Enrollment caps face off against wave of lottery students
NASHVILLE (AP) — Restrictive enrollment caps at state universities may have to go as student applications surge because of the lottery scholarship program, officials say.
A plan in front of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission on Thursday would raise the caps at universities roughly 12 percent — a plan administrators hope will accommodate what is expected to be the biggest freshman class in the state’s history this fall.
But the bad news for the state’s fastest-growing universities is that exceeding the cap will cost them state support for every student above the allocated maximum.
“What we are trying to do is to give four-year institutions the flexibility to handle more students because of the lottery scholarships,” said Brian Noland, associate executive director with the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
The enrollment caps were put in place a few years ago to deal with shrinking taxpayer support for higher education. The idea was to force more students to go to community colleges, a cheaper way for the state to educate.
But the lottery scholarships and a bunch of interested students are forcing administrators to rethink those plans.
“In recognition of the tension between this reality and the (enrollment caps), the staff recommends that the original enrollment ranges be adjusted to provide latitude for institutions to accommodate lottery-related enrollment growth,” says a staff memo to the THEC commissioner.
The commission might decide on the plan Thursday, Noland said.
Most incoming university students will get a big portion of their tuition paid for by the scholarships — and officials have said they expect this fall’s freshman class to be about 15 percent bigger than last year.
The enrollment caps have never been popular with some school administrators, who say public universities should be open to any state resident who meets basic qualifications.
Simply raising the enrollment caps still might force universities to turn away students, said Bob Glenn, vice provost for enrollment at Middle Tennessee State University.
“(Public universities were) the place where the average person could go and pull themselves up by their bootstraps,” Glenn said. “Now it’s tough luck. That’s a pretty bad position to be in, if you ask me.”
At MTSU, admission standards were increased for the upcoming fall term, in part because so many students are expected along with the lottery scholarships. Last year, students with a 20 on the ACT or a 2.8 grade point average were accepted. This year, it takes a 22 ACT score or 3.0 GPA or a 19 ACT and 2.7 GPA.
If the proposed policy is adopted, Glenn said his school still might disregard the enrollment cap to accept some students. That would force MTSU to forgo the state funding, which covers about 50 percent of the cost of a student’s education.
“What we will try to do is to stay as close to the cap as we can, we are just not going to ignore it.” he said. “We feel we have an obligation to cooperate with the system.”
In the end, each university will deal with enrollment caps differently, Noland said.
Some schools, such as Tennessee Tech, are surprised to find out the lottery scholarships haven’t prompted any more students to choose their school.
“Enrollment caps are not really an anxious point for us,” said Rebecca Tolbert, Tech’s vice president for academic affairs. “We are not seeing a tremendous increase this year for our applications.”
Part of the idea behind the enrollment caps is to get students to go to schools like Tech that have room for growth, instead of trying to get into fast-growing schools like MTSU, officials said.
“I would be surprised if by later in the summer, if there was any four-year institution that didn’t see some form of increase in applications because of the lottery scholarship program,” Noland said.
A glance at proposed enrollment caps for state universities
By The Associated Press
A look at proposed enrollment caps for state schools, comparing 2003-04 school year freshman enrollment with 2004-05 cap.
Austin Peay: 990; 1,179
East Tennessee: 1,524; 1,719
Middle Tennessee: 2,883; 3,511
Tennessee State: 1,209; 1,558
Tennessee Tech: 1,117; 1,393
Memphis: 1,805; 1,984
UT-Chattanooga: 1,373; 1,381
UT-Knoxville: 3,357; 4,033
UT-Martin: 1,018; 1,355
Source: Tennessee Higher Education Commission