Financial stability depends on admissions for class of 2008

By Lance Dwyer

Dennis Roberts, Santa Clara's budget director said that if next year's freshman class is as small as this year's, then the school would essentially be in relative financial crisis.

However, Charles Nolan, the new Vice Provost of Enrollment Management, said he is confident that will not happen.

Through a series of department consolidations and operating cost reductions, Roberts said Santa Clara has been able to cope with the financial impact of the smaller freshmen class. Roberts said organizational changes minimized any significant financial losses, but another year of having to deal with the same situation may not be quite as easy.

Roberts said that in the rare chance that the freshmen class is smaller than expected, Santa Clara still has reserve funds to prevent disaster.

Nolan and Roberts, among others, have collaborated on determining a target class size for the university: 1,150 freshmen. If Santa Clara succeeds in attaining a class of that size, it will be the largest class in school history, topping the current record-holders, the 1,121 members of the class of 2006.

Admissions is also expecting a record amount of applicants: 6,500, which is 200 more than last year. Ultimately, however, Nolan's goal is to bring in upwards of 10,000 applicants on a yearly basis.

"Santa Clara is one of the top universities in the country. There's no reason why we can't get 10,000 applicants and why the rest of country shouldn't know about us," said Nolan.

There were 1,649 early action applicants this year, a 25 percent increase from last year. Nolan said, however, that admissions cannot be sure whether the larger number early action applicants means that the overall pool will be larger, or if applicants are merely making it a point to apply earlier.

Santa Clara administrators created Nolan's position earlier this year in an attempt to improve the application process and increase collaboration between Admissions and Financial Aid. Although a few significant improvements have been made this year, Nolan said the majority of his impact in the admissions process at Santa Clara will be long-term.

Nolan said he has systematically analyzed every aspect of Santa Clara's admissions process and helped to develop tactics for solving various dilemmas. He said that a major factor in this year's small freshmen class was the newly-implemented electronic application system. Nolan said that many applications were lost for weeks at a time, giving the admissions insufficient time to review them once they were found.

The electronic application used last year was bought from an outside vendor, however this year Information Technology developed an application used only for Santa Clara that can directly upload into the university system.

Nolan said that the disappointing size of this year's freshman class was in no way an indication of Santa Clara's quality, but rather a sign of an inefficiently designed infrastructure.

"It was never an issue of quality, but rather it was the task of marketing it to students that needed a fresh approach," said Nolan.

Earlier this week, Nolan launched the "We Want You at SCU" campaign, which is an attempt to reach out to admitted applicants through phone calls made by students and faculty. Nolan said the campaign should have a very positive effect in attracting applicants by putting in the extra effort to personalize the process. Certain students from various majors will be recommended by faculty and fellow students to become involved in this program.

Nolan said that since Santa Clara is an institution of such high standards, it should be easy attracting more students if the entire recruiting process were operated with the same level of quality. In the past, the university has not emphasized its strengths enough, such as the beautiful campus, great weather and elite faculty, according to Nolan.

Nolan said a student's first impression of Santa Clara is important. For this reason, the ambassador program, which is in charge of handling the guided campus tours for prospective applicants, is one that he considers especially important.

Every student ambassador will now be given much more extensive training so they can have a thorough understanding of the history of the university and more effective means of conveying the overall experience of Santa Clara.

Nolan believes that every single prospective student considering Santa Clara should be treated with thoughtful and attentive care as if each were a "$150,000 investor."

Next year, the Varsi Hall that houses admissions will get an extensive face-lift in order to create a more effective work space as well as to create a more impressive appearance that would ideally attract more applicants.

Nolan said the majority of his plans will to take from three to five years to implement fully. Within that time, he hopes admissions will have more impressive informational packets to send out to prospective students, a greater means to access qualified applicants, and a more efficient means to reach out to students earlier.

Ultimately, Nolan said he would like to see Santa Clara have a greater degree of recognition across the country and a highly selective applicant pool.

"The goal is to someday have alumni complaining that their children can't get in here anymore and that they couldn't have gotten in here if it were as selective when they applied as it is now," said Nolan.

Contact Lance Dwyer at (408) 554-4546 or at ldwyer@scu.edu.