Five years ago Staten Island’s Wagner College was struggling to make enrollment targets.
It was shortly after the financial crisis of 2008, and not only were demographic trends unfavorable in the Northeast, but a lot of families were under immense financial strain and looking for as much of a discount as possible as their children chose colleges. Wagner’s administrators realized yield, the percentage of accepted applicants who enroll, was low because peer colleges were offering much larger scholarships to admitted students in attempts to entice them to enroll -- and it was working. Yield in 2011 was 22 percent, and has since remained relatively steady, ending the slide.
Other colleges were growing as Wagner was shrinking. So Wagner’s administrators had to make a decision: significantly up student aid, in many cases beyond what students might need, or lose students. The college ended up taking a conservative approach, putting it squarely among the minority of its private peers, many of which place growing enrollment among their most important goals for survival and financial health.
We made "the decision to protect quality rather than chase volume," which means Wagner was ready to "get smaller if we had to," says Richard Guarasci, Wagner’s president of more than 13 years.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/10/21/why-two-colleges-are-allowing-themselves-shrink-rather-chase-volume