Enrollment at the nation’s community college has been declining for about a decade. Historically, community colleges have served students from lower income households. More recently, those students have become an attractive admissions target for universities, which struggle to admit minority students. Now, direct admission may pull even more students away from community colleges.
Direct admission is a process by which universities offer admission to potential incoming students without them filling out an application. High school students who meet the university’s academic requirements could be ushered into the university’s freshman class automatically.
The University of Wisconsin – Madison has indicated that it will consider a direct admission policy for underrepresented students. A relatively small number of colleges and universities currently use direct admissions to enroll students. However, those institutions that do have seen an increase in first-time enrollment of between 8%-12%. For universities that are struggling to fill their classrooms, closing or selling their dormitories, and terminating programs, direct admission may be an attractive solution to declining enrollment.
Community colleges typically practice a form of direct enrollment, offering a seat to virtually any student who applies. Non-selective admission isn’t quite the same thing as direct admission, but it changes the admissions standards for certain under-represented students.
Since the Supreme Court rejected race-based university admissions policies nearly 20 years ago, universities have struggled to attract and admit minority students. It’s not clear whether targeted admission policies would fare any better under judicial scrutiny. Idaho uses a direct admission policy, which applies to all four of the state’s community colleges and all of its public colleges and universities. The policy admits all graduates of Idaho public high schools to all public institutions in the state.
Direct admission had a positive effect on enrollment
The policy, which was implemented in 2015, has had a positive effect on university admissions. For example, Boise State University’s enrollment has increased by nearly 38% between 2014 and 2020, the year before the state adopted the current direct admission policy. During the same time, Idaho State University’s total graduate and undergraduate unduplicated enrollment increased by more than 26% during the same period. Similarly, the University of Idaho’s total unduplicated enrollment increased by more than 28%.
Rather than undercutting the state’s community college enrollment, however, the direct admission policy substantially increased it. Enrollment at the four community colleges in the state increased by nearly 75% following adoption of the direct admission policy.
Community colleges can use direct admissions to combat the potential drain on enrollment that might otherwise occur. What would Washtenaw Community College’s enrollment look like if the Administration proactively admitted all high school seniors in Washtenaw County? Since its admissions policy is non-selective today, WCC would admit every high school graduate in the county who chose to fill out an application. Instead of letting universities siphon off Washtenaw County students, why not just admit them all and see what happens?
Photo Credit: Page DeWolfe , via Flickr
