University of Missouri system considers capping enrollment

Facing another year of unprecedented growth, the Missouri University of Science and Technology sought to answer a question last year that's been nagging at campus leaders: Are there too many students?
For three months, a task force pored over data — looking at things such as residence hall capacity, classroom space and faculty workloads — before concluding that there is, indeed, reason to worry.
"We were very close to exceeding capacity," said Jay Goff, the school's dean of enrollment management.
In some ways, the Rolla campus embodies the entire University of Missouri system. The four campuses are coping with the financial turmoil created by rising enrollment and a rapid decline in state financial support. It's a situation that's forcing the system to consider capping enrollment somewhere down the line.


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Sign of the "Tea Party" Times.......:-(

"In some instances, she said, schools don't actually call it an enrollment cap. Instead, they simply raise the bar for admission, effectively excluding some marginal applicants.

"That's one of the problems with enrollment caps, said William Tierney, director of the Center for Higher Education Policy Analysis at the University of Southern California.

"They tend to hurt low-income and first-generation students the most. 'If you have to limit enrollment, in effect what you are going to do is limit those that are the weakest,' Tierney said."

Indeed. The problem is the weakest students are often the most expensive, as well, requiring far more in tutoring and mentoring assistance. They also have a higher dropout rate before completion--from the school's perspective, a wasted investment--and on average take longer to graduate.

Of course, limiting the weakest typically also pings diversity.