Although fall 2010 enrollment cannot be determined until the tenth day of class, Eastern has experienced a slow decline of incoming students for the past four years.

“We have not struck a final tally of fall 2010 enrollment and will not until the semester begins; hence, enrollment is not known yet,” said Blair Lord, vice president of academic affairs.

Lord said the state share of Eastern’s funding continues to drop, and the dependence on tuition revenue to support the educational mission of Eastern grows.

“We are becoming ever more ‘tuition sensitive,’ which means enrollment sensitive. We are accommodating to this by careful planning,” he said.

Compared to last year, the office of admissions has received 161 less freshman applications than last year and 210 less applications than in 2008.

On the other hand, as of July 1, the office of admissions had received 2,000 transfer applications, which is a 204 transfer student application increase compared to last year.

Lord said transfer students are becoming a larger share of the new student population.

“However, it suggests that more students may be starting their education at a community college and deferring their attendance at Eastern,” he said.

Brenda Major, director of admissions, said freshman enrollment seems to be down approximately 14 percent, while transfer enrollment is up approximately 14 percent.

“There’s a lot of things happening in the economy that cause parents to just play it a lot more conservative, so they put their students in the community college system,” she said.

Another contributing factor to lower enrollment is when students pay their deposit to come to the university and decide they do not want to come to Eastern without any notification.

“At this point we took a hit again, and it really has rocked us,” she said.

Students need to notify the university by May 1, so they can get a portion of the deposit back. If notified by June 1, the university will refund a smaller portion of the deposit, but after June 1, students will not receive any refund.

“We’re hoping that the students who have paid are planning to attend,” she said. “So, we’re carefully watching the numbers in the orientation program so we know how many students are actually coming and registering for classes. That’s the best indication.”

Major said even though enrollment is lower this year, she said admissions plans to get some more students to come to Eastern.

“I hope we’re able to enroll 1,600 new freshman,” she said.

Kristin Jording can be reached at 581-7942 or at DENmanaging@gmail.com.