USM attracted fewer students this year than expected.
According to preliminary enrollment figures, as of Aug. 30, 9,222 students were enrolled in courses: a 1.21 percent drop from last fall’s total headcount of 9,335.
“Bottom line, we’re moving toward an enrollment equal with 2008, which is what we budgeted for, but we are not there yet,” Bob Caswell, executive director of Public Affairs wrote in an e-mail. “The gap has been closing over the last month. We’re heading in the right direction but we’re not going to know for the next month,” he said.
The news comes after the University of Maine in August posted their projected enrollment of 11,925 students – an increase of 1% from the year before and the twelfth straight year of growth for the University of Maine System’s flagship university.
Having fewer students in class means fewer credit hours – and revenue – for USM.
“Student enrollment and retention is a monetary issue. But I’m not looking at this solely in terms of a business proposition,” USM President Selma Botman said last Friday in an interview with the Free Press. “I’m looking at this in terms of the state of Maine and the personal lives of the students here. People’s lives will change as a result of a baccalaureate experience at the University of Southern Maine.”
But the school needs money to change lives. Which is why Botman said the University is banking on a “new crop of students” in the spring to mak e up for any decline in the fall.
And if that fails, students can always take more classes.
Botman said advisors could encourage students who are “willing and able” to take on 15 credits if they are only signed up for 12, which would boost revenues. “They would be buying three adrate side but in the graduate side,” Botman said. “The amount of money for professional development in school districts for teachers has diminished because of the financial condition, so we have seen a drop in graduate enrollment in the School of Education,” she said.
Botman said the University is trying to draw more new students to USM and retain those already enrolled.
“We have to get our message out there better. Our admissions staff is doing Herculean work,” Botman said. “My view is the best students to have are the ones who’ve already enrolled. I want to keep those students who first enroll at USM.”