University of Idaho staff detail the impacts of COVID-19 on recruitment and enrollment, expecting improved numbers following October census.
UI’s Vice Provost for Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Dean Kahler discussed changes that have been made to the university’s approach to recruitment and enrollment as a result of the COVD-19 pandemic. Current estimates indicate improved outcomes for enrollment following the start of the fall semester.
Strategic enrollment compensated by shifting to a virtual offering, including virtual UIdaho Bounds events, virtual advising and remote conversations through Zoom.
“Almost all of our recruitment was virtual, we were able to go into only but a very small number of high schools throughout the pandemic,” Kahler said. Beyond posing a challenge for the personal side of recruitment, the pandemic also factored into the approach to financial aid, with a deliberate effort being made to allocate a greater amount of aid for those affected by the economic downturn. While significant changes were made to accommodate these circumstances, Kahler noted that the approach of the SEM staff is still working to be as effective as possible under the circumstances.
Adjustments were also made to the university admissions standards to accommodate for many high school students enduring challenging junior and senior years. One of these adjustments was to the state admissions criteria that provided universities the option to make standardized tests optional.
According to Registrar Lindsey Brown, the university is “currently in the process of evaluating the success of students from the last two years of admissions” to determine whether the change will become a permanent admissions policy at the UI.
Compared to the previous year, Kahler noted that applications and admissions “were up significantly.” According to Kahler, this could be attributed at least in part to the university’s approach to learning during the pandemic.
“The new students appreciate the face-to-face classes that we did, they appreciate the approach toward COVID-19 and we’ve been hearing a lot of stories from our prospective students and their families about how they appreciate where the UI ended up,” Kahler said.
Kahler also noted that the return to fact-to-face recruitment likely played a role in the uptick in this year’s registration numbers. UIdaho Bound was able to return to its in-person offering in the past summer, compared to the virtual offering of 2020.
Despite the success, Kahler noted that COVID-19 is still forcing the members of SEM to continue to adjust their approach to recruitment.
Kahler said that the combination of dual credit and late enrollments will likely create a measurable increase in the current enrollment numbers, adding that he currently expects an estimated 1,400 students to be added to the overall registration numbers. The university will have to wait for the Oct. 15 census to see how enrollment has fared in the pandemic when these numbers are fully accounted for.
Royce McCandless can be reached at [email protected] or Twitter @roycemccandless