In her senior year of high school Traci Balz, now a DePauw junior from Plainfield, Ind., knew three things when she applied to colleges: she wanted to be close to family, small class sizes and a good education at a cost she could afford.
Balz also looked at Indiana University and IUPUI, but chose neither. She knew a DePauw education would give her the best shot to get into grad school. Three years later, Balz knows she made the right decision.
"I knew the benefits I would gain from a DePauw education and [that] alumni connections would justify the cost," Balz said. "I knew by attending DePauw it would help me get into good law schools and help me find a good job."
While Balz chose DePauw, a school more expensive than her other options, many high school students around the country cannot compromise over tuition costs. DePauw - and other liberal arts schools across the nation - are feeling the effects with their higher tuition costs, and scholarships cannot always even the financial playing field.
The early decision application deadline, Nov. 1, is approaching next week. DePauw's applicant numbers have dropped in recent years, following the trend of declining applicant numbers for small liberal arts universities. In a new admission's season, DePauw hopes to raise its applicant numbers as deadlines are fast approaching.
The economy crash in 2008 heightened families concern with the cost of higher education causing small liberal arts colleges to lose applicants while state schools increased.
Dan Meyer, vice president of the Office of Admissions, acknowledges the hard economic times.
"Families are concerned with how they will be able to afford this education," Meyer said.
Specifically, DePauw's admission has seen a drop of 321 applicants within the last two years. Many colleges across the nation are seeing a decline in their application numbers, too. Dickinson College lost 224 applicants and Washington and Lee University lost 517 applicants between 2011 and 2012, according to the New York Times.
More than 40 percent of private universities have reported a decline in applicants according to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
Since 2007, a higher trend and selling point for colleges has been scholarships. A survey conducted by the National Association of College and University Business Officers gathered data from 400 hundred private universities tracking their tuition discounting - 42.8 percent of schools gave discounts to freshman in 2011 in an effort to attract more students.
From this same survey, 375 colleges reported space was still available for their current freshman class.
Not only are applications down, but the yield is down too. The yield rate is the percentage of students who actually enroll at the school they apply to. This rate has fallen from about 50 to 41 percent in the last decade, National Association for College Admission Counseling says.
Meyers says this is true for DePauw.
"The last couple years the yield has solidified at 20 percent," Meyer said. "Personally, I think the yield should be higher."
DePauw last saw a high yield in 2009 when it was at 25 percent.
The university has strong competition every application season. Students tend to stay within their state or the Midwest when searching for schools, therefore it is no surprise DePauw's greatest rivals are Indiana University, Purdue University, Ball State University, Denison University, Wabash College, Miami University and Illinois Wesleyan, according to Meyer. The state schools have an additional allure since they are more well-known due to their size and sports teams.
"In the Midwest right now, the Big Ten institutions have more national prominence," Meyer said.
State schools have seen an increase in their application pool, unlike small private universities. California schools in particular have had to cap enrollment because they are receiving so many applicants.
University of California, Berkeley increased by 8,749 students and University of San Diego increased by 7,377 applicants, according to the New York Times. In the Midwest, Miami of Ohio had a record high of 18,623 students apply for enrollment this last January. Their applicants increased by 138 students from the previous year, setting the highest number of applicant's in the school's history.
Meyer is not surprised to see state school applicants rising while private university numbers shrink. He said they have bigger resources pulling students in.
Meyer added, students applying to DePauw also apply to big state schools that have major differences with DePauw because the common application makes it easy. The common application gives students accessibility to apply to more schools with a few clicks of a button.
Another factor that may contribute to students choosing other schools is the concern over DePauw's rankings on Princeton Review's top party school list and lower position on Forbes top colleges rankings. The Princeton Review ranked DePauw as No. 12 this year, an increase from last year's No. 15 spot. The Forbes list placed DePauw as the 79th in the country, a decrease from last year's 50th placing - a 29-spot drop. Although the effect of this ranking cannot be charted statistically, reoccuring concern from prospective student parents during campus tours - where they cite Princeton Review Ranking and the Forbes list - signals that it is a concern in prospective students' decisions.
Meg Benedict, senior tour guide at DePauw, says this ranking is a huge drawback.
"Families are concerned about the greek life and the Forbes list that just came out," Benedict said. "We seem like a school full of alcoholics."
DePauw is entering a new admission season with hopes of improvement.
In the upcoming years Meyers would like to see DePauw receive a pool of 5,500 to 6,000 well-qualified applicants to enroll a class size of about 650 members. He also wants to see the yield go back up to the mid-20s again.
DePauw is shifting its marketing strategy to increase its applicant numbers. DePauw plans to focus on the 90 to 95 percent of its seniors who graduate with a job as its new selling point to prospective families.
"We have a good story to tell here, and we need to articulate that," Meyer said.
For the past decade, DePauw has sold the financial awards as the main reason for students to apply. However, DePauw is now bragging about the "DePauw experience" to pull applicant numbers up. The recession and the defecit have made it more difficult for DePauw to award financial aid and scholarship that compete with the lower tuition costs of big state schools.
"[I want] students to look at a DePauw education as an investment that has a return far greater than another [university]," Meyer said. "I want to see the family saying, 'I'm getting so much more back.'''
DePauw is ready to fight the economic recession and raise their applicant numbers by 1,000 in the upcoming three years.