<p>
$30M vs $18M sounds like a big difference, but it’s roughly proportional to the difference in school sizes. In the latest Common Data Sets, Smith reported total full-time enrollment of 3,014 (including grad students), plus another 87 part-time students. Amherst reported total full-time enrollment of only 1,697. </p>
<p>Amherst, just like Smith, plans an increase in student-faculty ratio; it’s just getting there in a different way. Smith is reducing faculty while keeping enrollment constant (which makes sense for a relatively large-enrollment LAC). Amherst is keeping faculty constant while increasing enrollment (which makes sense for a relatively small-enrollment LAC). But the student-faculty ratio is negatively affected either way.</p>