UW freezes admission for spring 2009
Chris Andersson | Staff Writer
Issue date: 2/13/09 Section: News
The University of Washington is not accepting new students this spring quarter.
About 370 competitive applicants for spring quarter are receiving letters asking them if they want to hold their application until next quarter. 270 of these are from community colleges.
The decision to reject spring applicants only applies to the Seattle branch. Both the University of Washington Tacoma and University of Washington Bothell branches are accepting applicants this spring.
Karen Copetas, the director of admissions at Western Washington University, said that they are probably going to accept 150 students this spring, which is normal for them.
The only exceptions to the decision are seven student athletes who have already been given scholarships and about a dozen students who are going into the College of Engineering and need to begin taking courses this spring to meet the university's requirements.
The two main reasons for this measure is over-enrollment and the severe budget cuts the college is facing, said Philip Ballinger, director of admissions at the University of Washington.
Currently the Seattle branch is over-enrolled by 1100 students. This over-enrollment "makes it harder to get in classes and stretches our services thin," said Ballinger.
The university was caught off-guard with the high enrollment according to Ballinger. The main reason for the over-enrollment is that fewer students are dropping out of the university. Their retention of second and third year students was much higher than they expected.
Ballinger said he couldn't say the cause of the higher retention but he suspects the falling economy is likely the reason.
Students typically stay in school longer in bad economies.
The budget cuts that the university is making is putting stress on the college's resources. The University of Washington has to cut $17 million from this year's budget and may have to cut $116 million for the 2009-2011 biennium.
About 370 competitive applicants for spring quarter are receiving letters asking them if they want to hold their application until next quarter. 270 of these are from community colleges.
The decision to reject spring applicants only applies to the Seattle branch. Both the University of Washington Tacoma and University of Washington Bothell branches are accepting applicants this spring.
Karen Copetas, the director of admissions at Western Washington University, said that they are probably going to accept 150 students this spring, which is normal for them.
The only exceptions to the decision are seven student athletes who have already been given scholarships and about a dozen students who are going into the College of Engineering and need to begin taking courses this spring to meet the university's requirements.
The two main reasons for this measure is over-enrollment and the severe budget cuts the college is facing, said Philip Ballinger, director of admissions at the University of Washington.
Currently the Seattle branch is over-enrolled by 1100 students. This over-enrollment "makes it harder to get in classes and stretches our services thin," said Ballinger.
The university was caught off-guard with the high enrollment according to Ballinger. The main reason for the over-enrollment is that fewer students are dropping out of the university. Their retention of second and third year students was much higher than they expected.
Ballinger said he couldn't say the cause of the higher retention but he suspects the falling economy is likely the reason.
Students typically stay in school longer in bad economies.
The budget cuts that the university is making is putting stress on the college's resources. The University of Washington has to cut $17 million from this year's budget and may have to cut $116 million for the 2009-2011 biennium.
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