Last year Kent State admitted over 4,200 new students, and the numbers for this academic year are just as high. It is widely speculated that a college enrollment drop-off will occur in upcoming years, raising questions about how universities manage acceptance of new freshmen. 

Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management for Admissions, Collin Palmer, explains the logic behind Kent State Admissions in accepting new students, and if the university will be preparing for an eventual drop in enrollment. 

“Nathan Grawe wrote a book about the Great Recession in 2008; less babies were born, which would impact the number of college going students 17 years later,” Palmer said. “We have to consider that we’re recruiting from a freshman class with fewer students available.” 

Palmer clarified that university admissions is aware of the enrollment cliff and is working on strategies to meet the issue.  

“We take that into consideration when we’re looking at our enrollment projections for the future,” Palmer said. “Where we want to recruit, how we want to recruit, what kind of scholarships we can offer, what kind of institutional need-based aid we can offer.” 

Even as the enrollment cliff looms and other universities struggle, Palmer said that Kent State doesn’t seek to admit more students to compensate for the future. 

“There’s universities in Ohio that probably aren’t faring quite as well,” Palmer said. “We’re not charged with lowering or increasing our acceptance rate, we really base our acceptance criteria on students likely to succeed at Kent State.”

Palmer remains optimistic about the future of enrollment since there have been no signs of applications dropping. 

“Thankfully, I think Kent State is positioned in a place that’s really strong.” Palmer said. 

Andrew Bowie is a beat reporter. Contact him at [email protected].