Cleveland: Private colleges fear growth slowdown

Area private colleges that have expanded student enrollment in recent years may see a slowdown this fall, since the recession has influenced many families to shop for the cheapest tuition they can find, officials said.

“We think the fall semester is going to be the most challenging semester for all private schools that we have had in recent memory,” said Paul Conn, president of Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn. “All the indicators are that students are going to shop price more vigorously than they ever have.”

Officials expect community colleges and state universities to draw many students who might formerly have enrolled in private schools. Tuition at public institutions can cost half or a third of what’s charged at a private school, a boon for families worried about job losses and pay cuts.

While administrators expect enrollment to be stagnant or down, applications are flooding into the admission offices of local private colleges.

Dr. Conn said students are sending out more applications than usual in hopes of finding the best financial aid package they can get. Lee University, with 4,150 students, already has seen a 10 percent increase in applications for the fall.

“We are being told by various associations, ‘Look for your applications to be up, but don’t take any false comfort in that,’” he said.

Applications for the fall semester at Bryan College in Dayton, Tenn., have dipped by 5 percent but applications for the school’s premier scholarships are up 20 percent, said Michael Sapienza, vice president for enrollment management.

Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tenn., has 2,777 students now. It received around 1,500 fall applications and typically enrolls around 50 percent of those, said Vinita Sauder, vice president for marketing and enrollment services.

But the number of applicants make plunge this year, she said.

“The economy is a big factor,” said Dr. Sauder. “Any family that might have lost jobs may not consider a private school.”

Some administrators said there’s an upside to slowing enrollment.

Dr. Conn said administrators have planned to flatten enrollment once it reached 4,000.

“We are not seeking to continue to grow at the rate we have been growing,” he said. “We aren’t really concerned by no growth. We would be concerned by a significant downturn.”

At Bryan College, where enrollment is 750, officials had similar thoughts.

“We obviously want to maintain our enrollment, but the flip side is that we have been operating with full residence halls, and we are capable of weathering a little bit of a reduction,” said Mr. Sapienza.

Southern is working to sustain growth by limiting the fall tuition hike by 3.49 percent, compared with 4.9 percent last year and 5.5 percent two years ago, Dr. Sauder said.

Also, faculty at Southern are not taking a cost of living increase this year, she said.

“In this economic environment people are really cautious,” Dr. Sauder. “It is important for us to do our part to keep things affordable.”