This time each year, high school students find their mailboxes filled, courtesy of thousands of colleges around the nation. This is part of a process the schools undertake to attract students to their institutions.
"I pretty much got the general letters from The University of Memphis and some other schools," said Sandra Miller, a sophomore education major. Being from Selmer, Tenn., she had already made up her mind about where to attend, though.
Michael Harris, a junior marketing management and finance major, went through a similar experience during his final year at nearby Bolton High School.
"I got letters, but I mainly found out (about The U of M) at high school because of the scholarship information sheets," he said. "I qualified for a full scholarship based on my application so I decided to go here."
These accounts show how The U of M is attracting students at a time when the school's population is growing.
According to statistics provided by Darla Keel, Web content specialist for institutional research, The U of M has had an increase in enrollment since the 2002 fall semester. And from the 2001 to 2005 spring semesters, school admissions have also grown.
On a national scale, universities are experiencing larger enrollments. Reports show that this should continue for some time for both part-time and full-time students.
A University of Rhode Island study in 2004, using statistics from the U.S. Department of Education, shows college enrollment growing until 2013. This, even after a predicted decrease in high school graduates sometime between 2009-2013.
Tennessee is one of the few states noted in the report that will have an increase in high school graduates by the 2012-2013 school year, with an increase of "less than 15 percent."
With the predicted increase in state high school graduates, The U of M and other universities can benefit from this.
The overall numbers given by the report on total enrollment from 2004 to 2012 are promising. With total national enrollment listed at 16 million for 2004, enrollment is expected to increase close to 18 million by 2012.
View the URI report.
