For thousands of students at Baptist colleges, the excitement of the start of fall classes is being muted by a harsh reality this year: Economic hardship is making the already high cost of private college almost untenable for many families.
“I can’t imagine how my father feels knowing there are $60,000 in school bills coming in the next two years,” said Kley Sippel, whose father lost his job just before he enrolled as a freshman at Samford University in Birmingham two years ago. The family has been on a financial roller coaster ever since, making the 19-year-old’s dream of graduating from a private — and hence more costly — Christian school increasingly tenuous.
Across the country, families and schools alike are digging deep to keep their students enrolled in Baptist and other Christian colleges and universities, which account for 3 percent of all college students in the country.
Conspiring against all their efforts is a litany of sobering trends — rising unemployment, tanking family assets, increased college costs, shrinking college endowments and a stingy loan market. The number of families denied federal school loans has increased more than 250 percent in the past two years — from 10 percent of applicants to 25 percent.
Because families of college students file financial-aid requests using their tax returns from the previous year, many may have drastically different incomes by the time their students actually get to campus in the fall. The federal government, which determines how much a family should be able to pay for school, allows those students to appeal based on “special circumstances,” such as when a parent loses a job after the paperwork is filed.
Nationwide the number of appeals has skyrocketed since last year. More than 100,000 students have already filed special-circumstances reviews, and that number is expected to top 140,000 this year, according to The Washington Post.
This time of year, all colleges are trying to minimize “summer melt,” the inevitable annual attrition of students who decide over summer vacation to stay home or attend a cheaper school in the fall. In addition to holding down costs, Baptist colleges say getting personally involved with each student’s situation has allowed them to hang onto most.
Samford’s personal approach worked for Sippel. “The financial-aid department is very relational,” he said. “They take the time to understand your personal circumstances. They look at the family, the job, where other siblings are in school, and they make every effort to make it work. … If they see that you’re willing to sacrifice, they are willing to step up to the plate.”
Only about 20 of the 750 first-time freshmen accepted for the fall term at Samford were unable to enroll because of unresolved financial issues, said Lane Smith, the school’s director of financial aid. But the worst may yet be ahead, Smith said. “A lot of schools are worried about next year. A lot of kids already had their minds made up about this year.”
While fall enrollment numbers were down at Judson College in Marion, the fact that 77 percent of upperclassmen — an all-time high — returned to school this year is something to celebrate. But Judson is already looking at ways to help boost future enrollment.
“Firstly, we are budgeting higher levels of scholarship support this year than previous years,” President David Potts said, noting a 17 percent increase in scholarship support this year. “Secondly, we are trying to help families understand the difference between good debt and bad debt and how earning a good college degree will help increase a student’s earning power over their lifetime.”
Potts said Judson is adding some new programs in the spring and fall semesters of 2010, which he believes will aid in increasing enrollment.
Other Baptist schools are similarly worried about the coming years, so officials are taking extraordinary steps to try to hang onto every student who is accepted for enrollment — from calling each prospective student’s household to signing tuition-cap pledges with four-year students.
A recent survey of 300 private colleges, conducted by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, indicates a tiny increase in average undergraduate enrollment — up about 0.2 percent over fall 2008. Christian families pay a high price to send their children to private colleges. School administrators say in tough times, they have to make sure the Christian educational experience is worth the extra cost.
The University of Mobile (UM) is one of those colleges with an increase in enrollment this fall. It recently announced a fall 2009 enrollment of 1,646, up from 1,641 in fall 2008.
UM President Mark Foley believes he knows why. He said the university continues to remain strong in a weak economy because students and parents recognize a good value.
“Over the past five years, we have intentionally increased academic standards and incorporated faith into the academic curriculum, student activities and residential life,” Foley said. “The result is a university where programs such as the school of education are rated among the very top in the state of Alabama.” (ABP, TAB)
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