If you're engaged in responsibilities related to planning for adult students, returning students, non-traditional students ... then you may wish to purchase this entire issue of Peer Review from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).

Below is the Table of Contents as it appears on the AAC&U website. The items which are underlined links are available for reading on line by anyone.

Current Issue:  Winter 2011, Vol. 13, No. 1 Returning Adult Students Adult students constitute a growing population on college campuses. This issue features a range of programs that ensure returning adult and other nontraditional students achieve the full array of liberal education outcomes. Buy Now     CONTENTS: Winter 201 From the Editor Analysis Strategies for Becoming Adult-Learning-Focused Institutions Rebecca Klein-Collins, Council of Adult and Experiential Learning What Adult Learners Can Teach Us about All Learners:  A Conversation with L. Lee Knefelkamp  Laura Donnelly-Smith, AAC&U Practice St. Catherine University’s Weekend College Julie Michener, Amy Lindgren, Greg Steenson, and Joan Robertson, St. Catherine University Enhancing Veteran Success in Higher Education Elizabeth O’Herrin, American Council on Education Planning to Succeed: Meeting the Needs of Adult Students Today Greg von Lehman, University of Maryland University College Adult Students: Meeting the Challenge of a Growing Student Population  Joseph Worth and Christopher Stephens, St. Louis Community College Research Research on Adult Learners: Supporting the Needs of a Student Population that Is No Longer Nontraditional Jovita M. Ross-Gordon, Texas State University-San Marcos; Jossey-Bass AAC&U Work on Community College Students and  Liberal Education Outcomes Reality Check Finding Purpose and Meaning in and out of the Classroom Art Chickering, Goddard College

Pre-Karina, Delgado Community College had 17,000 students; this year that number is more than 19,000. Another NOLA school, Nunez Community College, is also at enrollment levels higher than pre-Katrina. That growth mirror national trends, but comes - another national trend - at a time of less state funding, in schools which do not cover all expenses just from tuition.

Delgado has space issues. It is also in talks with the State University of New Orleans and the University of New Orleans, regarding articulation and integration of services.

The commentary following this article, from local citizens, is worth a read. For example:

I'm glad to see Delgado is finally being noticed for the tremendous asset it is for this community. So many students coming out of the public school system are ill-prepared for university coursework, and neither are they suited for employment. Delgado is doing double duty in helping kids brush up on their academics before entering 4-year schools and also providing adults with training and education for careers (or second careers). No other institution is capable of doing this. And, not everyone needs to go through a 4-year program! Funding for Delgado is essential to their continued ability to serve our needs.

Subtitled, "Considerations beyond the institution’s competitive market position," this article from University Business magazine looks at a number of important considerations to be made when planning to raise or lower tuition, and in communicating such changes to students and their families. It includes links to useful resources, data sources, and calculators.

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Whatever the institution’s sticker price, messages about affordability need to be sent early and often to prospective students and their parents. Even at low-cost institutions, some portion of the prospect pool will find the charge above their means, so this advice applies to both public and private institutions. And although every institution will soon offer a net price calculator, most calculators will require families to provide an extensive amount of information to get the estimate.

Consequently, it is not clear how many families will actually be willing to go through the process for every institution they are considering. Offering simple messages (e.g., an income profile of the class showing that students from all backgrounds attend or scholarship programs with clear eligibility criteria and award amounts) to encourage families to complete the aid application process will still be important.

Here's your SCUP Link to "The 'Black Art' of Campus Branding"

What's a good brand? Why? How about an example or two? This interview by Jeff Wendt, of Today's Campus, with Rob Moore, managing partner of Lipman & Hearne, is brief, but it does answer some of those questions. We think that Northern Arizona University's slogan is excellent: 

Q: Is there a noteworthy example at Northern Arizona University?

A. Alumni there felt strongly that they received a great education. But their employers and peers did not share their high regard. An alternate narrative was necessary. The brand campaign led with the message "Mountain Air Makes You Smarter." Each alum now had a new and effective response to the question 'Why did you go to Northern Arizona?' Enrollment has soared.

While nearly every university overbooks each year, relying on sophisticated algorithms that predict just how many admitted students will probably go elsewhere, Iowa officials were stunned to learn this spring how far off they were in their math. This fall’s freshman class is likely to have more than 400 more students than last year’s, an unintended increase of about 10 percent, for a total of just over 4,500.

Though the university considers this a happy accident — much of the growth has come from outside Iowa, including from schools as far away as China and India, whose graduates typically pay triple the tuition of state residents — the looming flood of new students has left the university scrambling to figure out where they will sleep, and how to fit them into some of the most popular courses.

Don't miss out on joining nearly 1,500 of your colleagues and peers at higher education's premier planning event of 2010, SCUP–45. The Society for College and University Planning's 45th annual, international conference and idea marketplace is July 10–14 in Minneapolis!

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Here's your SCUP Link to the this resource: Record Summer Enrollments for 2010

The enrollment boom continues: What does it mean that public schools are experiencing record summer matriculation this year? Is it that they can't find summer jobs? Is it saving money by taking classes local to home in the summer and transferring credits back? Is it the new Pell Grants. Is it older workers getting retrained? Full article here in USA Today. What does it mean for planners?

All across the country, at flagship universities, state colleges and community colleges, administrators are reporting that their summer session enrollments are up, as the same pressures that put students in the classroom September through May keep them in their seats all summer.

 

"Having a poor job market is something we correlate positively with," said Richard Russo, director of summer sessions at the University of California at Berkeley. High unemployment drives nontraditional students to enroll in college at all times of the year, but a tough economy makes it more difficult for traditional-age students to find jobs and internships, or gives them greater awareness of the need to complete a degree as quickly and inexpensively as possible. "There's more pressure; students are being pushed into the summer."

 

Don't miss out on joining nearly 1,500 of your colleagues and peers at higher education's premier planning event of 2010, SCUP–45. The Society for College and University Planning's 45th annual, international conference and idea marketplace is July 10–14 in Minneapolis!

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Here's your SCUP Link to the initial source of Degrees of Difficulty

On Monday, May 24, USA Today begins a week-long series of video reports on various non-traditional college students. Five students were selected, one to be featured in each video. Background information and links to the videos, as they are released, can be found here.

A video project dubbed "Take America to College" aims to tell the story of today's non-traditional college students in their own words and images.

The project organizers in January put out a casting call and more than 200 nontraditional college students responded by sending in their stories; 78 uploaded audition videos. Five were chosen to represent the millions of students who struggle to complete a college degree. The link to background information and to find the videos as they are available is here.

They are:

• Dennis Medina, a police officer and a night student at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston;

• Kathryn McCormick, a single mom who waitresses 35 hours a week and is enrolled at Valencia Community College in Orlando

• Shane Burrows, who works full-time as a sales assistant while studying at Sierra Community College in Rocklin, Calif.;

• Brandon Krapf, an Iraq war veteran studying at American University in Washington, D.C.;

• Charneé Ball, a Navy veteran, also at Valencia Community College in Orlando

Today's Campus repackages 9 brief interviews with campus presidents who excel in one way or another at admissions prospecting.

The combined ages of the nine campuses represented here may well approach a thousand years. Each shares a common characteristic--a hands-on president, who is intent on the school's remaining a strong competitor. Each knows the value of having a particular distinction. And each campus has mastered at least one admissions prospecting tactic.

Now SCUPers can connect on Facebook and on LinkedIn.

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Two years ago, San Jose State University was working hard to increase enrollments. Last spring no transfers were allowed. Next year's incoming freshman class will be reduced by 2,500 students, even though applications were up this year by 48 percent. Systemwide, 40,000 student seats will be gone in 2010-11. Chancellor Charles Reed says "we cannot educate more students with $546M less money." SCUP conferences for the next few years will be loaded with planners sharing how they made all of the program changes needed to effectively handle a shrinking student body.

SJSU says it will handle the surge in demand by becoming more selective, raising admission standards for entry into high-demand, or "impacted," majors. This is a more nuanced approach than last year, when any qualified California student who applied before Nov. 20 was accepted, but those who applied between Nov. 20 and 30 were accepted or wait-listed, based on where they lived. That policy triggered a barrage of angry phone calls to the SJSU admission office.

Now SCUPers can connect on Facebook and on LinkedIn.

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Tomorrow, Wednesday, November 11, is Veterans Day. Take a moment to let someone you know who has served that you appreciate their service.