A survey of college admissions directors by news website Inside
Higher Ed found that 79 percent were either very or moderately
concerned about not meeting their enrollment goals this year, up
from 76 percent last year. Anxiety was particularly high among
private nonprofit colleges, with 48 percent admitting to being very
concerned, compared with 43 percent in the 2013 survey.
The increasing competition for students has created a buyer's market
at most schools, said college consultant Lynn O'Shaughnessy, author
of the book "The College Solution."
Families willing to look beyond the most selective colleges should
have plenty of options for both admission and financial aid, she
said.
"If you believe the media reports, it looks like everyone's getting
turned away," said O'Shaughnessy, who offers online classes on
college admissions to financial advisors and parents. "This is not
the reality ... most schools are feeling petrified that they're not
going to fill their classes."
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The colleges struggling the most are what Scott Jaschik, editor of
Inside Higher Ed, called "the non-famous privates," schools that do
not have big endowments and that rely almost totally on tuition to
pay the bills.
Among private nonprofit colleges, 65 percent failed to meet their
enrollment targets by May 1, compared with 56 percent a year
earlier. Seven out of 10 private undergraduate colleges missed their
targets this year, compared to six out of 10 last year.
"People hear 'private college' and they think 'Harvard,' but that's
the one percent," said Jaschik. "Most colleges are not competitive
in admissions. Most colleges need students."
In recent years, some private colleges struggling with declining
revenue have laid off faculty, eliminated programs or pursued
mergers with other institutions. Several have had their credit
ratings downgraded.
A smaller pool of high school students is partly to blame, college
admissions officials said, and more families are balking at the
price of higher education, particularly at more-expensive private
colleges.
Private colleges also are experiencing increasing competition from
public universities, which are adding faculty and enrollment slots
as states begin to restore some of the funding slashed during the
recession, Jaschik said.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Oct/07/images/ads/current/business_directory_filler.png) Eighty-nine percent of private college admissions directors said
they were losing potential applicants because of concerns about
accumulating student loan debt, while 64 percent of public college
admissions directors said the same.
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Heavy discounting has also backfired on some of these colleges,
Jaschik said. Offering bigger bargains has left some colleges with
more students to educate but lower overall revenue, Jaschik said.
Gallup, which conducted the Inside Higher Ed poll, collected 406
surveys representing 187 public colleges, 192 private institutions,
and 16 for-profit schools.
Most colleges, public and private, plan to increase their efforts to
recruit beyond their states, respondents said. At public colleges,
these students typically pay higher tuition than in-state residents,
Jaschik said, while private schools want them simply to fill seats.
Most private nonprofit colleges said they would also woo more
applicants who do not need financial aid. At the same time, a
majority of public and private schools said they would continue
using merit aid as a recruitment tool. This somewhat controversial
form of aid, not based on need, is often used to woo desirable
candidates away from other schools.
A recent report by the New America Foundation charged that many
schools divert institutional funds that should be going to needier
applicants and instead use it to attract students from wealthier
families.
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Understanding these trends can help families negotiate better
financial aid offers, O'Shaughnessy said. Colleges that need
students, particularly private colleges, may be willing to offer
bigger discounts or to match competing schools' offers of financial
aid, she said.
"You shouldn't assume the first offer you get is the last one," she
said.
(Follow us @ReutersMoney or at http://www.reuters.com/finance/personal-finance;
Editing by Beth Pinsker and James Dalgleish)
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