Addendum #3

PRESIDENT'S REPORT TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES – 8/6/04:  ENROLLMENT

• Our new freshmen application count is up 544 (12.3%).  Our overall count for fall 2004 applications is up 502 (7.8%).  Our Active Admissions count for new freshman is up 332 (11.8%), while our active admission for new transfers is down by 72. 

• As of July 30, 2004, our comparative registration data numbers showed us at a total enrollment of 8,692, with an increase of 175 freshmen and an overall increase of 105 students.  These numbers are in comparison with our data recorded on August 12, 2003 of last year. Credit hours are up by 2.1% during this same comparison.

• This means we are “right on target” to meet our projections for this fall, and enrollments should meet budget projections.

• Most of our freshman gains are from Illinois, Wisconsin  and downstate Michigan, and regularly admitted students are making up the biggest part of the growth which should help us in our efforts to increase freshman retention to graduation. In addition, these increases will help to ensure that we will be able to achieve our enrollment targets for 2005 through 2007.

• These enrollment increases are increasingly straining the support services of the university.  Since the budget reductions for the university have been put in place, there has been a 14% increase in new freshman applications, while most if not all the student support budgets have seen staff and support dollars for services greatly reduced across the entire university.

• As predicted over a year ago, this will also put heavy pressure on our housing capacity, resulting in a number of rooms being tripled for the beginning of the semester.  

POSSIBLE CHANGES THAT MIGHT HAVE HAD AN IMPACT

• WI and IL enrollments---We fully believe the increases here are a result of the momentum of having admissions counselors in these regions for 2-3 years now.  That includes the increased visibility of NMU in high schools, at college fairs, and the relationship building with high school counselors and with prospective students through extensive follow-up activities by staff.
• With help of Communication and Marketing staff, rack cards and postcards with an "affordability" message were created and distributed in key areas.
• We experimented with our search strategy in Spring/Summer 2003 (impacting potential new freshman for Fall 2004).  This included utilizing e-mail messaging and a "smart" Web response system.  Very positive results in response rate and application rate.
• At the inaugural "Promoting the Publics" conference sponsored by the 15 public university directors of admission for MI high school counselors (September 2003), NMU created a positive stir using technology to involve faculty, staff and students from campus and promoted a "quality academic" message by featuring our pre-med program.
• Creation and operation of a message board--very well utilized by prospective students.
• At our Connect to NMU programs, we utilized parents of current students for the first time. The parent-to-parent message was very effective.  We are continuing to introduce ways to reach out to and involve the parents of prospective students.  We offer a parent thread on the message board and the new web site will have a complete parent section.