Like many schools wrestling with the ills of the troubled economy, Delaware State University failed to meet its projected fall enrollment because only 825 of the nearly 1,000 freshman students who confirmed their enrollment showed up for orientation.
When Delaware State University officials tallied their recruitment, admissions and acceptances in early August, it looked as if this fall would bring the school some relief from the economic bullet that began shaking college enrollments last year.
“We came in over all our projected numbers — acceptances, confirmations of intent to attend, deposits,” Delaware State Executive Director of Admissions Germaine Scott-Cheatham says.
Much to the school’s surprise, only 825 of the nearly 1,000 freshman students who confirmed their enrollment with a deposit showed up for orientation. “And that may not hold,” Scott-Cheatham says.
“We expect some melt,” Scott-Cheatham says, referring to the loss of students in the final days of fall enrollment as the deadlines approach to settle all financial requirements. Based on the falloff, she’s no longer sure the school will meet its overall enrollment goal of 3,500 students.
Delaware State is one of many schools wrestling with the ills of a troubled economy that is forcing thousands of students to reassess their college education plans, prompting some to pare them back and others to drop out.
Depending upon the extent of the enrollment decline this fall (numbers should firm up at most schools by mid-September), the falloffs could force some cash-strapped schools to make more cuts in their budgets. Many, like Fisk University, Spelman College, Tennessee State University, and Xavier University of New Orleans, have made cuts in the past year as all sources of income — tuition, contributions, investment income — have evaporated.
