University of Missouri-Columbia Chancellor Brady Deaton

The chancellors of the four campuses in the University of Missouri system are drawing up recommendations they will present to President Gary Forsee on Monday about how the will evaluate the what the most critical jobs are that should be filled during the hiring freeze that was announced on Monday.

University of Missouri-Columbia Chancellor Brady Deaton said this afternoon that exceptions to the hiring freeze will be based on the goals laid out in the university’s strategic plan. He said emergency needs in health care and teaching would likely be on that list.

In today’s story, a university administrator estimated that there are 100 to 200 jobs open at any time at the Columbia campus. But Deaton said today that he checked and that there are actually more than 300 open faculty and staff positions at the university. He noted that the campus has 12,000 employees, including 1,850 faculty members. Deaton said there has been no discussion of layoffs.

Deaton also said the university’s billion-dollar fundraising campaign, which recently met its goal, as well as the campus’ enrollment growth has helped cushion the blow of the economic downturn.

And there has been quite a bit of buzz about the fact that freshman applications for next fall are already up about 49 percent over about this time last year. A university memo earlier this month from Ann Korschgen, vice provost for enrollment management, said that MU is the only public institution in the Big 12 whose applications numbers are up. It’s a bit too soon to know for sure whether this will translate into a bigger enrollment next fall, but the signs sure seems to point in that direction.

I have pasted her entire memo below:

UNIVERSITY of MISSOURI

Office of the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management

TO:     Brady Deaton, Chancellor

Michael Middleton, Deputy Chancellor

Brian Foster, Provost

Chancellor’s Staff

Provost’s Staff

Council of Deans

Undergraduate Deans

Department Chairs

Faculty Council

Enrollment Cluster

FR:     Ann Korschgen, Vice Provost for Enrollment Management

Barbara Rupp, Director of Admissions

RE: Admissions update for fall, 2009

DATE: November 3, 2008

ENROLLMENT UPDATE

First of Ten Monthly Reports

HIGHLIGHTS–Overall

● There is an increase of 48.8% (2,728) in freshman applicants for Fall, 2009 from this time last year and a 76.2% (3,597) increase from two years ago.

(Fall 2009 = 8,318; Fall 2008 = 5,590; Fall 2007 = 4,721)

●          The actual number of freshmen admitted for Fall 2009 has increased by 44.9% (1,382) from Fall 2008 and has increased 133.9% (2,552) from Fall 2007.

(Fall 2009 = 4,458; Fall 2008 = 3,076; Fall 2007 = 1,906)

●          Freshman deposits (enrollment fee of $150) have increased 64.8% (458) from Fall 2008.

(Fall 2009 = 1,165;  Fall 2008 = 707; Fall 2007 = 467)

HIGHLIGHTS—Special populations

Diversity

● African American FTC applications have increased 146.2% (272) from last year at this time and show a 298.3% (343) increase from two years ago.

(Fall 2009 = 458; Fall 2008 = 186; Fall 2007 = 115)

African American Admits:

(Fall 2009 = 165; Fall 2008 = 63; Fall 2007 = 21)

Hispanic applications have increased 116.2% (115) from last year.

(Fall 2009 = 214; Fall 2008 = 99; Fall 2007 = 62)

Hispanic Admits:

(Fall 2009 = 81; Fall 2008 = 50; Fall 2007 = 18)

●          Transfer

Transfer applications have increased 53.8% (71) from this time last year and have increased by 109.3% (106) from two years ago.

●          Resident and non-resident

Non-resident FTC applications have increased by 74.8% (1,459) over this time last year and Missouri resident FTC applications have increased by 35% (1,261).

There is currently an 89.8% (1,043) increase in FTC applications from Illinois and a 63.2% (151) increase in FTC applications from Texas over this time last year.

●          Graduate and International applications

There are increases in both graduate applications and undergraduate international applications, but it is too early in the application process for these groups for the numbers to be of any significance.

●          Ability indicators

Our 30+ ACT scores have increased, but at this point in time there are increases at all ability levels.

HIGHLIGHTS—Schools or Colleges

At this very early stage all schools and colleges are showing an increase in applications.  Some of the increases look very significant, but it is too early to place any emphasis on the numbers.

IMPLICATIONS

It is very difficult to project our fall, 2009 enrollment from our November 1st data for a variety of reasons.  On the conservative side, we know that at least a portion of these applications are “front-loaded,” meaning that students applied earlier than usual based upon concerns about our closing admission last year and our limited space in residence halls.  On the other hand, our non-resident numbers, especially from Illinois, are much stronger than we ever anticipated, and it’s very difficult to believe these are all front-loaded.

Also, MU is the only public institution in the BIG 12 whose application numbers are currently up for Fall 2009—which implies that our increase is not a general phenomenon. (This was learned last week at a meeting of the Big 12 Admissions Officers).

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