DANA EXPECTS ANOTHER RECORD-BREAKING
YEAR FOR ENROLLMENT
4 percent to 5 percent gain
follow previous year's 10 percent gain
Dana College announced today that it is projecting
its 2005-06 enrollment to be between 640 and 650 full-time students,
a gain of 4 to 5 percent over its
2004-05 numbers. The gain follows a record-breaking year for Dana, which saw
its 2004-05 enrollment jump 10 percent — from 563 in 2003-04 to 617 — last
year. This higher enrollment trend means the liberal arts college will have its
largest enrollment since 1971, the height of the Vietnam War.
At that time, larger
enrollments were due to both a spike in the number of college-age
students — with the Baby Boom generation — and the imposition of
the military draft, which could be avoided by entering college. Dana’s
recent spike comes at a time when college-age students are actually declining
in Nebraska and more educational and vocational opportunities exist.
Dean of
Enrollment Jim Lynes said that Dana’s recent surge in enrollment
is due to many factors, including:
- Focusing on local recruiting of students
who want to attend a school where they can be both academically challenged
and participate in many extracurricular
activities. (Thirty-four percent of this year’s incoming freshmen
class hail from Omaha. Ninety-eight percent of Dana students participate
in an extracurricular
activity associated with athletics, fine arts or academics.)
- A new marketing
approach that informs prospective students about Dana College’s
personality and strengths.
- The addition of unique, career-orientated
majors, such as Criminal Justice and iMedia.
- Changes to the admissions
process that make applying easier, but focus on higher-achieving
students.
As of today, Dana has 207 incoming freshmen and 50
incoming transfer students who have committed to Dana. This year’s
class sees a 67 percent increase in students from Nebraska outside
of the Omaha metro area and a 35 percent
increase in transfer students.
In a time of declining enrollment numbers
for Nebraska’s public universities,
Lynes said he thinks Dana’s success shows that Nebraskans are
starting to realize that Nebraska’s private colleges offer
superior education at a great value. Dana students enjoy a low student-to-teacher
ratio, phenomenal
job placement rates after graduation and increased extracurricular
opportunities for students.
And while Dana’s “sticker
price” seems
much higher than public school tuition, by the time financial aid
and the increased chances
of graduating in four years are factored in, the overall cost of
attending Dana is comparable to a public four-year university.
“Our success may correspond to the NU football
situation,” Lynes
said. “We think people are looking at more than the football
program when they look at colleges. They are considering things
like class size,
majors offered
and the overall experience they expect to get in college. For many,
we win in these categories. Nebraskans also seem to be worried
about news
of budget cuts
at state institutions and how that may impact the education and
services students will receive in the future.”
Officials at
Dana are thrilled with the rise in enrollment and hope for continued
growth in future years. Lynes said the college
hopes
to grow
to around 750
for full-time enrollment. To achieve this, the Admissions Office
is continuing to
innovate. The 2006-07 class will be the first to be offered specially
tailored academic scholarships, that will reward students in history,
English and
other subjects, much like the scholarships Dana’s talented
student athletes and fine arts students receive.
Recruitment for
the 2006-07 class is already underway, and Lynes said he hopes
it will top even this year’s record-breaking pace.
Dana College
is a place where all students actively participate. They make things
happen — in their own lives and in the lives of others. Through
a highly supportive faculty and campus community, Dana students
develop interpersonal
skills, leadership abilities, and other important values and knowledge
as they make choices about their future. Dana’s outstanding
academic programs in business, education and social work, among
others, ensure that students
have
the knowledge, skills and experience necessary to pursue challenging
careers or placement in graduate school.
Dana College is a private,
liberal arts institution in Blair, Neb. To learn more, visit www.dana.edu.
Dana
College: Develop talents, Take charge, Build a future — We’re
with you all the way.
— END—
For more information contact:
Sarah
Cavanah
Communications Coordinator
Dana College
(402) 426-7216
scavanah@dana.edu
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