Enrollment numbers at The University of Memphis have been on a steady downturn since 1999, but early registration numbers indicate the downward cycle will be broken this fall.
Enrollment will increase, despite a large tuition hike at The U of M, according to Lisa Holt, administrative assistant to Bill Akey, director of Student Relations and Orientation.
“We’re up right now this time 370 students (compared to) last year,” Holt said, referring to the calculation she received Aug. 21.
During the spring semester of 2001, students at The U of M totaled 18,278 compared to 18,596 last year, as calculated by the Office of Institutional Research.
Enrollment numbers were slightly higher in 1999 than in 2000. Factors like tuition, location and publicity often weigh heavily in the minds of students when choosing which college to attend.
As a result, the recent fall registration campaign entitled “Free Your Mind” was launched July 30, and features students of different backgrounds and ages.
U of M students Nicole Shafer, Cindy Fong, Carolyn Stanley, Brian Meredith and Alejandro Natera are featured in printed advertisements that have been distributed throughout the Mid-South in the hopes of boosting enrollment at The U of M.
“We wanted to get a good representation of the (diverse) demographic of students at The University,” said Marcy Anderson, a marketing coordinator at The U of M.
The advertisements feature realistic people and the wide range of degrees and courses offered at The University.
Creston Lynch, a senior majoring in elementary education, said the advertisement campaign sheds a positive light on The U of M.
Although the advertisement may be seen around the Mid-South, the campaign is not the largest ever launched by The U of M. In fact, for the last three years, only $85,000 has been allocated for the operation, said Linda Michael, associate vice president of Marketing and Communication.
“We would love to spend more money, but we just don’t have it,” Michael said. “Without additional budget dollars we continue to spend the same amount of money as we did in the past.”
The continuous shortfalls in state funding have led to a gradual decline in the status of higher education in the state, according to Ralph Faudree, provost at The U of M.
Taking a progressive stance in addressing the problems facing the state’s public universities, the WKNO television station is featuring a program titled “Making the Grade,” which features Shirley Raines, president of The U of M.
The program’s Emmy award-winning producer, Susan Howe, said the despondent status of higher education inspired her to create the program in the hopes of improving the quality of education in the state by bringing the problems into the mainstream media.
In addition to the “Free Your Mind” advertisement campaign, the WKNO program, which first aired Aug. 23, will bring extra attention to The U of M.
The film gives “a warm and fuzzy profile of a native daughter who makes good,” and also explores some challenges facing Raines’ administration.
“I was not aware of the extent of the burden placed on The University by the funding problems,” Howe said. “Professors in nationally ranked departments have to pay out of their own pockets to bring in graduate students for recruitment visits, and The U of M has ridiculously small budgets for buying books for the library.”
It may be too early to determine the exact effect the publicity generated by the fall registration recruitment advertisements and the documentary will have on The U of M, but enrollment numbers have increased.
Although The U of M is currently below par compared to the national average in enrollment numbers, they have not dropped significantly enough to warrant any grave concern in the past, according to Faudree.
“Clearly we want students who want to come here, but these are initiatives we’ve had before,” Faudree said. “In terms of trying to market a program, we’ve been consistent.”
