COMMITTEE:	Admissions and Recruitment

MEETING DATE:	October 4, 1999

PERSON PRESIDING:	Louis Warren

ACTIONS OF MEETING

Description of action:
Warren welcomed members to his first meeting as 
chair and said that he'd like us to discuss the 
goals of the committee.  Members introduced 
themselves.


Description of action:
Minutes of Aug. 23 approved.

Description of action:
Warren stated that he'd like the committee to 
follow up on Ringeisen's comments about the 
Board of Trustees' concerns about increasing 
enrollment and expanding enrollment from areas 
west of I-95.  What recommendations can the 
committee make?  He thought that personal 
contact by friends who attend ECU is an 
important recruiting tool.  We should focus on 
one or two ways to increase enrollment or 
prioritize them from most important to least 
important.

Walsh mentioned that it is important to prevent 
damage control after the flood.

Muller thought that we could use the flood as a 
recruiting tool by showing how we helped each 
other, our resilience, our efforts to keep 
students enrolled, and the chancellor's 
encouragement to get students to stay in 
school.  We'll know about withdrawals after the 
first test, but so far they are not out of line 
with other years.

Denny e-mailed the Weekend College faculty to 
say that this was an extraordinary time and ask 
what could we do to help maximize our student success.

Warren said that students are impressed by what 
the professors have done to help, such as 
receiving calls at home.  We should tap into 
this to help recruitment.

Muller said that professors have rearranged 
their schedules and have organized study 
sessions to help students.

Tovey said that it has helped for students to 
have identified themselves as ECU students on 
TV.

Warren thought that the Miami game helped with 
ECU exposure.

Walsh called her students at home to reassure 
their parents.

Muller said that, despite TV news and 
information on the Web, parents still wanted to 
talk to someone at ECU.

Warren asked how recruiting is done and what 
the committee can do to help recruiting 
efforts.  Clayton said that ECU participates in 
an organized tour of high school campuses in 
N.C., but does not recruit very much in S.C.  
We recruit up the Atlantic Coast into Long 
Island and Connecticut, and about 150 mi. 
inland, although we have been getting some 
students from Ohio.  We have to watch the 18% 
cap on out-of-state students, but it is 
difficult to judge how many students will 
actually enroll after they are admitted.  We 
recruit out-of-state students to help get the 
enrollment up, as well as to bring in the out-
of-state tuition money.

Warren asked how to increase enrollment west of 
I-95 and compete with UNCC and Appalachian.

McDiarmid said that she viewed the role of the 
committee as not how to enroll students from 
the Charlotte area, but how to help them deal 
with policy decisions that impact enrollment.  
We should look at the obstacles to recruitment 
this year: What were the obstacles on getting 
them into the system?  She distributed copies 
of Obstacles to Recruiting International 
Students, which she prepared for discussion.  

The first point was, "No financial aid or 
scholarships available to international 
students."  Clayton said that the committee 
should ask how many scholarships do we have.  
The total number of scholarships available has 
not changed in about 15 years; fundraising has 
gone for existing scholarships.  There are 30 
scholarships available for the freshman class, 
a small number for 3,250 students.  Money from 
Doctoral II status is of no help; funds come 
from Institutional Advancement.  There are 5 
full scholarships now.  ECU is now competitive 
with other institutions in the state, where we 
used to be just below N.C. State's cutoff 
point.  We look for a 1350 or higher SAT, a 4.0 
GPA, and a student in the top 5 % of the class. 
There are no full scholarships for out-of-
state or international students.

Muller said that she is concerned about 
increasing the number of scholarships without 
lowering standards.  
Clayton said that the Medical School has a new 
program to admit entering freshmen who have 
high grades and meet other qualifications; it 
would waive the GMAT or GRE requirement and is 
intended as a substitute for more cash. 

Tovey said that there is a lack of tuition 
waivers for sufficient numbers of students.

McDiarmid then addressed other points in her 
memo: lack of increases in allocations for 
recruiting and a limited recruiting budget; no 
English language program on campus; and the 
ethical issues raised when recruiting.  She 
also mentioned that the university's definition 
of diversity applies primarily to African 
Americans or American Indians; we need to 
broaden our definition in terms of 
globalization.

Muller asked if it were possible to gain 
support from the local international community, 
such as Indians or Japanese who live here.  
McDiarmid said that they do provide some 
support for students from those countries.

McDiarmid pointed out some obstacles to 
enrollment of international students, such as 
students data screens that are not configured 
for international addresses and phone numbers; 
the registration timeline; the medical form; 
and limited definition of diversity.  She did 
say that she thought that attitudes on campus 
toward international students were favorable.

Completion date/Follow-up action required:
Warren asked each committee member to identify 
the top three areas to address for the next 
committee meeting and to focus on scholarships 
and financial aid.  Clayton said that Vicky 
Morris, in Institutional Advancement, would be 
the person to contact for information about 
awards.  He also said that financial aid comes 
from various sources, and that the student 
bookstore is one of the chief providers for 
scholarship money.

Warren asked committee members also to think 
about our goals.


Description of action:
Tovey said that we should also work on the 
committee report on recruiting international 
students that the Faculty Senate returned to us 
last spring.  There was some discussion that 
several senators and other faculty members 
believe that we should remain a regional 
university.



NEXT MEETING:	November 1, 1999

ITEMS TO BE DISCUSSED:	Obstacles to 
recruiting; scholarships and financial aid; 
resolution on international recruiting for 
faculty senate.

Michael Cotter, Secretary