How can The Evergreen State College grow enrollment? 3 finalists share their ideas
The three finalists to be the next president at The Evergreen State College participated in virtual forums with the Evergreen community last week, fielding questions from staff, students, alumni and others.
A question asked of all three finalists was how the college can grow enrollment, a challenge faced by colleges and universities throughout the country, largely because of the pandemic. Around 2,400 students enrolled at Evergreen for the 2020-21 school year, which is down from about 2,800 students in fall 2019, The Olympian has reported.
However, Evergreen’s enrollment was declining before the pandemic, after plateauing at more than 4,000 undergraduates in the early 2000s.
The finalists — retired Navy vice admiral Michael Dumont, Lawrence University provost Catherine Kodat and Pima Community College system chancellor Lee Lambert — are seeking to replace George Bridges, who is stepping down to return to teaching.
Here’s what the finalists had to say about growing the college’s enrollment:
▪ Dumont: “I do think the enrollment staff needs to be supported as much as possible. They are the point people who need to get people in the door, so to speak. So they need to be equipped, funded and have the authority to grant certain decisions, like pre-application admissions or whatever the case may be. They need the ability and authority to work with community colleges, military bases and high schools to be able to expose more people to Evergreen.
“I would take the enrollment problem on as a sort of strategic campaign that was led by the president and informed by the admissions staff, faculty and students because they also are big recruiters for the school. I would do the outreach and engagements and I would have a story to tell — Evergreen has a story to tell —and I would capture the story and tell it on the media and social media. But I would also be engaging community college leadership and engaging the local high schools.”
▪ Kodat: “A key piece of recruitment is what story you are telling and how you are getting the message out to prospective students. Potentially a way to think about this is through the website and through the different kinds of engagement in the community and with agreements with high schools and community colleges. All of those are areas you can explore to increase recruitment and enrollment.
“The other piece of this is retention. You bring your students in and recruit them, but what are you doing to enable their success? I’ve heard a little bit about conversations that are underway on advising students and working with students on financial aid issues, and thinking about the ways in which the college can support students who are in need of support, and to make sure that they are able to get all the aid they need to complete school successfully.”
▪ Lambert: ”Here are the things that we have to pay attention to: First and foremost, demographics. The reality is if you look at the population of the state of Washington, people are not having enough births to replace the folks who are aging through the system. We have to confront those realities.
“Another important piece: Who are your feeder institutions? High schools, community colleges, working learners, learning workers, and then you look for other opportunities — the incarcerated, out-of-school youth. We have to look at all of those as having viable feeder capabilities to the college, and then we build the appropriate relationships.
“Also, are we offering the relevant programs aligned to the labor market? That’s another key part. What you’re seeing for a lot of institutions is that the programming is getting stale. It’s 20th century, not 21st century.
“And then you have to pay attention to consumer insight. What are students and parents telling us today? The top answer: online university. If you’re not online, you almost don’t exist.”
What’s next for the finalists?
The Evergreen Board of Trustees will review community feedback, deliberate, then board chairwoman Karen Fraser will be asked to negotiate a contract with the finalist who has been identified in an open meeting.
A special meeting of the board is then set for May 5 in which the board is expected to make a motion to offer the position to the finalist. If accepted, the college will have its next president.
This story was originally published April 25, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
