As enrollment numbers are tallied for the fall 2013 semester, the university has seen a noteworthy decline in its total enrollment when compared to the last fall semester.
Fall enrollment has decreased by 4.2 percent in total student head count, taking numbers from 15,602 in 2012 to 14,949 according to the Office of Institutional Research. Though, university President Dr. John L. Crain said the decline in enrollment was not a surprise to his administration.
“We had anticipated a slight decline in overall enrollment this fall,” said Crain. “And that contributed to our need to reduce the budget for this fiscal year.”
Crain said surveys of non-returning students indicated various factors, but finances and the rising costs of tuition were among the reasons cited.
“As the state has reduced its allocations to colleges and universities, we have been forced to increase our tuition by 10 percent each year for the past several years,” said Crain. “While our tuition remains relatively low compared to other institutions in Louisiana and other states, this shift in costs from the state to our students is starting to have an impact on some current students’ ability to remain in school.”
Though Crain credits rising tuition and fees as the main factor for students not returning this fall semester, university costs have risen, as Crain stated, for several years, while fall enrollment numbers declined during those same years.
The last academic year which saw enrollment decline during the fall semester occurred between 2008 and 2009. According to the Office of Institutional Research, since 2009, fall enrollment has steadily increased from 15, 160 in 2009 to 15,602 in 2012. These increases have been at the same time of the rising university costs due to the GRAD Act.
Between the fall 2011 semester and the fall 2012 semester, where tuition and fees also increased, enrollment was up approximately 200 students. This rough increase occurred again between 2009 and 2010.
However, not all numbers are down for the university. New freshman increased by 3.7 percent, or roughly 130 students, from 3,476 in 2012 to 3,604 in 2013, according to Executive Director of Public and Governmental Affairs Erin Cowser.
But, as new freshman enrollment increases, faculty employment continues to plummet.
During the 2008-2009 academic year, the university employed approximately 1,400 full time employees and about 500 part time employees, totaling employment numbers at 1,936, with $71.8 million budgeted for salaries.
Since then, the university has dropped almost 215 of those employees, with 2012-2013 faculty employment numbers totaling 1,723, with $58.7 million budgeted for salaries. The majority of the cuts in employment come from full time employment positions, which in 2012-2013 were 1,240, an almost 200 employee decrease since 2009.
With this, come concerns over how the small student-teacher ratio, which the university is renowned for, will be affected.
As of 2012, the student-teacher ratio was 23-1. The ratio has remained the same, surprisingly, sine 2009, with the exception of 2011, with which the ratio decreased to 22-1. According to Cowser, there are approximately 26 students in each class.
Whether the ratio is expected to increase or decrease for this academic year is still unknown to university administrators.
“Unfortunately, this isn’t something where you can simply walk around campus and count heads in classrooms one morning,” said Cowser. “Right now it would be irresponsible to speculate exactly how everything will settle for the semester.”
Other concerns, mainly deriving from students, are whether parking will be affected in any way since enrollment numbers have declined.
According to Director of Public Information Rene Abadie, upperclassman parking decreased from 3,087 spots in the 2011-2012 academic year to 3,027 spots in the 2012-2013 academic year. This largely has to do with the construction of the new War Memorial Student Union, which has wiped out about 60 parking spots.
But faculty parking spots are also decreasing. In 2012, there were 1,474 spots for faculty members. In 2013, those spots were reduced by 64, leaving 1,410 faculty spots.
Although faculty and parking spot counts have not been accounted for yet, the Office of Institutional Research said faculty numbers will be released Nov. 1, while Abadie said the parking spot counts are normally done during spring break, which means the next one will be in April of 2014.