UI set to do battle with falling numbers

The University of Idaho recorded the largest drop in enrollment for the fall 2020 semester of any publicly funded university in the state.

Because of the pandemic, the UI, Boise State University and Idaho State University have all recorded significant declines, but with overall enrollment numbers 9.5 percent lower than those recorded in 2019, the UI fell furthest.

According to news releases issued earlier in the week, BSU reported a drop of 8.3 percent and ISU’s fall enrollment fell by 5.1 percent.

UI Vice Provost for Strategic Enrollment Management Dean Kahler said the pandemic has dramatically reshaped the landscape for college recruiters across the country.

“It’s a whole different paradigm nowadays ... it’s impacting our recruitment efforts pretty significantly across the board,” Kahler said. “We’re seeing substantial decline in applications to college at this point, so that’s the first challenge for us.”

Kahler said in-person recruitment strategies are often the most effective way to attract new students, but these methods have become difficult and in some cases impossible to conduct as they have been in years past while observing health and public safety guidelines.

For one thing, he said many high schools have shifted instruction completely or partially online and have sharply limited the number of outside visitors to their campuses. He said recruiters typically rely on in-person visits to schools as an opportunity to directly contact prospective students and to help guide them through the college application process.

Additionally, Kahler said on-campus open houses and other live recruitment events have seen a roughly 50-percent decline in participation. He said the UI’s location and facilities are two of the school’s most unique and potent selling points. While he said the UI’s virtual tour is among the best he’s ever seen, it doesn’t quite create the same lasting impression of a live tour.

“It’s a neat thing but it’s still just not in person and that in-person visit to Moscow — it’s hard to replace that,” Kahler said. “Moscow and the University of Idaho show really well, if we can get prospective students to come here physically, then we stand great chances of getting students to come to the campus for the year.”Kahler said the school’s international student population, down 29 percent, took a particularly hard hit because of the pandemic and international recruitment has become much more difficult. He said the number of embassies that are closed and not accepting visa interviews is “stunning” and has a huge affect on a student’s ability to travel to the U.S.

For many other students, Kahler said financial and social turbulence caused by the pandemic caused them to delay applying for college for the time being. He said many families have parents who have either been furloughed or lost their jobs, and so planning for an expense like college became difficult.

He said UI staff have put in a tremendous amount of work to make financial aid and scholarships available to those families but many still have concerns. He said he’s hopeful the school can recapture some of those students next semester and provide a much needed boost to spring enrollment.

“We’re doubling down on the spring recruitment effort,” Kahler said. “We’re hopeful that maybe we can get a larger class to come in the spring than we normally do, which then might help offset some of the shortages that we see in our enrollment.”

Scott Jackson can be reached at (208) 883-4636, or by email to sjackson@dnews.com.