Helen Oriatti-Bruns
Copy Editor
This article is a continuation of the Voice’s reporting on the College’s enrollment.
On Wednesday, April 17, the Voice sat down with Jenn Winge, vice president for enrollment, Cathy Finks, executive director for admissions and Alexa Konstantinos, vice president for marketing and communications. On May 8, Winge will formally step down from her position and Finks will adopt the role in an interim capacity.
Winge’s resignation comes in the midst of an enrollment decrease at the College; the size of the first year class decreased by 22% from the 2022-2023 academic year to the 2023-2024 academic year. According to Finks, this news was not surprising for admissions.
“We knew where the market was going and we were working within that changed market,” Finks said. “We are trying to be innovative, and so if we were in a different state or panicked, I think that would be one takeaway, but we’re not.”
However, Finks mentioned that admissions would “work on and identify” areas of growth for student recruitment. For example, enrollment and marketing teams are implementing strategies to increase recognition of the College’s brand.
According to Konstantinos, the marketing team has “a lot planned,” including work with professional marketing agencies and changes to social media. However, some information about specific marketing strategies has not yet been approved for release to the student body. As part of improving brand recognition for the College, Konstantinos hopes to reframe the perception of Independent Study (IS).
“I think in the past we’ve talked about IS as almost like a project, as a capstone project, but … it’s almost a unifying experience for every student here,” Konstantinos said. “The work that we do in marketing, hand-in-hand with enrollment, is to try to bring that as part of the overall story of Wooster as the unifying theme in how we educate.”
The collaboration between enrollment and marketing is partly in an attempt to boost yield rates — the percentage of admitted students that commit to the College. Data on yield rates is not accessible on the College’s website, but various online sources place Wooster’s rate between 14% and 16.5%. According to the National Association for College Admission Counseling, the average yield rate for American private colleges was 33% in 2022.
To increase the College’s rate, admissions has implemented a variety of new strategies, such as special luncheons for admitted College Scholars. According to Winge and Konstantinos, certain faculty, admissions counselors and trustees are also sending personalized video messages to admitted students.
“Our community members have really stepped up,” Winge said. “I mean, I think they’ve always been very involved and invested in the recruitment process, but I think knowing the demographics and that shifting landscape, they really amplified those efforts.”
Admissions staff have also offered admitted students drop-in individual financial aid meetings. However, the delay in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form has complicated the release of financial aid offers for some students. According to Finks, admitted students are able to request extensions to the commitment deadline.
The Voice asked Winge and Finks whether they felt that they had been transparent with students — particularly admitted students — about the College’s enrollment decrease in the 2023-2024 year or the College’s budget deficit. To date, the College has not released information to students about the state of the enrollment. According to Finks, her goal is to maintain and facilitate the integrity of students’ opportunities at the College.
“We are here so that students can learn and thrive and grow and have the fullest college experience that they can have,” Finks said. “I think that the students who we’re talking to, we’re talking about their experience and what they’re going to have, and that’s still our goal … working forward.”
Finks also stressed that College administrators — including President Anne McCall — were working on budget realignment plans, and that “no organization should be stagnant with where their finances are.” As reported in the Voice, a Dec. 13 Bloomberg article listed the College as demonstrating “stress flags” placing it in danger of closing.
Maintaining a steady enrollment is key for colleges like Wooster; Bloomberg listed one of the College’s “stress flags” as falling yield rates for admitted students. According to Konstantinos, the budget deficit — and related initiatives for boosting enrollment — were being addressed by management teams throughout campus, including the board of trustees and McCall.
“I’m a firm believer that constraints drive innovation, a hundred percent,” Konstantinos said. “I came out of an innovation business before I came here, and any time you put constraints around something, it really allows people to tap into their creativity. We’re really looking for ways to make the experience even better while controlling costs.”
Per Konstantinos, College officials are currently constructing a three-year strategic action plan. Ultimately, Winge emphasized that the admissions process is dynamic from year to year.
“[In a recruitment career], you always are tackling new challenges and a new market, so I don’t have any regrets or would change anything about what we’ve done,” Winge said. “I’m really proud of our team [and] the work that we’ve done to really provide some consistency for Wooster.”