UI Begins Campaign To Boost Image, Increase Enrollment

Strapped with rising fees and a negative image compounded by increased competition for students, the University of Idaho is launching a media campaign to improve the public’s perception of the school.

University President Robert Hoover expects the privately financed campaign to help the school begin reversing the enrollment decline it has suffered during the past four years.

While the other three four-year schools have seen their student bodies increase since 1993, Idaho has been hit by a 5.6 percent decline.

“We didn’t get into this overnight, and it’s unlikely we’ll get out of it overnight,” Hoover said.

Elgin, Syferd/Drake Communications of Boise will handle the campaign, which could cost upward of a half million dollars.

Hoover’s decision followed a survey of key groups that found the university has a vague image around the state, being viewed as isolated and a party school.

In contrast, those same groups viewed Idaho State University, which has the fastest growing student body, as friendly, cooperative and a good value.

The enrollment decline, which cost the school $667,000 in lost student fees this past year, counters original projections by planners that enrollment would grow in the 1990s as high school populations rebounded.

, DataTimes