GThe
IJTLFORDIAN
College Looking to Increase Size of Student Body
Jacob Stohler
Editor in Chief
Asaprimarily tuition-dependent school,
when Guilford wants to increase expendi
tures, it must invariably bring in more
tuition revenue. Therefore, with recent
expansions, increased salaries and debt on
its mind, the administration is debating
whether to enroll more students to pay for
those expenses.
According to the Long Range Planning
Committee, the college may have to do
just that. Its only questions will be exacdy
- * * 1 —-
I I
Rachel Donegan and Cheyenne Darrett look at Isao Takahshi's
"Woman #4" at the Senior Thesis Show in the Gallery. The exhibit
Is a display for the final art projects of Guilford's graduating art
majors/photo by George Brand
A Look Back at the Year in Guilford Sports, pages 9-11
Vol. 75, No. 21 Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C. April 22, 1991
how many students to admit and at what
rate to accept them.
With those questions in mind, the com
mittee is considering three draft models
describing the school's admissions profile
for the next five years. According to Dean
of Students Nancy Cable-Wells, the com
mittee will probably not chose any particu
lar model until it sees the profile of the
1991 freshman class later this summer.
Under the first draft model, the school
would look to increase the size of the
freshman class to 358 in 1995 (this fall
Guilford accepted33s freshmen) and lower
its admission rate from 79.8 percent to 68
percent. The model also calls for increas
ing the number of full-time students (CCE
and main-campus) by 93 to 1643.
Guilford admitted 335 freshman this
past fall but that number has since fallen
after 22 first-year students withdrew be
tween semesters. Guilford this year lost
10.8 percent of its main campus students to
academic probation, transferring and mid
year graduation, the largest percentage loss
in 13 years.
The second draft model is much the
same as the first, only calling for a higher
rate of acceptance (72 percent) to compen
sate for a potentially-lower rate of pro
spectives who choose Guilford.
The third draft model calls for a smaller
freshman class (320) by 1995 and only
1599 full-time students. Under this model,
however, the college would look to de
crease the number of continuing education
students by only 50, as compared with a
decrease of 100 under the other two mod
els.
All three models are similar in that they
call for an increase in the size of the student
body to bring in more revenue from tui
tion. Since Guilford depends mainly on
tuition —as opposed to its endowment,
alumni gifts, etc. —to fund its operating
budget, the school must enroll more stu
dents as it takes on more expenditures.
According to Director of Admissions
Larry West, such an increase in students is
"an economic necessity" in order to pay
for three main things: new facilities being
constructed, increased administrative and
faculty salaries, and service on the col
lege's debt.
But some faculty question the validity of
those goals, asking if the increased income
will actually be used as intended.
'To increase faculty pay in no way re
quires an increase in admissions," said Bill
Stevens, the chair of the Admissions and
Retention Committee. "It's an attractive
reason. Nearly everyone would support a
faculty pay increase."
In a memorandum from the Admission
and Retention Committee to the faculty,
Stevens warned that aiming for higher
admissions numbers could hurt the col
lege.
"We [on the committee] fear that creat
ing such a plan and becoming financially
dependent on it may force the college
dangerously near an open-enrollment
admissions policy," said the memo.
"Therefore, we believe that such a plan
should be reconsidered."
All three draft models call for lowering
the school's admissions rate from 1990's
figure of 79.8 percent, either to 68 or 72
percent. The increase in students is ex
pected to come from a predicted increase
in prospects, or students considering
Guilford. In all three models, Guilford is
predicting that the number of interested
students will increase from 15,500 to
20,000.
The increase reflects what colleges across
the nation are predicting: that the pool of
applicants is hitting the trough of a late
1980s downward curve and will begin to
increase again by 1995. Admissions
demographics have shown that the num
ber of traditional-age freshmen applicants
across the country has been decreasing for
several years now.
INSIDE
• The Trials of a
Journalist at Guilford:
Secrecy Makes Job
Difficult 3
• Honors to the
Departing 4
• Review of
Mummenchanz 6
• Record Review:
Spin Doctors' Up For
Grabs 7
• Life in Hell 8
• Mike Waddell's
Farewell to
Guilford 12