Anybody out there involved in higher ed notice lower enrollment

[raccoon]

than usual, even for summer semester?

[drthais]

1. Louisiana, for sure

is not a place for usual evaluations of enrollment
things are screwy since Katrina
since my univ. (Southern Univ in Baton Rouge) is unscathed
we have UNO and Soutnern New Orleans students
and enrollment will be a rollercoaster for a while

..makes funding screwy too
we don't know how many positions we will need
of course, at this university
everyone just teaches more classes

[pnwmom]

2. In Washington state it's been noticed -- and even reported on

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/269172_instate05.html

"Washington's public four-year colleges are attracting fewer applications from the very people they were built to serve: the state's high school graduates.

"Across the board, in-state applications are down at public colleges, from less than 2 percent at the University of Washington to 19 percent at Central Washington University.

"But the reasons behind the drop -- and whether it reflects a continuing trend -- have left university officials without solid explanations. Some private colleges in the state saw a similar decline in in-state applicants, but others saw them surge.

"There are lots of reasons that could explain what's going on out there. I just don't think we have a good way yet of narrowing down which are the most likely," said Steve Hunter, associate vice president for enrollment management at The Evergreen State College, where in-state applications have fallen about 13 percent. "You can imagine there are lots of people at these institutions scratching their heads, and asked to scratch their heads, to come up with an answer."

SNIP

[smoogatz]

3. I don't have our fall enrollment numbers in front of me school-wide

but all of my classes for Fall 06 are completely full. But then, I teach creative writing. Summer session may, in fact, be down a bit--more students having to work full time over the summer, most likely.

[benburch]

4. Most working people cannot afford community college now.

Gas prices and the rising costs of food and housing have taken away the money that would have paid for that.

[raccoon]

5. Yeah, I kind of thought gas prices might be one of the usual suspects.

And, as you mentioned, food & housing as well.