WSU stops taking applications from freshmen for fall quarter
PULLMAN – Washington State University has stopped accepting freshman applications for fall semester.
Announcing that the school has already received 9,600 applications for 2,950 places, the WSU admissions office has closed its doors to any more students and will notify the latest applicants that it has already seated its freshman class.
“It’s hard to do, to draw the line,” said Janet Danley, interim executive director of enrollment. “But if we exceed what we’re budgeted for, we end up taking a cut.”
In-state students pay about 48 percent of their cost of education; the rest is paid by the state at an amount per student set in the biennial budget long before the applications come in.
“The university can enroll more students than it’s funded for,” said Karl Boehmke, WSU’s executive budget director. “We’ve done that for the past few years.”
Last year, WSU made a similar decision to halt applications, only it came in June instead of May. But this year, the school has already received about 500 more applications than last year, showing that demand is up.
The 2003 freshman class held 3,032 students, prompting WSU administrators to limit enrollment this year to get closer to per-student funding from the state.
Even with the cutoff for the freshman class at around 3,000, WSU will still be over-enrolled for its overall student population. The same is true for many of Washington’s four-year universities which thought the state would be able to compensate them later, said Boehmke. That didn’t happen because the state budget was tight, he said. “Now we’ve been trying to gradually get down to the level of enrollment funded by the Legislature.”
The late applicants aren’t the only losers. A number of students who were accepted haven’t confirmed their intent to attend WSU in a timely manner. They will soon get notice that the freshman class is full, said Danley.
For some, there’s still hope. Spots for transfer students and general enrollment for spring semester of 2005 remains open, but numbers are limited, said Danley.
“Students considering applying to WSU in fall of 2005 better start thinking about it now,” she said. They need to be sure to send their test scores to the university and be ready to apply as soon as the application period opens in August, she said. “And they need to get it in early,” she said.
WSU officials expect this trend of high demand and limited enrollment to continue over the next few years. According to the Washington Higher Education Coordinating board, record numbers of students are graduating high school each year and because of that and general population growth, the state’s schools may need to collectively add 33,000 full-time student spots to their enrollments by 2010.
The silver lining on campus at WSU is that applications from students with a 3.6 GPA or higher are up. Last year, 38.8 percent of the incoming freshmen had GPAs of 3.6 or above and this year the percentage appears higher. “WSU is reaping huge benefits,” said Danley. “We’re getting a much better prepared student body.”
Unfortunately, even the most qualified high school senior won’t get a spot if he applied late, she said. “I just wish we could open the doors a little wider.”