Despite the recent decline in Emporia State’s on-campus enrollment, online enrollment has seen a 33 percent increase in the past year.

Monica Quintana, online student, said the cost to enroll in ESU’s program is much less than KU’s or the University of Phoenix’s programs.

“I live in the Kansas City area and have two teenagers and a full time job, so the flexibility of the online classes makes it easier for me to get my degree,” Quintana said.

In addition to affordability, U.S. News & World Report recently recognized ESU’s online bachelor’s degree program in the first ever “Top Online Education Programs.”
The 184 institutions with online programs were ranked in three categories in which they were given point values up to 100. Schools were judged on teaching practices and student engagement, student services and technology and faculty credentials and training. No overall rankings were made.

ESU earned spots in two of the three categories, taking the 89th spot in teaching practices and student engagement and the 61th spot for student services and technology. Fort Hays State also made the list, ranking in all three categories.

“I have no idea why we wouldn’t get the faculty credentials ranking,” said Susan Kendrick, director of interdisciplinary studies and associate professor of English. “I have about 50 to 60 people who have MFAs or PhDs who are teaching online classes. Everybody I can think of are full-time faculty members, and a lot of them develop their courses just for the online program.”

Like traditional students, students taking advantage of the online program must meet degree requirements, completing at least 124 semester hours of credits with 48 general education requirements. They must also maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.0, according to ESU’s website.

Kendrick said most of the students in the online programs are people who have full time jobs, place bound students, students who want to come back and complete their degrees and stay-at-home moms.

“It is a legitimate and competitive degree, not a program for slackers,” said Kendrick. “It is not something you do because you can’t do anything else and is something that takes a lot of forethought on the part of the student and they have to really know what they want to study.”

Kendrick said the program could stand improvement in its marketing strategy, but for a small campus in a small town, being ranked by U.S. News is a major accomplishment.

Rocky Robinson

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Lynette Schreiner and Lori Mann vote on the plans pertaining to the intellectual property bill Tuesday afternoon in Webb Lecture Hall. Julie Thephachan/The Bulletin

President Michael Shonrock made his way around the circle of tables, personally introducing himself and leaving a trail of laughs behind him in preparation for his speech at Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting.

In his speech Shonrock adressed raising enrollment and focusing communication between faculty, students and administration.

“Enrollment of an institution has a great impact on the future and this is an opportunity to invest and reinvest in our future,” Shonrock said. “Every opportunity, I get I am going to recruit for Emporia State University. I have enjoyed the opportunity over the years to write personal letters and I am happy to make phone calls. These are the types of things that are important.”

After Shonrock’s speech, amendments to the intellectual property bill was the topic of discussion. Faculty members debated on whether to casually introduce the bill to Shonrock before sending it to him for approval.

“It is not a negotiation (and) it is not to propose another amendment of your own, we just want his thoughts about it,” said Kevin Johnson, faculty president. “He doesn’t have to say he will approve it or not, we just want his thoughts and concerns on it.”

The bill, which was left on the table until a new president was elected, aims to “foster the creation and dissemination of knowledge and to define the individual and institutional rights associated with the distribution of benefits that may be derived from the creation of intellectual property.”

The senate voted 26-1 to send the bill to Shonrock for evaluation before a final decision is made.

Rocky Robinson

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Infographic by Ellen Weiss

Emporia State’s enrollment rate has dropped again.

Following a two-year trend, figures released by the Kansas Board of Regents last Tuesday showed that ESU took a 4.6 percent hit in fall enrollment. Last fall, enrollment figures had decreased eight-tenths of a percent, and in fall 2009, they were down by about 1 percent.

Of the seven regents schools, ESU currently has the lowest enrollment rate, 5,976 students, a 286 student decrease from last year’s 6,262.

This most recent decrease has the administration on alert.

“We’re concerned,” said Jim Williams, associate provost for enrollment management and vice president of strategic partnerships. “We had a sense, based on three very large graduation classes and not as large recruitment classes the last three years, that we were going to at some point hit this point.”

Williams said that this knowledge coupled with the recession and other factors like scholarship resources for students, the administration knew an enrollment decline was on the way.

As a result of the decrease, a tuition loss of $500,000 will have fiscal implications, according to memo released by President H. Edward Flentje last Tuesday.

The administration is working to make small cuts in the operating budget to make up for lost tuition revenue, but Williams said budget allocations for student wages will be protected from the reductions.

Still, Williams said “the sky is not falling” for ESU. As an institution, he said there is nothing “wrong” with the university.

But one of the main factors that led to the enrollment decrease was the lack of an aggressive advertising strategy.

“We’ve been our own worst enemy in saying who we are and what we stand for and the quality of the excellence we have at a fairly affordable price,” Williams said.

Last spring, the marketing department launched the campaign “Empowered by E” in an effort to reshape the university’s image as an attractive institution.

Williams said the campaign is “leaving no stone unturned” by making use of television media, billboards across the state and other less traditional means of marketing through the use of social media outlets like Facebook.

Gwen Larson, assistant director of marketing and media relations, said the campaign is now being used to target new audiences of high school seniors, but the results of the campaign will not be seen until next fall’s enrollment figures are released.

“It will be another year before we see the fruits of what we put in place last January,” Larson said.

ESU is also working to retain students, Williams said, by looking for opportunities to offer new degree programs and partnering with the ESU Foundation to sustain scholarships. On-campus housing is also under review.

“We have a campus that we should be proud of,” Williams said, “but we don’t have a culture of bragging about why you should be here, and our biggest competitors, KU and K-State, do have a culture of doing that.”

Another factor in the enrollment decrease is the changing landscape of Kansas’ rural populations.

Larson said traditionally, students generally come from smaller towns because the university’s size is comfortable for those accustomed to a smaller population.

But populations in rural areas are also on the decline, and as a result Larson said the marketing department is now focusing on recruiting students from more urban areas like Johnson County.

In light of ESU’s trend of decreasing enrollment, Williams said he is “optimistic” for the future of the university and that students are welcome to share their own ideas to remedy the situation with the administration.

“My door’s open,” Williams said. “Students are part of the solution too.”

Kenzie Templeton

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Faculty Senate President Kevin Johnson questions how to attract faculty to live in Lyon County and improve their morale. The Faculty Senate meeting was held this Tuesday in Webb Lecture Hall. Yiqing Fu/The Bulletin

The standardization of general education among community colleges and regents schools and Emporia State’s low enrollment figures were addressed at the Faculty Senate meeting on Tuesday in Webb 2 Lecture hall.

“The transfer and articulation policy is moving along quicker than some people expected… ultimately the goal is for general education courses to be counted as credit at any of the regent’s universities,” said Kevin Johnson, senate president and associate professor of business administration.

Some members of the faculty are concerned about the standardization of courses since it is difficult for regents to ensure that course materials and instructors are adequate.

“I’ve talked to some of the physical science faculty already (about the standardization) and four out of four of them were opposed to the idea,” said Ken Thompson, professor of physical science.

Tes Mehring, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said that KBOR did not seem to hear the issues being voiced by the faculty and wanted to push the bill through. Johnson said most of the support for the bill came from KBOR and community colleges.

Johnson said he was interested in the senate members discussing their concerns or support with their departments so he could present the faculty opinion at the next KBOR meeting.

Mehring said she was concerned with some noted instances of transfer credits counting as electives and not fulfilling general course requirements, but she said this may not be a widespread problem.

Also discussed was the definition of a credit hour, which is currently being adjusted by the faculty to incorporate more than just lecture classes such as labs and internships. Dwight Moore, associate professor of biology and chair of academic affairs for the senate, said that the committee plans to model the new standard around other schools’ broader definitions of credit hours.

Mehring also said that there was a decline in enrollment at ESU this year, which would cause a one percent decrease in the budget. Mehring did not provide the actual enrollment figures, but she said that they would be released in a press release.

Sheryl Lidzy, newly-elected second vice president and associate professor of communication, brought a set of questions that were related to faculty morale and salaries. The senate decided to look further into who should be answering those questions.

The next Faculty Senate meeting will be at 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 4 in Webb 2 Lecture Hall.

Charlie Heptas

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The enrollment head count for Emporia State has shown an increase of 19 students from spring 2009, accounting for 0.3 percent increase, according to the Kansas Board of Regents.

“A whole lot of people did a whole lot of hard work during the semester to bring in some new students,” said Michael Lane, president of ESU. “I’m very pleased with the efforts of our admissions folks as well as the faculty and staff who worked with them on it.”

A total increase of 1,886, 2.2 percent, was reported throughout the state in six Regents universities, according to the KBOR.

However, ESU had the lowest increase, while Fort Hays State University had the highest increase, with 961 students, and the University of Kansas had a decrease of 39 students.

“One of the main strategies that we are working on is making sure that the campus is involved in the recruiting process,” said James Williams, associate provost for enrollment management and vice president of strategic partnerships. “It’s far more dynamic than just what the admissions staff does. It includes faculty. It includes students.”

To make up for the deficit of nearly 100 students in enrollment from last semester, an effort was made to recruit new students.

“We always try to work on improving retention. I know the most significant part of our increase was in new start students, new start freshman and new start transfers,” Lane said.

Noel-Levitz, a higher education consulting firm, will review ESU’s techniques to gain students.

“They will be doing a review of our procedures and our processes, from our marketing to our communication with prospective students, to how we recruit students,” Williams said. “They will work with us on continuing to structure (our programs).”

With the recent growth in attendance at community colleges, Williams said that it is important for ESU to try to build partnerships with community colleges to help students as much as possible.

“We need to be getting students that go to other institutions,” Williams said. “We need to be capturing those students.”

As a part of this effort, ESU has established programs at Butler Community College and Hutchinson Community College, as well as continuing efforts at Kansas City Kansas Community College.

“This fall, we will see the first enrollments in the business program at BCC,” Williams said. “We’ll have the first real strong beginning process with HCC. We have reviewed our agreements with KCKCC.”

As a part of these programs, it will be easier for students attending these community colleges to continue their educations at ESU.

“With Hutchinson, we’ve developed a dual enrollment program,” Williams said. “When those students transition here, they will have taken what they need to complete the degree in two years.”

A similar program will exist within the Business and Elementary Education Departments at Butler.

“We need to develop these agreements so that’s seamless transition for the student,” Williams said. “If enrollment is going up in the community colleges, it only makes sense that we need to recruit more transfer students.”

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Eddy

Emporia State University has shown a decrease of 90 students from last year’s enrollment count, according to Kansas Board of Regents Web site. ESU was one of two of the KBR schools that experienced a decrease. The University of Kansas has also reported a smaller enrollment number for this fall with a drop of 98 students.

“We are working hard on recruitment plans for next fall,” said Laura Eddy, director of admissions. “We would really like to see a growth in enrollment for 2010.”

On Sept. 24, the KBR released the enrollment numbers for the six Board of Regents schools. The state overall has experienced an increase of 1,435 students, or 1.6 percent since fall 2008.

Fort Hays State University showed the biggest enrollment increase with a total of 1,201 students, and Kansas State University showed the smallest enrollment increase of 61 students. Pittsburg State University had an increase of 150 students, and Wichita State University showed an increase of 211.

In addition, ESU has 520 international students on campus this fall.

Last year, Emporia State’s student headcount was 6,404 – it has declined to 6,314. The university overall has experienced increases and decreases in enrollment since 2000 but ultimately enrollment has risen by nearly 700 students from 5,616 in 2000.

Statewide, enrollment has increased by over 5,000 students from 88,817 in the fall of 2005 to 93,307 in the fall of 2009.

That makes for a 5.1 percent increase for the state of Kansas over the last five years.

The number of students taking classes from off-campus has increased by 114, in addition to ESU seeing an increase of 17 for the non-resident student category. Statewide, the only decrease in enrollment is in the number of resident students, which has only decreased by 35.

“To increase enrollment for next year, we want to offer more special on-campus visits and special scholarship promotions and programs,” Eddy said. “We will also be traveling more in Kansas and the NEARR states.”

The NEARR program is a plan that gives students in certain states near Kansas the option of getting a tuition that is lower than out-of-state tuition but not as low as in-state tuition.

“The ‘NEARR states include Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado and Nebraska,” Eddy said. “We are set up to travel to forty different college fairs from Kansas City to Liberal in the next year.”

Emporia State also plans to increase the number of Hornet Nights, as well as hold fairs that are targeted towards students with specific backgrounds, such as Minority Recruitment Days.

“We also plan to host more visits specifically for international and transfer students,” Eddy said.

A lot of the enrollment recruitment is also done through advertising and the view books that are sent out in the mail to prospective students.

“Hopefully with these new recruitment plans in place, we can bring enrollment up next fall,” Eddy said. “We are really working on getting the information out there and getting faculty more involved in the recruitment process as well.”

Shawna Berry/The Bulletin

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