We would guess that prospective families don't often run into students who speak poorly about their DePauw experience. It's much the opposite.
In fact, it seems to us that most DePauw community members gush about their professors, their program of distinction, their club or sport. The institution's liberal arts education is meant to provide a much wider berth of academic experiences than larger universities. The smaller, hyperactive campus fosters community and leadership.
On our smaller campus, professors and administrators know students by name. At our big games, we cheer for friends on the field as often as we do for the team itself.
But those experiences come with a high price tag, and its no surprise that an experience doesn't sell well in a tight economic climate when cheaper options are on the table. That helps answer why yields - the amount of students who were accepted and choose to attend a school - are shrinking when DePauw's giving power is shrinking too. When push comes to shove, a scholarship is a huge temptation.
So are tangible resources that state universities often boast: large schools with a more specialized staff, bigger towns with more entertainment and night life, deeper research from the partnership of a graduate program, filled stadiums. Those are likely to seem like a safer bet.
But that doesn't answer why applications are so far down, when they often cost very little money or time in the age of the common app. That points to a shifting attitude in college-bound students. Is a tougher economy making undecided students force themselves to be more specialized in the hopes of a stronger job application?
DePauw fights that attitude by pointing out over 90 to 95 percent of its students graduate with a job or graduate school in hand. We hope that this new marketing technique in the Office of Admissions is successful and that prospective students won't think twice about applying to DePauw.