Boston Globe: Smaller Mass. colleges court out-of-staters

[Papa_Chicken]

<p>…Recruiting widens to the Sun Belt</p>

<p>In short, the demographic shifts in college-going population are forcing some less-well-known colleges to adapt by marketing outside New England.</p>

<p>[Mass</a>. college recruiters court a new frontier - The Boston Globe](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/12/20/smaller_mass_colleges_court_out_of_staters/]Mass”>http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2007/12/20/smaller_mass_colleges_court_out_of_staters/)</p>

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With Massachusetts experiencing minimal population growth, and demographic studies predicting that the ranks of high school graduates in the region are poised to sharply decline, many private schools in New England with limited national profiles are increasingly courting students in the fast-growing Sun Belt.</p>

<p>“We’re going where the students are,” said Maureen Dischino, Wentworth’s director of admissions. “They haven’t always heard of us, but it’s worth it in terms of getting Wentworth’s name beyond the New England area.”</p>

<p>Colleges have long sought to assemble a geographically diverse student body, often giving students from less-represented states a bump in the admission process. But now many smaller private schools in New England are taking those efforts a step further. Schools such as Bentley College, Holy Cross, and Suffolk University are reaching out to more students in other time zones, willing to accept some blank stares and costly travel bills in hopes of boosting their name recognition and market share.

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“Schools are basically positioning themselves so when there is a downturn in the local market they can rely on visibility nationally to balance it out,” said John Hamel, director of undergraduate admissions at Suffolk University, which has built dormitories in part to attract out-of-state students and has seen strong recent growth in applications from California, Florida, and Texas.

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“Knowing our primary market is diminishing is certainly driving us to find new markets,” said Ann Bowe McDermott, director of admissions at Holy Cross. “The reality for us, and for a lot of other colleges, is that we need to think more broadly about where we recruit students.”</p>

<p>Prominent private schools with established national bases, such as Harvard, Boston College, Amherst and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as public flagships with predominately in-state enrollment, have only slightly adjusted their focus, if at all.</p>

<p>But for smaller schools, the demographic trends are worrisome. Massachusetts’ population has grown only marginally this decade, and since 1990, New England’s population has increased much more slowly than the nation’s.</p>

<p>Starting next year, the number of public high school graduates in New England is projected to decline by as much as 15,000, or 10 percent, over the next seven years, according to a study this year by the New England Board of Higher Education.</p>

<p>In addition, nearly one-third of high school graduates in Massachusetts now leave the state for college, although most stay in New England. And while an influx of immigrants has prevented Massachusetts from losing population in recent years, students in those families are less likely to attend college.</p>

<p>“Things don’t look so good in the Northeast,” said Becky Brodigan, the director of institutional research for Middlebury College who has studied the trend. “Most colleges are primarily regional, so we’re really stealing students from each other. The whole mix together is not a pretty picture.”</p>

<p>Despite its status as America’s college town, Boston and New England colleges can be a tough sell in the Sun Belt. The higher cost, climate, and distance from home are all hurdles, admissions officers say. Only about 10 percent of students in Texas and California, states with strong and affordable public college systems, cross state lines to attend college anywhere else in the country.

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Admissions officers say targeting students is key to coaxing Sun Belt students to small colleges with limited national name recognition. Many tap alumni networks, visit high schools of current or previous students, and track patterns of applications to pinpoint potential areas of interest.

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[dbwes]

<p>Interesting.
I’ve been wondering about fallout when this current boomlet of college-age students plateaus, for every region of the country.</p>

[Muffy333]

<p>yes, you don’t want to graduate from a tiny school no one has ever heard of and have it go under right away when the application pool dries up! Bentley, HC and Suffolk have been around for quite a while though. Sounds like they are doing the smart thing.</p>