UVSC bucks statewide trend with positive enrollment numbers

The state Board of Education has released enrollment numbers for Utah's public colleges and universities, and while overall the numbers are flat UVSC gained the most students and had the second highest percentage of growth over last fall's numbers.

Enrollment remains flat at Utah colleges
Recruitment to become more competitive as numbers stay steady
(Salt Lake Tribune, October 12 2007)

While this news is no big surprise for UVSC, it is nice to see what numbers other schools are posting. Here are the headcounts for all nine schools:

U of U: 27,685 -2.15%
USU: 21,455 +1.10%
Weber: 17,089 -1.16%
SUU: 6,410 +4.94%
Snow: 3,202 -9.65%
Dixie: 5,209 -2.43%
CEU: 1,799 -3.95%
UVSC: 20,959 +3.44%
SLCC: 23,824 +0.01%

Higher Ed
Total: 127,632 -0.09%

If that number seems a little low for UVSC, who usually boasts of having 24,000 students we can only assume the state is not counting high school students taking in concurrent enrollment classes.

So you want to be a U? Dixie State ponders future

Dixie State College announced last Friday that it is considering hooking its wagon to the University of Utah and becoming a satellite campus in an effort to expand the possibilities of higher education in Washington County.

Dixie says it weighs becoming U. satellite
(Salt Lake Tribune, September 8 2007)


Dixie State seeks partnership with U of U
(The Spectrum, September 8 2007)

Dixie State College Announces Plan to Pursue Enhanced Affiliation with the University of Utah
(From the Dixie State College website)

Essentially Dixie could very well follow the path of UVSC and become a university with a community college emphasis and open enrollment. Which leads us to a very interesting question, will UVSC support this move? Just because Dixie and the U have talked about it doesn't mean it's a done deal...far from it. The proposal will need to get approval from the Utah Board of Regents and the legislature.

And that process could be moved along considerably with the help of UVSC's voices on the Board of Regents (Marlon Snow, Jack Zenger, and Lucille Stoddard) and Utah County's all-powerful caucus (Senate president John Valentine tops the list).

And we might have a little quid pro quo action happening here. You might recall at the signing of SB 70 this past March that St. George representative Dave Clark was not only present, but spoke, and was widely praised by others for his support of UVSC's transition. At the time the Pipeline thought it seemed a little fishy for a St. George guy to be all buddy buddy with Utah County. Our bet is that UVSC and all its cronies will be backing up Dixie's move 100 percent.

And perhaps that is not such a bad thing. One thing is for certain though...the transition is going to cost money.

First day of Fall Semester

UVSC's Fall Semester started Wednesday, and despite booming enrollment it looks like the kinks that have plagued the back-to-campus rush have been ironed out. Lines seemed shorter and no major outages for the school's UVLink computer system. All in all a good beginning to the last year as UVSC.

UVSC's final fall semester begins (Daily Herald, August 23 2007)

But the big story here just might be enrollment. Right now the school is running a nearly 7 percent increase compared to the numbers posted at this time last year. Of course the final fall numbers won't be posted for another 3 weeks, so look for that big percentage to drop each day until then. The Pipeline spoke with an administrator on Wednesday who said they are predicting about a 2 percent increase when all is said and done. Compared to most other schools in the state this year that is huge.

The total head count numbers will be helped considerably when the high schools start turning in their concurrent enrollment data at the beginning of September. Concurrent enrollment might he

The other impressive number this year is the Full Time Equivalent, which as of today sits at 15,448. As we all know the FTE calculates the number of students that are taking a full load, and it is the number that actually means something (the one used by the state to calculate funding). In fact the FTE for this year is already 98.6 percent of Fall '05 numbers, with just 93.4 percent of the headcount. That means students are taking more credits. More FTE means more funding, and hopefully more eventual graduates.

In fact, according to the most recent fact book put out by UVSC's Institutional Research office, the number of juniors and seniors has steadily risen over the past 5 years. Thats a sure sign that students are staying put, which might be the reason why headcount and FTE numbers are on the rise.

Utah schools slip in rankings

Every year US News and World Report puts out their rankings of the best colleges and universities in the country. And every year the state of Utah usually fares pretty well. This year Brigham Young University, the University of Utah, and Westminster College have slipped in their rankings.

BYU, Westminster, Utah rank high on top-colleges list (Deseret Morning News, August 17 2007)

Utah schools go south in national rankings (Salt Lake Tribune, August 17 2007

Kind of fun to see how different the two papers spin the news.

Also interesting, especially to those in UVSC's administration, is the fact that the magazine has changed some of its methodology in determining the rankings. In particular they now disqualify any school that does not require either the ACT/SAT as part of the admission process.

UVSC has been ranked as high as 4th for comprehensive colleges in the West (The comprehensive college category has been renamed the baccalaureate colleges category this year). And while the school has sort of required the ACT as part of admission since 2005, it is unclear if the schools iffy policy (students over 21 or not required to take the ACT) has kept them out of the rankings this year. It might also be the fact that UVSC, in keeping with its open admissions policy, does not use the ACT to determine eligibility, but placement.

UVSC experiences big bump in summer enrollment numbers

Summer classes at colleges have never been terribly popular. For some reason students find other things to do outside the classroom. But this year UVSC has posted some impressive, albeit preliminary, numbers for their summer programming.

Summer 2007 Enrollment Data, Institutional Research (as of July 12, 2007)

On average (between the two most popular summer blocks) almost 900 more students attended summer classes this year. It could be that the school's policy of charging in-state tuition for everyone (including international students) has convinced some scholars to drop the tanning lotion and pick up the textbook.

Perhaps this trend will continue as the state's new residency rules take effect. In theory out-of-state students could come to UVSC fresh out of high school, take a full semester load of credits during the summer at in-state prices, then stick around Utah and work until the next summer. Then they can apply for permanent residency (as long as their parents don't claim them as dependents) and start paying tuition like a Utahan. In other words, savvy out-of-staters could attend UVSC without the outrageous penalties their older brothers and sisters faced.

For more info on the new residency requirements check out http://www.uvsc.edu/students/residency/

New residency rules in effect

The following was included in a campus bulletin that was e-mailed out to employees this morning:


The new Residency rule (R-512) will go into effect on July 1, 2007. This rule requires 1) residing in Utah for 12 continuous months, and, 2) being Financially Independent (student is not claimed on a tax return of any person who is not a resident of Utah, beginning in at least the 2007 tax year.)

There will be NO RETROACTIVE application of the 12-month waiting period. This means the rule goes into effect on July 1 of 2007 and the earliest a new, non-resident student may obtain residency will be July 1, 2008.

A student who has been attending school under the 2006-2007 law, may still obtain resident status upon completion of 60 credits or upon submitting documentation of maintaining continuous residency in Utah for 3 years, regardless of credit earned. Objective evidence demonstrating domicile in Utah must also be submitted with a residency application (ie Utah drivers license, car registration, etc.).

Residency application deadline for Fall semester is August 1, 2007. Applications are available at One Stop (BA 106) or by printing a form from the Admissions web site.
Please refer residency questions to Anne Morrey at extension 8464 or through e-mail at morreyan@uvsc.edu.

This change is significant and will no doubt alter enrollments at UVSC for the foreseeable future. According to the latest data, out-of-state enrollment has stayed fairly flat for the past 4 years. Of course leading the list of states that send their kids off to UVSC is California , and now that it only takes a year to establish residency look for kids from the Golden State to rush back to UVSC.

UVSC shares the strategic direction for next year

An e-mail went out to employees today inviting all to a few upcoming Strategic Directions forums next week. Attached with the e-mail was a rough draft of next year's strategies, which we include here:

Strategic directions are annually refined to guide the institution through its planning and budgeting processes. The first three strategic
directions outline the dominant focus for the upcoming fiscal year. The final three strategic directions address other operational needs.


Strategic Direction One: Transition to Utah Valley University and establish long-term university goals
-Define and promote the role of a regional state university and the mission and brand of UVU
-Develop and implement master’s degrees in education, nursing, and business
-Establish academic/scholarly initiatives for collaboration with peer institutions
-Establish governmental/private sector partnerships for developing the region
-Encourage alumni participation by strengthening the unique identity of UVU
-Review and align academic policies with peer institutions


Strategic Direction Two: Provide a distinctive educational opportunity centered on students, scholarship, and regional
engagement
-Expand resources to support professional, global, ethical, and scholarly engagement among students, faculty, and staff
-Develop and maintain programs and services that demonstrate and enhance the importance of teaching, learning, and scholarship
-Solicit feedback on faculty and staff student-centeredness and effectiveness in regional outreach
-Identify, build and promote centers of excellence to encourage engaged scholarship
-Develop and utilize distance education, off-campus programs, and satellite campuses more fully

Strategic Direction Three: Provide programs and services to attract, recruit, and retain students with differing backgrounds,
interests, and preparedness levels
-Promote campus-wide initiatives that foster student success and retention
-Understand the interest in and perception of the learning experience at UVSC (UVU) among high school students
-Improve recruitment and retention of women, under-represented groups, and other non-traditional students
-Develop and market programs to attract and retain high-achieving students
-Define and promote the “opportunity mission” of UVSC (UVU)

Strategic Direction Four: Manage and expand resources to support UVSC’s (UVU’s) mission and future growth
-Continue to nurture the expanding role of community and private support
-Motivate community and alumni to provide resources to support excellence among students, faculty, and staff
-Pursue the implementation of the campus facilities and information technology master plans
-Assess student, staff, and faculty satisfaction with campus facilities and their learning/working conditions

Strategic Direction Five: Attract, retain, and develop exceptional student-centered faculty and staff consistent with UVSC’s
(UVU’s) focus on students, scholarship and regional engagement
-Continue to implement a competitive market compensation plan
-Increase staff in proportion to faculty increases to provide adequate support
-Support and encourage professional development and scholarly work
-Fortify and promote endowed chairs and other magnet scholar programs
-Enhance training programs for faculty and staff

Strategic Direction Six: Foster a culture of professionalism, collaboration, communication, and transparency
-Emphasize a commitment to professionalism, respect, and civil discourse appropriate to a public university
-Refine the PBA process to foster inter-disciplinary collaboration and improve measures of accountability and involvement
-Increase transparency in campus processes to improve understanding of decision making
-Improve external communications regarding UVSC’s (UVU’s) quality of student, faculty, staff, and systems
-Improve communication processes and systems on campus

How will changes at BYU shape valley?

Last week you might have caught the story in the Herald about BYU blocking You Tube. This action might have students up in arms, but it was another story that should have got their attention.

The Deseret News's Tad Walch, the valley's resident reporter on town and gown issues, wrote an article on BYU's student housing plans. While the South Campus Area Master Plan has been around for awhile, it looks like BYU will be enforcing these boundaries come April, and possibly constricting them further.

This has to make Provo city happy as they have made it known that they see student housing as the city's greatest burden. If the school is going to create a smaller box for the all-important BYU-approved housing, then Provo will be happy as clams.

But there are a few unknowns that should be considered by all sides. First BYU might find itself in a bind in 5 or ten years when this limited space has been carved up and additional capacity becomes an issue. Traffic is this part of Provo is already bad...imagine when every single BYU student has to live there.

Provo city should also keep in mind who will be taking the places of students at outlying apartment complexes. Without BYU students keeping prices inflated on the outskirts of SCAMP it is probable that a very different demographic will move in. Good, bad, or whatever...there will be a very different culture in these complexes in a very short amount of time.

But the reason why The Pipeline is even bringing this up is how it will effect UVSC students. As demand increases in the limited space around BYU you will see UVSC kids being forced out of "Approved" housing. This is not a minor issue...UVSC kids make up a strong contingent amongst BYU approved apartment complexes. With no where else to put BYU students UVSC students will continue migrating to Orem. And currently Orem has a moratorium on new "student" housing around UVSC. With Parkway Crossing no longer adding phases, and an expected surge in students as the school becomes a university, will there be adequate, affordable housing for UVSC students? How about in the next few years as local high schools graduate record numbers of students? The baby boom that educators have been warning us about for years will soon be knocking on UVSC's open-enrollment door.