The University of Vermont has received 22,300 college applications this year for the class of 2015 and is expecting a freshman class of around 2,500 this fall, about 250 more than last year.
The application numbers fell slightly shy of the record 22,365 applicants in 2009, but reflect continuing high numbers that spiked with an increase of 2,300 applicants in 2008.
UVM Admissions Director Beth Wiser said the numbers have grown dramatically in the last decade but may be “leveling off” now. She says other schools are now experiencing what UVM did in the past few years.
Many colleges and universities around the nation reported record applications this year, which many experts say reflects the ease of using the standardized computer-based Common Application. They also reported record low acceptance rates.
According to the Hernandez College Consulting website, among the so-called Ivies, Columbia University in New York saw a remarkable jump of nearly 9,000 applications to 34,929, or 36 percent. It accepted a record low 6.93 percent.
Harvard had the lowest acceptance rate of that group at 6.17 percent.
Dartmouth saw applications jump by around 3500 to 22, 385, accepting just 9.75 percent.
Some 2.2 million online applications were filed for the 2011 application season using the Common Application, up almost 22 percent from 2010.
A decade ago, UVM received only 8,268 applications for its seven undergraduate schools and 103 undergraduate programs. More than half of all the undergraduate students, 5,059 this year, enroll in the school of Arts & Sciences.
UVM continues to accept between 65 percent to 70 percent of all those who apply, which is about the average acceptance rate around the nation, according to the New York Times higher education blog, “The Choice.”
About 40 percent of all Vermonters who apply decide to enroll at the state’s largest university, compared to around 13 percent of out-of-state students based on 2010 figures. Roughly one-third of the undergrad students hail from Vermont at the university, which has just under 10,000 undergrads. (Total enrollment this spring including non-degree students and graduate schools is 12,971, according to UVM. )
Wiser says the much higher enrollment rate for Vermonters reflects the schools considerably lower cost of tuition, fees and room and board for in-state students.
“We make Vermont very affordable and it certainly is a good value when you factor in financial aid and scholarship money,” she said.
Tuition, fees, room and board for UVM for 2011 is $23,418 for in-state students compared to $41,982 for out-of-state students. The UVM board of trustees is expected to enact a 5.7 percent tuition increase as part of a recommended $292 million budget at its upcoming May meeting, up .9 percent from last year.
Total tuition and other fees at many private colleges and universities, which are more expensive than public universities, now top $50,000 by comparison.
The cost of attending UVM for Vermont students remains a difficult reach for many, despite being 40 percent lower by charter than for out-of-state students.
Marie Johnson, director of student financial services at UVM, said the school has experienced a “significant increase in students applying for financial aid” since fiscal 2006.
While growing enrollment has contributed as well, she said financial aid requests have increased 32 percent in the past five years. Another measure, which is eligibility for federal Pell grants of up to $5,550, have increased 66 percent, she said. Vermont students exhibit a much higher need for financial aid than the out-of-state students, she added.
As a publicly supported university without the massive endowment of elite private schools, UVM has to support itself primarily through tuition, she said, which presents a challenge.
The Legislative appropriation for the university, which held steady despite a tough budget year, is $40.7 million, an amount that covers just 6.8 percent of UVM’s projected 2012 fiscal year total budget, according to UVM figures.
“We’re most appreciative of that support,” said Wiser, but she noted that UVM receives far less state support than other public universities. In the past 16 fiscal years, state support as a portion of the overall UVM budget has declined from 20.2 to 6.8 percent, according to UVM.
At the same time, the percentage of Vermont students receiving grants and scholarships is now 75 percent, and has increased 100 percent in the past five fiscal years, from $8.2 to $16.4 million, reflecting both a growing need and rising tuition costs.
Wiser said it’s a tough balancing act when it comes to the cost of college and meeting financial aid needs, but added that compared to many schools, UVM “is a really good value” for what it offers. Kiplinger’s Personal Finance recently placed UVM among the top 100 public colleges and universities out of 500 schools considered for its combination of quality and cost, or value, ranking it 72nd for in-state students.
Wiser said another trend is that UVM “is seeing an increased competitiveness of our Vermont students.” At the same time, the number of Vermont applicants is trending downward as high school enrollment decreases around the state. Despite that, she said, “We’ve been able to hold the Vermont number pretty steady.”
UVM figures overall show a modest upward rise in the combined math and verbal SAT median scores from 1100 to 1160 over the past 20 years.
Wiser said UVM continues to see a high demand for the nursing program, which she said has “very strict capacity issues” and a slight decline, experienced around the country as well, in business school applicants following the recession.
The school is also seeing increased interest in the engineering and environment and health areas, which are more career-oriented than liberal arts, perhaps reflecting job concerns after the recession.
“That’s where we continue to see growth,” she said.
