Report: JWU among 50 U.S. schools with greatest decline in undergrad applications

UNDERGRADUATE APPLICATIONS to the Providence and Charlotte, N.C.-based Johnson & Wales University campuses decreased by more than 9 percent and 12 percent respectively in 2014-15 when compared to a decade earlier, according to a report by education-research website StartClass listing the 50 U.S. schools with the biggest declines. / COURTESY STARTCLASS
UNDERGRADUATE APPLICATIONS to the Providence and Charlotte, N.C.-based Johnson & Wales University campuses decreased by more than 9 percent and 12 percent respectively in 2014-15 when compared to a decade earlier, according to a report by education-research website StartClass listing the 50 U.S. schools with the biggest declines. / COURTESY STARTCLASS

PROVIDENCE – Undergraduate applications to the Providence and Charlotte, N.C.,-based Johnson & Wales University campuses decreased by more than 9 percent and 12 percent, respectively, in 2014-15 when compared to a decade earlier, according to a report by education research website StartClass listing the 50 U.S. schools with the biggest declines.

The report, released last August, compiled information from the National Center for Education Statistics, an organization to which JWU supplies admissions information.

It ranked the Providence JWU campus 43rd worst for its 9.58 percent decline in undergraduate applications. In the 2014-2015 academic year, there were 11,899 applicants to JWU Providence, 1,260 fewer than in the 2004-2005 academic year. The report did not include statistics for the intervening years.

Of the 11,899 applicants for the 2014-2015 academic year, 9,173 enrolled, for an acceptance rate of 81.1 percent, reported StartClass.

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There were 13,159 applicants to the school in 2004-2005 according to the report, which did not state 2004-2005 acceptance or enrollment rates.

Ranking 32nd-worst in the report, the Charlotte campus saw a 12.77 percent decline in undergraduate applications over the same time period.

In the 2004-2005 academic year the North Carolina-based campus had 5,371 applicants, according to the study, and 4,685 in 2014-2015 – a year in which they enrolled 2,255 undergraduates, for a 68.8 percent acceptance rate.

The report did not state the Charlotte JWU campus’ acceptance or enrollment rates for the 2004-2005 academic year nor statistics for the intervening years.

Norton-based Wheaton College ranked 50th on the list with a 5.77 percent decline in applicants over that decade.

Wheaton saw 2,133 applicants in the 2004-2005 academic year, which fell to 2,010 in 2014-2015. During that same academic year, the school enrolled 2,432 undergraduates for a 69.2 percent acceptance rate.

Alcorn State University, in Lorman, Miss., topped the list, with a 69.45 percent decrease in applications between 2004-2005 and 2014-2015.

No other Rhode Island-based schools were included on the list.

The methodology for the StartClass report included only institutions with at least 2,000 undergraduate students.

JWU does not dispute the statistics, but the school told Providence Business News it disagrees with the isolation of such information, which they consider unhelpful for prospective students and families.

“The number of applications is a fluid metric,” the school said in a statement provided by Ryan J. Crowley, a university spokesperson. “Each year we accept students who we believe would best succeed in the programs offered at Johnson & Wales University. We do not want to legitimize sites like this with limited and selective information that is not helpful for prospective students or their families when choosing where to attend college.”

According to the school’s student newspaper, the JWU Campus Herald, in her 2015 State of the Campus address – a speech focused on improving recruitment – Mim L. Runey, JWU Providence campus president, said the school had seen three consecutive years of recruitment-related concerns.

During her speech, she said the university would add to their programming and online offerings in order to appeal to a broader audience. The Campus Herald quoted Runey as saying: “We must acknowledge what the consumer wants.”

PBN asked Crowley whether there was any correlation between the dip in applications and the school’s enrollment over the decade cited in the report, but he declined to comment or provide the data.

The StartClass report drew on the findings of a U.S. News and World Report study, which found prospective students were applying to more schools and therefore application rates to most U.S. colleges and universities have increased.

U.S. News findings said, if an institution does not change the size of an incoming freshman class, then an increase in applications will result in a lower acceptance rate.

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