People are cutting back in all kinds of ways in this economy, but they aren’t skimping when it comes to private universities, at least not in the River Forest and Oak Park area.
Dominican University and Concordia University Chicago, both private schools in River Forest, are breaking their own records for attendance. Dominican is reporting the largest incoming freshman class in its history, while Concordia broke its own record for largest overall class body.
“It’s fantastic, considering the economy,” said Glenn Hamilton, Dominican’s assistant vice president of undergraduate admissions. “We had a goal of 405 incoming freshman, and as of today, we have 428.”
Although numbers are not yet final at either school, Dominican is reporting a 5 percent increase for incoming freshman, while Concordia is seeing a 9 percent increase in undergraduate admission. While both universities were pushing marketing to bolster admissions and applications, the increase came as a pleasant surprise for both.
“We were cautious” when projecting incoming students, said Evelyn Burdick, Concordia’s vice president for enrollment and marketing. “There were so many economic factors; loans are harder to get, credit is tight, and we saw so many families where the mother or father, or sometimes a spouse, experienced a job loss.”
Transfers contributed to growth for both schools. Burdick said transfers have skyrocketed this year, rising 52 percent. She attributed this to many students opting for community college to save money and choosing Concordia later on. While some are transferring from other four-year schools, community colleges like Triton, College of DuPage and Morton are accounting for most of the increase.
The same is not true for Dominican, which is actually seeing a drop in transfers from community colleges.
“We actually saw a decline from two-year schools, but saw an increase in transfers from four-year colleges,” Hamilton said.
In their case, Hamilton said he thinks they are getting high school students who considered Dominican at first, but opted for another four-school, only to come back later on.
There is some change in popularity of majors at Dominican, but the top groups have mostly stayed the same; undeclared freshman are at the top, followed by those majoring in education and biology/chemistry.
Meanwhile, engineering, pharmacy and criminology are more popular. English and journalism, however, have become less popular.
“We are not sure right now if we can put a finger on why that is,” Hamilton said.
Concordia freshman are increasingly choosing biology and business as their majors, with business students doubling since last year. Graduate students, which have gone up by 2 percent and possibly more after registration closes, are entering into education and MBA programs.
But while both schools are touting the increases, the question of how much is too much remains.
Hamilton said Dominican officials see 4,000 students, spilt equally among graduate and undergraduate students, as ideal for balancing quality and diversity. They are currently at about 3,900 students.
Concordia, meanwhile, has 5,226 students so far this year and is two years ahead of its strategic plan for enrollment. Burdick said they will readdress the issue, but said there are places where they could still expand without crowding issues. Almost 75 percent of Concordia students last year were in graduate programs, so the undergraduate programs can still grow, she said. There is also an increased focus on online courses.
“So it’s not a question of ‘how big is too big’ because we can always grow an online community,” Burdick said.
