuting to college instead of living on
campus, Clarice Weimer, from the admissions office, believes that admissions
are down for a totally different reason.
“You think admissions is
down?” She looked at me while picking up the telephone. Well I can tell you one
thing, it sure doesn’t feel like enrollment is down here at the admissions
office.
She laughed and put a
caller on hold.
“The only reason I can
think of that might be lowering enrollment, is well, I think more students are
graduating high school and wanting tom join the work force right away, instead
of going straight to college.”
She looked at me while
reaching for the phone and said, “I’m sorry I have got to take this, I told you
it doesn’t feel like enrollment is down.” She laughed and picked up the call.
Since there are several
other alternatives other than attending a four year institution right out of
high school, Frostburg State University has attempted to get creative in their
efforts to recruit more transfer students to join their student body.
According to Travis Hitchins,
who works in the financial office at FSU, “The associate’s degree scholarship
is a great way to recruit transfer students to FSU.”
“Admissions is in charge
of giving out the associate’s degree scholarships to students who have
completed their associate’s degree.”
The scholarship is solely
for sophomores, juniors, and even seniors who have obtained their associates
degree elsewhere, but are now looking to attend to Frostburg State University
to finish out their remaining two years.
“I think this scholarship
is a great recruitment tool, it will definitely help among the enrollment with
transfer students. Great incentive for incoming transfer students.”
Since the bulk of student
enrollment at Frostburg State University are from freshman students, and that
number is down, focusing on recruiting transfer students is important to the
enrollment rate.
The low enrollment rate
issue causes lasting effects on FSU’s budget. Less students means less money
for the university.
Sara-Beth Bittinger, the
Director of Assessment & Instructional Research explained how the budget
greatly impacts the university.
“Most of our students are
local or come from Maryland, so when they go elsewhere it effects our supply
and demand. It’s a face that less high school students means less money for the
university. We buid our budget based on student enrollment for the year. When
student enrollment is down, our budget is down.”
As she spoke she kept
coughing and sniffling, so much that she felt inclined to stop and apologize
during the interview. She said “I’m sorry for this, I’m super sick.” She laughs
and says, “Okay, sorry, I’m ready to go.”
Bittinger wanted to make sure
that it was noted that the budget team was not at all responsible for the
budget.
She said, “The budget
team is doing the best job they can do to make sure everything is running
smoothly here at FSU.”
But FSU has to be feeling
the burn of the lower budget. Having
less money means not enough money for program, for teachers, and facility’s
which would make unhappy students… Right?
According to Bittinger ,
she hasn’t noticed any issues with the lower budget thus far.
“Um…. Well I don’t think
any programs have suffered because of the low budget, maybe I’m not the right
person to answer this,” she said. “Again, all I can say is our budget team is
doing the best job at managing FSU money.”
So what can Frostburg
State University do to get the enrollment and the budget higher? Blair had a few
ideas to gain more students. He said FSU needs stronger marketing strategies to
gain students.
He said, plain and
simple, “FSU needs stronger marketing strategies to gain students.”
“Frostburg can’t sit here
and say “Woe as me” when we aren’t making a huge effort to gain students out of
state.” He said.
“If you don’t live in Maryland
then you probably don’t know Frostburg State University exists. We are a small
town school our name isn’t known.”
He believes that if Frostburg
State University went around recruiting students from other states then
enrollment might increase. Changing where and who they recruit could
potentially increase enrollment at FSU.
He also made a point to
acknowledge the low exchange student rate, “If FSU spent more effort to recruit
exchange students, and it would make a difference in enrollment as well. We can’t
keep doing the same thing and if we want to improve.” He said.
While recruitment process
could be stronger, once thing Blair pointed out was the FSU website and its
dynamic nature.
He was excited to inform
me about the FSU website and what elements it has to offer students. The
website offers students a sneak-peak of the campus, and what it has to offer”.
The virtual tour option
is an excellent effort to recruit new students. This feature of the website
allows students to tour the campus without coming to FSU. So if they like what
they see on the virtual tour, then it inclines students to come in for a formal
tour.
Enrollment at Frostburg
State University may be lagging for now, but with all the time and
effort that the FSU staff is putting in to improve the recruitment process, enrollment won’t be down for long.
Blair concluded with, “We need to continue to up our game in the marketing and technology field. Once we do that, I think we will have better rates of enrollment.”
Blair concluded with, “We need to continue to up our game in the marketing and technology field. Once we do that, I think we will have better rates of enrollment.”
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