The Committee on Admissions and Financial Aid met a total of 10 times this semester. The meetings focused on updates and discussion of recruitment, retention, and financial aid and the Committee discussed the work being done by the Enrollment Management Team (EMT) as it related to the CommitteeÕs work. The role of experiential learning and internships was also an important focus and we explored the ways in which these would support recruitment and retention efforts with Director Karpinski. It was an exciting time as Director S. Sloan and Associate Director VanDuyne reported the growing number of applications and then deposits over the term. The highest in seventeen years.

We dedicated 4 meetings to dialogue on diversity and generating a report with recommendations. (I will read the Overview of this Report and a copy will go to the Secretary of the Faculty for our faculty minutes).

The new Henry Wells Scholars Weekend was a focus of our meetings early in the semester and the ÒMarch 6 EventÓ for the Henry Wells Scholars Program was a success. Faculty participation at the various Admissions events has been excellent and appreciated. The results of everyoneÕs efforts are evident in the size of the entering class which stands at 132 First Year and 14 Transfers as of May 7.

The faculty on the Committee reviewed and made decisions on five marginal candidates.

Dean Ryan reported that 13 students left after the Fall 1998 semester and 7 students, currently enrolled, have completed withdrawal forms for the Fall 1999 semester which brings the total number of withdrawn students for this academic year to 20. This compares to 26 as a final figure for the 1997-98 year. Dean Ryan emphasized that 90% of the students returned to campus last year compared to our 3 year average of 86%. While it is likely that we will not retain 90% of the students who are supposed to return for the Fall 1999 semester, Dean Ryan feels that our retention figures should not dip below 3 year average (although it is too early to say). EMT is collecting data and generating analysis on students at risk for leaving and Dean Ryan has been bringing this information to the Committee for further discussion.

The number of full paying students stands at 11 as of May 10 which meets the goal of ten full-paying students as proposed by the Scannell and Kurz model for maximizing the benefits of the tuition reduction. The average institutional award is $6,544 compared to last year's $10,871. The goal was to be $5,000 less than $10,871 since we reduced tuition by $5,000 but we are still making more revenue dollars than we did last year ($217,981 more). It is the goal of EMT next year to examine why the College did not decrease the average grant accepted by the $5,000 as hoped. Summer will be spent accumulating data to answer this question.

Respectfully Submitted,

Victoria I. Muñoz AFA, Chair