Population of incoming students from CO sharply declines this year

In the past three years, Colorado enrollment at CC has dropped from 34 percent to nearly 17.9 percent. This year, enrollment of students from Colorado has reached what is likely the lowest point in CC history.

This was the first statement on a recent fact sheet distributed by Mark Hatch, Vice President of Enrollment, to the Faculty Executive Committee (FEC) and the College Priorities Subcommittee on Nov. 21. The information he presented was the accumulation of a study done by the Admissions Office, put together by Hatch, as an attempt to draw attention to this sudden pattern.

The number of applicants from Colorado has increased over the past six years, while admittance of Colorado students continues to decrease. Admissions data indicates that the median family income for students who come from Colorado is $57,000, whereas the median income for all students entering this fall is over $200,000.

Of this year’s incoming class, 35 percent is receiving need-based financial aid, and 63 percent of all Coloradans are getting this need-based FA. Data from CC’s online statistical profile, which records applicants, acceptances, and enrollments by residence status, shows that while the number of applicants from both in-state and out-of-state increase, in-state admittance significantly decreases and out-of-state admittance grows. While it’s not immediately clear that Financial Aid is the driving reason for the lack of Coloradan students, it is obvious that as the number of applicants competing for CC admission nationally and worldwide increases, students from Colorado are being left at the back door.

CC’s aspirations have dramatically changed in the last decade. CC has shifted its focus from remaining a Coloradan-centered institution to striving to become recognized as one of the top liberal arts schools in the nation. CC has a long history of providing Colorado with some of its best politicians and activists, including House Representative Diana DeGette and former Senator and current Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar.

“When I first arrived here 10 years ago, there were big conversations about ‘visibility,’” Hatch said. “We wanted to stop being ‘the hidden gem’.” Thus, it was one decade ago that the college started what Hatch called, “an aggressive set of initiatives to raise awareness of the college.” These initiatives have evidently worked, as the applications to CC have grown from 3,400 to over 5,000 applicants over the past 10 years. This figure is on par with the average number of applicants to our peer schools such as Middlebury, Oberlin College, and Colgate University, each of which receives an average of between 5,000 and 6,500 applicants yearly.

An awareness initiative has included recruiting in more top high schools across the nation as well as increasing international recruitment efforts. These top schools, also dubbed “feeder schools”, provide CC with the type of highly talented students that it seeks. What has inevitably happened with this increase of applicants is that CC is becoming progressively more competitive. “We want to be fair in including the best class profile possible,” Hatch said. This sudden dramatic shift in the past three years has faculty asking questions about the change.

One hypothesis proposed by several faculty members, including FEC chair Professor Jonathan Lee, is that “the greater selectivity of the college might have an impact on Colorado state students to meet our school requirements.” Since our standards have risen as a private institution, Colorado public schools cannot keep up with the educational funding needed to provide CC with top tier applicants. Recent National Education Association (NEA) statistics reporting state ranking in 2010-2011 indicate that state and local revenue for public schools per $1000 of personal income in Colorado is ranked an abysmal 43 out of all the states. Only seven states in the country have less funding for public education than Colorado.

At the same time, the number of public high school graduates in 2009-10 was ranked 22 out of all the states, with nearly 47,000 students graduating. This means that while Colorado is in the top half of number of graduating students in the US, with only 21 states with having a higher graduating population, they remain in the bottom eight positions for least funded public education schools. The implications of this seem to be making their way into our own students demographic as we continue to effectively drop off Coloradan students.

Additionally, “we just can’t afford Colorado students,” said Richard Agee, Chair of the College Subcommittee of the FEC. Agee mentioned that he was initially concerned about the decrease in Coloradan students as he thought it might have an effect on donations from the community, and because of our long historical background with Colorado. However, after the faculty meeting with Hatch, Agee said he and the subcommittee were satisfied with the explanation that we are not in a position to accept the previously normal percentage of students from Colorado.

The revenue aspect of Financial Aid plays a role in Admissions’ decisions, as it always has. On average, the numbers of students who attend from Colorado take up double their percentage in Financial Aid. For example, this year’s 17.9 percent of enrolled students from Colorado take 35 percent of all aid allotted, and when the Coloradan student enrollment was 34 percent, Colorado students were given roughly 60 percent of total aid available from the college.

In an ideal world, the college could accept top students, regardless of financial situation, but in reality, “we gave up discussion about being need-blind 30 years ago,” said Classics Professor Owen Cramer. He further elaborated that “we are not in a position to be need-blind, nor has it since been proposed as a goal. If we value an attachment to this place [Colorado], we would have to do more for Coloradan students.”

Our need-sensitive admissions situation means that admissions are based on a combination of academic profiles and the financial situations of students. A recent CAFA report found that the admittance rate for students who demonstrated financial need was less than 23 percent compared to the admittance rate for students who can pay in full, which sits at 56 percent. The Admissions Office supports the ideal that they want to be able to fund every student they admit, hopefully preventing huge outside loans to which students who could not afford CC would have to resort. It is clear as well that the amount of financial aid that must go into supporting Coloradan students takes up a huge amount of the total aid provided.

On the other hand, “for Coloradan students, we are the only private liberal arts school in the Rocky Mountain Time zone,” Robert Moore, Vice-President for Finance and Administration, said. “But you don’t want to encourage someone to apply who can’t get in.”

The question is: do we really have some obligation to maintain a steady population of Coloradan students that is proportionally much larger than the populations of students from other states? Or, as Matthew Bonser, Associate Director of Admissions and Coordinator of International Admissions put it, “How much do you want to own your home state?”

CC was founded in 1874, two years before Colorado became a state, and local residents have always supported the college. Almost all of the old buildings on campus were donations from wealthy community members. CC also benefitted directly from the gold produced in Cripple Creek in the 1890s. It’s apparent that CC grew because of the support of the Colorado community. However, as national and international representation is increasing, resulting repercussions for the decrease in Colorado enrollment raises the question: do we still owe loyalty?

“Coloradans’ admission rates are not going down by design, but because we are receiving more talented students from outside of Colorado than ever before,” Hatch said. “In this case, the whole is greater than its parts, and if we are going to be a national and international college, then one third of our students population being from Colorado might be too high,” Hatch added. At the same time, “20 percent might be too low.”

Hatch described that what admissions is trying to do is to be architects of the student population. Therefore, they have a responsibility to each student who applies, not just in-state applicants. In a statement produced by the FEC sub-committee from a survey in the spring of 2009, faculty identified three main goals:
1. Defend the quality of the educational experience for present and future students
2. Strive to expand access to CC for high-caliber students
3. Increase the ethnic, international, and socioeconomic diversity of the student body (and faculty and staff)

Within these goals there is no mention of Colorado. Hatch questioned the subcommittee about whether this omission was deliberate or simply an oversight, but the top priority seems to be the ethnic, international, and socioeconomic diversity, which actually has increased as requested by faculty.

The conversation remains to be had whether our “backyard” really means something to us. If it does, then why is it left out of these goals? This is the discussion Hatch intended for the FEC and the new president to address, but it has not yet been fully considered. “It’s coming, but it’s a messy process at best,” said Hatch.

If the trend of the past three years continues, those students who take you in for Thanksgiving or drop you off at DIA on their way home may become extinct.