Page 4 • Thursday, December 1, 2005 NEWS Pend^^
International, minority student enrollment declines
Martha-Page Ransdell
Reporter
Although Elon University is home
to students from 44 states and 41 for
eign countries, the number of minor
ity and international students to
enroll has been decreasing, and
admissions officials attribute this to a
lack of scholarships.
In the past two years, fewer
African-American freshmen have
arrived at Elon. In 2003, 101
African-American freshmen attend
ed Elon and in 2004, 103 Afiican
Americans enrolled. However, in
2005, the number of African-
Americans enrolling dropped to 73,
a 29 percent decrease.
Annette Oibert, associate director
of Admissions and Director of
Minority recruitment, relates the
decrease to the lack of scholarship
money set aside for minorities.
“The money is not there,” Orbert
said. “We need to double the
amount of money we have for
scholarships.”
One scholarship in particular
helps to recruit more minority stu
dents to Elon. The Leon and
Lorraine Watson N.C. Scholarship
offers a $5,000 scholarship with a
$3,000 study abroad grant It is
available for students with high
financial needs and strong academic
backgrounds.
“The Watson scholarship is get
ting a more diverse group of students
into Elon,” Orbert said. She stressed
the importance of raising the endow
ment in order to recruit more minor
ity students to Elon.
Watson recipients say receiving
this scholarship played a major role
in their decision to attend Elon and
the benefits of the program have
been rewarding.
“Financially, the scholarship
offers the assistance needed and the
program components, especially the
study abroad grant, made the award
even more attractive,” said L’Tanya
Richmond, director of Multicultural
Affairs.
The same lack of funding for
minority student scholarships is true
for international students.
African American
freshmen enrollment
2003 - 101
2004 - 103
2005 - 73
Fwm '04 to 'OS, a 29 percent decrease
4 4
We are working hard not only for more diversi
ty among ethnic and multicultural groups, but for
international enrollment as well.
—Susan Klopman, dean of Admissions and Financial Planning ^ ^
International student enrollment at
Elon has slightly decreased over the
past few years. While some believe
that this is due to the terrorist attacks
of Sept. 11, Hiromi Sumiyoshi,
Foreign Student advisor and assis
tant of the ESL program, said the
real problem is the absence of schol
arships. “The main difficulty we
face in recruiting international stu
dents is funding,” Sumiyoshi said.
There are no scholarships specifi
cally for students from foreign coun
tries, but international students can
receive financial aid that is available
to all Elon students.
International students are eligible
for athletic, presidential, fellows and
honors scholarships. However, it is
often difficult for international stu
dents to compete for these.
“They can’t come for interviews
and fellows weekends like American
students can,” Sumiyoshi said. “It’s
harder for them to get to Elon, since
they are obviously overseas.”
There are ways in which Elon
accommodates international stu
dents who are applying for scholar
ships.
According to Sumiyoshi, Elon
will allocate one to two scholarships
for international students. If those
don’t work out, the opportunity for a
scholarship will go to American stu
dents.
Even though Elon is home to
about 90 international students,
admissions officials believe that
more needs to be done to make Elon
a more diverse and interna^®
place. , ^
“We want to see a drastic me
in the number of intematio ^
dents in the future,” SumiyosW
Susan KlopmaB,
Admissions and Financial p
“In five yeais from now, w
to have greater numbers
tional students and
Americans at Elon, maybe
high as 20 percent,” lyfor
“We are working hard not oW^
more diversity among
multicultural groups, but for
tional enrollment as well.
Contact Martha-Page
pendulim@elon.edu or 27
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