The First Week of Classes

The parking lots are full. The computer labs are loaded. Our classes are nearly full. 

Welcome to the first week of the fall semester!

According to the Director of Admissions, Reo Wilhour:

“After enrolling a paltry 16 students on dark Friday, August 20th, the college stepped it up with one of the most active Saturday enrollments in 10 years.

On Saturday, August 21st, with expanded Saturday staff and extended hours, we enrolled a hefty 135 students. 24 students helped themselves via WebAdvisor on Sunday, then came make-up Monday with a whopping 316 new enrollments to push us over +2% on headcount and +2.45% on FTE. (On the first day of class in 2009 we enrolled 275 students. And we thought that seemed busy!)

Yesterday was the first day of the Fall registration period that we'd pushed significantly into positive territory.

Today registration activity remains brisk. We do however need to temper our optimism somewhat with the fact that we have not been processing nightly drops for lack of tuition payment as we did last year. Our next drop for lack of payment will be Monday, August 30th.

Fall 2010	2010	2009	Diff	%Diff
Headcount	9014	8833	181	2.05%
FTE	6267	6117	150	2.45%

Congratulations to all those College personnel who have continued to provide one great piece of student service after another as we work our way through this always challenging, but rewarding time of year.”

In addition, I’m either paying more attention to the Financial Aid Office or there is significantly more activity happening there these days. I think it’s both. 

According to Director Tim Wendt:

We've received 8,451 applications as of today (Monday the 23). We've awarded:

Financial Aid FUND	Amount	Students
PELL Grant	$9,656,660.00	2,070
AC Grant	$2,600.00	3
SEOG Grant	$137,823.00	174
Illinois MAP Grant	$1,826,860.00	1,061
Federal Work Study	$164,206.00	53
SUB Loan	$6,395,371.00	1,789
UNSUB Loan	$2,379,893.00	791
PLUS Loan	$519,065.00	73
Alternative Loan	$193,173.00	28
Parkland Scholarships	$434,944.46	147
Foundation Scholarships	$107,986.59	145
Outside Scholarships	$124,698.12	142
Honors Scholarships	$250.00	1
Illinois Veterans Grant	$202,740.17	145
Illinois Nat'l Guard Grant	$44,146.00	24
Illinois MIA/POW Scholarship	$12,221.00	11
TOTAL AWARDED	$22,202,637.34

Last year, I believe that total award was @ $16,700,000. Great work by the Financial Aid staff.

Counseling and advising remains busy and the second ID station seems to be working very well in reducing wait times for students. Great idea! The best news, of course, is that our new data systems seem to be performing. Obviously, it isn’t perfect, and we still have a number of issues to work through, but overall, not bad. 

Also, my thanks to all the staff, faculty and students that spent time in the College Center on the first couple days of this week. It makes a difference.

In closing, I’ll share a suggestion made by Susan Short:

Dear Mr. President,

If it's not too late in the drafting stage, could I possibly suggest that the hallways in the new buildings be planned an additional 4' wide to allow for two additional pedestrian lanes of texters?

Respectfully,

Ss

I hope the rest of your week goes well. Thanks for all you do.


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