1. Chairman Bob Szafran askedfor a report of a subcommittee (Rust, Scharff, Alexander) concerningways to obtain faculty involvement as well as disseminate informationconcerning admission requirements. The subcommittee suggested thefollowing methods:
(a) Provide a flier to the faculty senate
(b) Provide a flier to the Chairs Forum
(c) E-mail notes and information to all faculty: set up a listserv
(d) Establish a web page to disseminate information as well asobtain faculty input by a survey
(e) Organize a couple of forums (Late March or early April) for aninformal presentation to faculty and students with a provision fordiscussion at the end of the presentation.
(f) Use the Pine Log for a series of articles and student input
(g) Perhaps faculty could get input from their classes
2. Nancy Dunn, AssociateDirector of Admissions, presented a report on (a) The history ofadmissions policy at SFA (1977 to present) and (b) Emphasis on thecurrent policy. Some interesting comments and observations werepointed out.
Handout 1:Enrollment Figuressince 1977
Handout 2: Admissions Policies for StephenF. Austin
General Notes:
(a) The strength of the economy and financial aid has a definiteimpact on enrollment.
(b) Due to declining enrollments in junior colleges, SFA cannotcount on significant increases in transfer enrollment --- we haveapproximately 2000 transfer students each year.
(c) SFA has approximately 100 "mature students" each year--seeadmission policy statement.
(d) A grade of 85 is used to designate those in the "top-half" ifthe schools do not provide ranks.
(e) The Admissions Staff spend considerable effort and funds onrecruiting including; (1) using monthly e-mail notes to prospectivestudents informing them of news at SFA, (2) Extensive mail-outs withpackets of information, (3) Tele-thons by students and faculty, (4)Counselors make trips monthly to community colleges , (4) Constantrecruiting by telephone to high school counselors, etc.
(f) Competition from other colleges and universities isexceptionally fierce --- SFA needs to significantly increase theamount of scholarship money available. The choice of a university inmany cases is dependent upon these funds. Now SFA can offer studentsin the top 5%, $1000 per year and those in the top 20% only about$300 per year.
(g) Increasing standards would probably alleviate the retentionproblem some but more work needs to be done in thisarea.