Colleges At Low Point Of Enrollment Roller Coaster Though Numbers Down Now, Big Upswing Expected In Next Few Years

FOR THE RECORD (November 22, 1995): Correction: The mean grade point average of incoming freshman at Eastern Washington University went from 3.2 last year to 3.3 this year. A story in Monday’s newspaper gave the wrong figures.

College officials in Washington state expect a huge influx of students in coming years, but this fall’s enrollment at Eastern Washington University is anything but big.

Enrollment is down by 259 students compared with last year.

If this relative lack of students continues, the university will cut $600,000 from its budget, or about 1 percent.

EWU officials said they’ll squeak by until more students show up.

“Our enrollments are going to turn around,” said Mike Stewart, vice provost for finance. “We already see signs of that happening.”

Another 50,000 students are expected in Washington’s colleges and universities by the year 2010, according to the state Higher Education Coordinating Board. That is an increase of nearly 25 percent over the 213,000 currently enrolled.

So many students will be seeking college degrees that the least qualified among them probably will be denied admission, officials say.

The growth in the college-age population isn’t expected to hit EWU for at least three years, when this year’s 10th-graders will be old enough to attend college.

That leaves EWU officials in the curious position of planning for higher enrollments at a time of declining admissions.

“There are a few trends going on here,” said Brian Levin-Stankevich, vice provost for enrollment.

To start with, the number of traditional-age college students between 17 and 21 has been down for several years.

The community colleges in Spokane are reporting stagnant enrollments this year as well. Spokane Falls Community College is down 27 full-time students, and Spokane Community College is down 22 full-time students.

The community colleges aren’t being hurt as badly because of a growing emphasis on vocational career paths over liberal arts programs.

Emphasis on vocational arts means fewer liberal arts transfer students for EWU, Levin-Stankevich said.

Also, EWU has tightened its admissions standards. The mean grade-point average of incoming freshmen has gone from 2.29 to 2.39 in the last few years.

The unemployment rate in Spokane County has been low for several years, causing fewer adults to seek new careers through college degrees. Enrollments often go up during recessions.

Last fall, EWU enrolled 8,360 students, compared with 8,085 this fall.

Some of those students attend part-time so the university bunches the class loads of part-time students into what it calls full-time equivalent students.

Last fall, EWU had 7,964 full-time equivalents, compared with 7,705 this fall, a drop of 259 students.

The enrollment decline won’t change the state Legislature’s subsidy, but it does mean the university won’t collect the tuition, or $2,300 for each resident undergraduate per year. That adds up to $600,000.

University officials said they are looking at budgetcutting options.

These come after several years of state-ordered budget cuts. Already, the university has cut maintenance staff in half, trimmed administrative overhead and eliminated at least two non-essential programs.

A freeze on new tuition waivers, delaying new hires and postponing purchases of supplies and equipment also are possibilities.

“We have a whole lot of options,” Stewart said.

Because of the forecasted upswing in enrollments several years from now, university officials said they don’t want to cut academic programs or staff positions.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo Graphic: EWU enrollment