AACRAO Spotlight interviews are published twice weekly before major professional development meetings. They feature our conversations with industry experts, highlighting key issues and promoting sessions and workshops at the upcoming conference.
Below you'll find brief summaries of two recent Q-and-As with links to the full interviews.
Access for DREAMers in a Non-DREAM State: The Tuition Solution at Metropolitan State University of Denver
After repeated failures by the Colorado legislation to pass DREAM Act-type legislation, the Metropolitan State University of Denver took it upon themselves to develop a differentiated non-resident tuition rate for undocumented, Colorado-educated students. The MSU Denver's Board of Trustees in June 2012 voted to create a reduced tuition rate for undocumented students that was half of the out-of-state tuition rate but more expensive than what in-state students will pay. Despite major opposition from the Colorado Attorney General and local organizations, MSU Denver's differentiated reduced tuition rate provided hundreds of undocumented students an affordable pathway to higher education.
Read AACRAO's conversation with MSU Denver's Associate Vice President of Enrollment Judi Diaz Bonacquisti here.
Setting Graduate SEM Goals: Challenges and Implications
The University of Manitoba recently developed a SEM Planning Framework outlining a number of institutional enrollment goals with a focus on roughly doubling graduate enrollment. The University of Manitoba utilized SWOT analyses and environmental scans to determine the nature of the university's student body and how it compares with similar Canadian institutions. The resulting SEM plan set a number of broad institution-wide goals that more accurately and realistically represented ways the University of Manitoba can improve enrollment and enhance student success.
Read AACRAO's conversation with Susan Gottheil and Jay Doering here.