Over the past 50 years, the population of college-aged Americans has dropped 10%. As a result, over 500 4-year colleges have shut their doors in the last decade. That's bad, but what is worse is that the US Department of Education is projecting further drops in college-aged populations; a 15% drop over the next ten years which is many times "steeper" than past years. As a result, all colleges and universities are expected to come under intense pressure - including Wittenberg.
The other part of this problem is that the decline in college-aged populations is not uniformly distributed across the US. Generally speaking, there is a shift taking place in populations which is seeing declining populations in the Northeast and Eastern-Midwest. This will result in accelerated decreases in population of available students in the next 10 years in states where WIttenberg has traditionally recruited (within a 300 mile radius). In contrast, Southern states are seeing a positive shift in population - resulting in 5-7% increases in college-aged populations in the next 10 years. Some of these states are large, so these percentage increases represent large numbers of potential students.
The WIN Foundation is looking to develop approaches to augment Wittenberg's recruiting efforts within our Admissions Committee. This committee includes alumni experts in college admissions from a broad range of perspectives: high school admissions counsellors, current Wittenberg students from these regions, high school teachers and administrators, college admissions professionals, and parents of students. These efforts will augment the efforts of Wittenberg's Admissions Department, and we will be coordinating our efforts closely with the Alumni Association in order to maximize unity of effort.
YOU can be a part of making a difference. Join the WIN Foundation and become part of the solution.
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