Newspapers / Chowan University Student Newspaper / Oct. 1, 1979, edition 1 / Page 4
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Outlook tor 1980s Expecting Editor's Note—The following article, by Gor don Borrell, Virginian-Pilot Staff Writer, ap peared in the Monday, October 8, 1979, edition of The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Vo, As academicians predict a tumultous decade ahead for the small, private colleges, ad ministrators at Chowan College have had to sit back and take a long, hard look at what the 80s have in store for them. And what they see is good. Chowan College, a two-year Baptist school with an enrollment of about 1,100, for the last half of this decade has been engaged in some long range planning that the adminstrators ex pect will pull them through. Moreover, some believe the junior college will, spite gloomy predictions and thrive in the 80s. “We’re prepared for a struggle.” explained Dr. Bruce E. Whitaker, president of the col lege. “But we have the mechanism in line that will make us work like fire to keep us on track if we start going downhill”. Part of that “mechanism” is an aggressive student recuiting program that Whitaker and others hope will keep Chowan enrollment at or above 1,000. And with the nations student-age population predicted to decline by about 25 percent by 1990, that may prove an ardous feat. “There are a lot of hooks in the ocean right now.” said Dean of Students R. Clayton Lewis, who recently returned from a four-day recruiting trip to South Carolina. “There’s no doubt we will be working with greater competition,” he said. “The only way some college will be able to survive is if a greater percent of the population goes to col lege.” To combat the anticipated decline, Chowan College in the last three years has increased mailing to prospective student in East Coast states as well as those overseas. Significant drives are also underway in retention of to Thrive Chowan freshman (about 10 percent currently do not return to complete a second year). This year the admissions office for the first time hired a full-time recuiter to work parts of Pennsylvania and New York during the fall recuiting period. We are trying to prove to these students from the very beginning of their inquiry that they will receive individual attention at Chowan College,” Lewis said. “My associates in other four-year institutions can’t do that, and that’s what I think will make the dif ference for us.” Also as part of the school’s planning effort, Chowan has established an ad hoc committee to oversee and keep pace with admissions trends. The number of full-time recuiters now totals three. The prospect of declining eru-ollment has been intensely fought by Chowan planners for a simple reason: about 90 percent of the school budget comes from tuition. A significant drop in enrollment, Whitaker said, may have to mean the pairings of some education programs and a cut in faculty. But there are yet other built in wheels that will turn if the the Baptist school cannot avert the lull in enrollment. Recently, Chowan was given a half million dollars by an anonymous donor to help com plete its $2.5 million gym and physical educa tion center. Though it was the largest donation ever recieved by the school, ten and sometimes hundreds of thousands have steadily flowed in to the school for the last two decade. Most of the contrbutions made during the last 20 years have been used to build the school’s large modem physical plant—an ex pansion scheduled to end when the gymnasium DR. BRUCE E. WHITAKER President of the College nasium opens its doors early next year. And when it does, the funnels of funds will move to other areas. “Right now we’re entering into a new era of fund raising,” said Bobby Cross. “We are entering a period when we can begin to con centrate on building our strength fiancially to meet with inflation; with the com petition for students and with rapid changes in fields of study.” To add to Chowan’s financial well-being, the Baptist State Convention, the school’s sponsoring organization, will increase its an nual allotment to the college to more than $500,000 by 1980. Chowan recieved $302,000 from the convention in 1978 and $425,000 this year. “We’re going to be campaigning just as much as we ever have,” said Whitaker. “A stu dent right now can go to Chowan for less than he can go to some other col lege. If we can build up our Annual Giving Fund and our General Endowment, we’ll be able to smooth through rapid inflation and perhaps keep our tution com petitively low.” We want to stay within the the range of 1,000 to 1,100 students,” he continued. “I’m not going to say we’re ruined if we’re under that. If we go to 850 or 900 students, we may find that we have to pare programs and cut faculty and maintenance in the mid 1980s. We will be continually revamp ing our long-range planning and remaining sol vent so we can survive. “Right now, however, with what we see in the near future, I think it is a guarded op timism that characterizes the sentiment at Chowan College.” THE CHOWANIAN PAGE FOUR
Chowan University Student Newspaper
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Oct. 1, 1979, edition 1
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