Author: jplucas

Across the nation, college admissions staffs are digging through applications and beginning to predict their enrollment numbers for the fall, just as they do at this time every year. Based on what he has heard from colleges, David A. Hawkins, director of public policy and research for the National Association for College Admission Counseling, describes 2009 as “a typical admissions yearâ??with a big asterisk.”

As in previous admissions cycles, however, generalizations are difficult. So far, Indiana University at Bloomington has received about 10 percent more applications than it did last year, but the number at the University of Wisconsin at Madison was down slightly in its early count, as of last week.

That dip surprised Thomas D. Reason, Madison’s associate director of admissions, but he said that recent changes in the admissions processâ??raising the application fee and moving from rolling admissions to a system with two decision periodsâ??might explain the drop.

As colleges and students around the country struggle with the effects of the worldwide economic downturn, help appears to be on the way from the nationâ??s capital. And plenty of it, to judge from a draft of a massive, $825 billion stimulus package released by Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives Thursday.

Calculating exactly how much of the proposed money â?? $550 billion in new spending and $275 billion in tax breaks over two years â?? could (if enacted) flow to postsecondary institutions, and to students and potential students, is difficult because many of the proposals in the package lack detail. It would also be premature for anyone in higher education (or any other potential recipients of stimulus funds) to start spending it, since (1) budget hawks in Congress and elsewhere blanched at the size and scope of the package, (2) this is just the Houseâ??s version, with the Senate reportedly drafting its own, and (3) multiple steps remain in the process.

Most of the nation’s colleges are gradually paring back their investments in classroom teaching, an analysis of federal data shows. And all colleges have in recent years been spending a greater share of their revenue on expenses other than instruction, including computing centers, student services, administrative salaries and lawn care.

Most high school seniors and their families have not made final college plans for next fall. But they know this: It’s probably going to cost more than they had planned.

Even in good economic times, states and colleges have largely failed to hold tuition increases in line with inflation. Now as the slumping economy forces states to slash spending, students can expect the sharpest increases in years.

Families are calling on colleges to absorb as much of the burden as possible instead of passing the extra costs on to students.