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News

UPS AND DOWNS

Though undergraduate enrollment continues slow growth, it's offset by drop in number of graduate students

by ASHLEY HESS and KIM THAI
The Daily Cougar

UH enrollment of graduate and post-baccalaureate students has steadily decreased since 2002 because of three factors -- a fluctuating economy, local competition and increasing tuition. 

From 2005-2006, overall statewide enrollment has increased by 1.18 percent compared to UH's, which has fallen by 0.73 percent, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. The falling enrollment has not been affected by the undergraduate body, which has increased by more than 1,000 students since 2002, according to the Office of Institutional Research. 

"Relatively speaking, the undergraduate enrollment from 2004 to 2006 has been flat," said Agnes Defranco, assistant vice president of Undergraduate Studies. "In fact, close to 80 percent of the difference you observed in the total enrollment at UH between 2004 and 2006 is due to changes in two categories -- post-baccalaureate and master's students. From the data of our Office of Institutional Research, the number of our full-time first time in college freshmen in 2006 is the highest that UH has recorded in its history, and the full-time transfer students also recorded a gain." 

Enrollment changes are generally linked to the economy, Defranco said. For instance, she said, when the economy is doing well, more jobs are available and possible students stay in the job market rather than seeking a higher degree, Defranco said. 

Thomas DeGregori, a UH professor of economics, said the correlation between the economy and a student's motivations to return to school is too difficult to gauge because of an individual's situation and perception. 

"From an economist's perspective, when the economy is high, high-paying jobs are available (and) the costs of staying in school is higher," DeGregori said. "When the economy is poor, those students who can afford to do so may try to stay on and get more advanced training to improve their job prospects. Others are simply unable to afford to do so. This means that a poor economy could simultaneously have both a positive and a negative (effect) on graduate enrollment."

Orine Davis, who is pursuing a master's in social work, said that she always wanted to continue her education after she received her bachelor's degree, but hesitated to start immediately after graduation because of financial concerns. 

"I've been planning to go to graduate school ever since high school. I could have started right after undergrad, but I took (two semesters off)," Davis said. "I was going to take another year off because of money, but I realized, ‘If I don't go now, I'll never go.' … Tuition is much more expensive than undergrad. All the fees are higher. There are a lot of people in the program who are barely holding on, and I feel the same way. Everything is hanging on by a thread. The money is (what) is most stressful for people."

Davis said that she hopes that getting her master's will make her more marketable in the workforce and that though she is working about 50 hours a week in addition to school, a higher degree will make her competitive in the social work field. 

"If you don't have a master's, you don't make anything. I have a bachelor's in psychology; you can't do anything with that. … I'm hoping that once I'm done and I've gotten the degree, it'll be worth it. I think it'll be worth it in the end," Davis said. 

In Fall 2006, one-fifth of the UH graduate enrollment was from the Bauer College of Business' master's program, and Bauer is a good indicator of the overall enrollment trends, Associate Dean of Bauer's Graduate and Professional Studies Latha Ramchand said. 

The economy is a possible factor for the decrease can be seen in different ways, but the larger reason why Bauer's enrollment has been decreasing is because of local-area programs that have recently been created at other institutions.

"We were the only executive MBA offering institution in town," Ramchand said. "Now we have Rice, UT, Tulane, all of them competing with us. Have we seen a decline because of that? Probably. Will we continually to see the effects of that? Probably. But, I think what it has also done is made us compete more effectively. 

The interest in the school has been increasing, though, Ramchand said, because Bauer received 244 applications in Spring 2007, but only 116 were accepted. 

"If anything, you can use these numbers as an indicator of interest in the programs. And I've heard from other directors of other MBA programs (that) they're seeing an increase in applications, but nationally there has been a decrease (in enrollment)," Rachmand said.

Since 2002, full-time post-baccalaureate students have only dropped from 440 to 413 people compared to part-time post-baccalaureate enrollment, which has dropped from 1,408 students to a current enrollment of 944, according to the Office of Institutional Research. 

Steven Craig, a UH economics professor, said that he doesn't see the correlation between post-baccalaureate students and community college, other than perhaps for transitional purposes.

"The drop has been in post- baccalaureate and graduate fields, so clearly this is not a community college issue," Craig said. "The only possibility in this direction I can see is that often community college courses are not the equivalent of research university courses, despite what the state government pretends, and so it's possible our students are less prepared for graduate work because they have to work so hard to catch up after being in a community college."

Craig said that the drop has more to do with faculty size and that graduate programs may not be as relevant as in the past.

"Over the last decade or so, UH total enrollment has gone from 30,000 to about 35,000," Craig said. "Yet, the number of tenure and tenure track professors is about the same, despite that graduate enrollment is the most professor-intensive training. Graduate school teaches students research methods, and how to do research, a process that cannot be handled by adjuncts, but that requires researchers to teach. 

Craig said drops in part-time graduate students are likely due to changes in particular fields and a possibly less effective education.

"If a student is going to learn research skills, these skills in most fields open the door to new and different employment opportunities. In areas where this is the case, part-time graduate study makes no sense because the benefits are postponed, and probably the training is diluted. …

"The other element is that in fields where both part-time and full-time graduate work exists, it may be that as UH develops into a full-fledged research university, the departments are putting greater emphasis on full time students," he said.

Although public universities have seen overall declines in the area, Houston Community College has experienced an enrollment boom. 

Enrollment at HCC, has jumped by almost 70 percent and is expected to grow by almost 10,000 more students by 2020, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Although Libby Barlow, executive director of Institutional Research said that students might be seeking education at HCC more because the difference between tuition has grown over time. 

The total academic charges including tuition, mandatory fees and course fees has increased by 49 percent at UH since Fall 2003, leaving tuition averaging at $3,381 per semester compared to HCC's $1,300, according to the Texas Higher Education Board.

Curtis Doolan, HCC director of public relations, said that although cost is a major factor, he thinks HCC more efficiently fits into a student's full-time work schedule than a public university. 

"Community college is where you go when you have a job and need to pick up classes. That combo is the major part of it," Doolan said.

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