by Aaron Butts
Here’s the bottom line of the university plan for growth: they need to compete. With more and more students going to college, universities are battling harder than ever to convince students to come to their universities.
Here is the problem. Lower standards in acceptance mean larger class sizes in theory. This is good for the university because it means more tuition dollars coming in, but bad because a university’s reputation is semi-dependent on its exclusivity, which is what differentiates Capital from a community college. The university’s reputation and prestige is what a student is buying when they get handed that diploma that says “Capital University.”
In the past this idea of exclusivity and prestige was one owned by private institutions, but that’s simply not the case now as Capital competes with larger state schools such as Ohio State. Because Capital has been continuously admitting larger classes, it’s led some to wonder whether or not standards are being lowered to accommodate admissions. According to Capital’s Director of Media Relations and Communication, Nichole Johnson, student performance has been as high as always.
“Capital’s enrollment goals seek to increase the academic talent of its student body, and we’re meeting those goals,” Johnson said. “Consider, for example, the academic profile of our most recent incoming class. The arrival of the class of 2017 marked the fifth year in a row for setting and maintaining a higher standard for academic profile. The incoming class had an average high school GPA of 3.42 and an average ACT of 24. The class of 2016 had a similar academic profile, as did the class of 2015. While there are always minimum standards that must be met, Capital’s philosophy is to consider the prospective student as a whole person.”
The national average ACT composite score for 2013 was only a 20.9 according to the ACT website, which is encouraging. It means that Capital is succeeding in recruiting the students it needs. But according to Johnson, there is more to it than test scores and GPA. There are other indicators which determine whether or not a student will get accepted to Capital, which is what Johnson meant by the ‘whole person.’
“Academic talent and performance are important criteria,” Johnson said, “but we evaluate many others too, including involvement in service and leadership, work history, overcoming adversity, and many more. Our goal is to attract and retain a diverse pool of students — diverse in culture, gender, life experience, religious affiliation, socioeconomic status, etc. — who are the best fit for Capital and who consider Capital the best fit for them. When we strike that balance, students thrive here, and we’re able to help them achieve their goals in college, in their careers, and in life.”
It is still under the control of Capital’s strategic plan which was passed a few years ago by the board of trustees and determines admission practices for the university in order for them to grow and compete. Johnson laid out the basics of the situation.
“[The plan] calls for incremental growth in the traditional undergraduate student population and more aggressive growth in Capital’s adult and graduate programs,” Johnson said. “Our annual enrollment goals reflect that plan, and — with the exception of law school enrollment, which is following a national trend of decline — we’re meeting those goals. That’s quite an accomplishment given the decline in Ohio’s population of college-aged students and the increase in competition among Ohio colleges and universities (non-profit and for-profit). In fact, Capital was one of only a small group of private Ohio schools to meet its enrollment goals for last year’s incoming class by May 1, which is the national college selection deadline. Capital has remained a selective admission institution while increasing enrollment in an environment of declining high school graduates. That’s something we all can be proud of.”
According to Forbes, Capital still has an acceptance rate of 75 percent, meaning that only three out of four students who apply actually get in. Of those who are accepted, it is important to remember that there are also a large number of students who are accepted and don’t come to Capital. This gives a degree of unpredictability to the process which makes controlling class sizes at a small university difficult.
“An important contributor to our enrollment success is the university’s belief in keeping the Capital education accessible and affordable for our students and their families,” Johnson said. “We believe in the value of the Capital education and we believe it should be accessible to all qualified students. You’ll see evidence of that commitment in the Board of Trustees’ approval in October of a tuition freeze for new and returning traditional undergraduate students in 2014-2015. Last year’s tuition increase averaged just 2 percent across all programs, falling below the national average for rate of tuition increase. At the same time, since 2008-2009, the university has increased its investment in institutionally funded financial aid for students by 38 percent.” It is also true that Capital is notoriously awesome at financial aid, but questions still remain.
This supposed problem is a part of a much bigger problem at Capital. The real issue is that it is difficult for a private institution to survive in this world anymore and they need to struggle to stay relevant and current. This is why growth is a priority, but it doesn’t help that while Capital struggles to stay relevant with academia, its only satellite campus is down nearly 20% in enrolment since 2011.
In an earlier interview with Dr. Ashbrook in the fall, he explained that cuts at the main campus were not related to the hurting law school, but the question remains that if the university is making new money, why is it so difficult to see exactly where it’s going?
abutts@capital.edu
