Editor’s Note: For now over 75 years, The Baylor Line has been publishing vivid storytelling from across the Baylor Family. I don’t think our archives full of deep, inspirational features should live solely on shelves, so we are bringing them back to life in BL Classics. This Classic editorial from our January-February 1970 issue questions Baylor’s declining enrollment when it comes to tuition costs between state and private schools.
Does Baylor face a decade of declining enrollment as the cost differential between state and private schools widens? Or can the university assume that the number of students wanting a Baylor education will be undiminished, flowing on endlessly like the oil from the widow’s cruse?
For most of the years of her existence Baylor has not had to give much concern to the recruiting of students. They have simply come. Most have come because of the university’s Baptist identity, feeling the extra cost was the price for the distinctives they sought. As more dormitories were built, more students applied. Enrollment climbed from around 3,000 in the ‘40’s to 5,000 in the ‘50’s. In 1967 it peaked at 7,102 and has stayed just under that figure since then.
There are still more applicants than can be accepted. The administration and trustees have agreed to keep enrollment near 6,500 full-time students, feeling that a larger student body would overcrowd the available facilities.
So, with more students graduating from high school every year, why should the subject of student recruitment suddenly begin to claim the attention of a number of top administrators at Baylor?
No pessimistic prognostications have sounded the alarm bell in Pat Neff Hall. Of course, nearly every discussion of recruitment is punctuated with dollar signs—the realization that inflation is forcing education costs up nearly ten per cent a year. Also considered are the yawning chasm between private university tuition and state tuition, the proliferation of junior colleges which can save a student boarding costs, and, for Baylor, the denominational lock on the box marked government aid. The inevitable question is hypothetical— if tuition at Baylor continues to be pushed up by rising costs, to $50 a semester hour, or $60 or $75, will there come a time when the difference becomes too great and enrollment begins to decline? Hopes rest on Development’s efforts to increase endowment, on more giving by ex-students, and, for some, on that locked box.
The burning money question, however, does not seem to be the prime cause for the concern about recruiting. Rather the concern stems more from some realistic assessments of the university’s strengths and weaknesses and a desire for openness and honesty in facing them. For example:
- While a good case may be made for Baylor’s soundness as a Christian liberal arts college, we must realize that by present mega-campus standards ours is a rather small university. One cannot with integrity claim equal strength for all of the university’s departments. Some are outstanding; others, we must realize, are not.
- The academic quality of the Baylor student body has improved considerably in recent years, and admission standards are higher. But in some areas the world is out that a student can’t get into Baylor without an A average. Not true.
- Desiring not to be branded ultra-conservative or provincial, the university has tried to communicate a more broad-minded, middle-of-the-road, healthy Christian image. There are those students, however, who have come to Baylor and been almost surprised to find her less liberal than a state university. They have blamed Baylor for her distinctives as a private, denominational school, rather than admitting a mismatch.
- While the difference in cost between a state university and Baylor is a basic fact of life in recruiting, that difference is not always so profound as a quick glance at tuition rates would suggest. A better understanding comes from figuring total cost for an academic year, since activity fees, sorority or fraternity expenses, and cost of living within a given city may somewhat offset the tuition gap. Students also need a fair picture of what they may be able to expect in loans, grants, and campus employment.
The catchword of communications seems to find its way into every discussion of recruiting methods. The day, the age, require that we state clearly to the world of high school seniors what Baylor is and what she is not. Some false notions need to be exploded. But most of all Baylor needs what most seniors are themselves seeking: identity. Many college administrators have said that the key to survival for the private school is distinctive identity—-something Baylor has, but most solidify and sell.
While the administration has already taken steps toward consolidating this effort, the alumni of Baylor University must become the foot soldiers of the recruiting task force. In this issue of the Line, we attempt to equip you with the updated information on the university so that you can give adequate factual answers regarding alma mater. — S.B.C.
