Application Deadline

Implement freshmen and transfer Admission Application Deadline at Portland State University Project Working Group Cindy Baccar, Melissa Trifiletti, Veda Kindle, Michelle Schwartz, Angela Garbarino, Bill Ryder, Nicole Nixon, Chris Anderson Project Description With implementation of mandatory orientation for undergraduates and the increased need to manage undergraduate enrollments, the Office of Admission, Registration & Records (ARR) recommends a series of deadlines for accepting undergraduate applications. These recommendations stem from a review of public university practices as well as realistic assessments of what Portland State admission evaluation, counseling and orientation staff can accomplish. Action Items Implement Application deadlines for freshman and transfer students to PSU. Establish a Priority Action deadline. Establish firm application deadlines for each term. Align co-admission with freshman and transfer application deadlines.
These actions will reduce

Key Barriers Unnecessary and time-consuming exception processing for ARR senior staff. As transfer application evaluation and academic advising is more complicated, late receipt is highly problematic.

These actions will achieve

Goals 1. Better manage admission evaluation process to ensure timely admission decisions and required orientation participation; 2. Improve student success by influencing student behavior to sufficiently plan for enrollment, scholarships, housing and financial aid; 3. Manage undergraduate enrollments to better predict course section demand and course availability for admitted students.
These actions will ultimately lead to

Students assured of an admission decision with ample time to receive early scholarship and financial aid awards.

Council of Academic Deans

Implementing Department

Faculty Senate Committee

Faculty Senate Committee

Admissions and Records

Project Working Group

Leaders Action Council

Executive Committee

Input Provider 2

Public Meetings

Faculty Senate

Decision Matrix Key: (R) Recommend, (A) Agree, (P) Perform, (I) Input, (D) Decide. Implement Application deadlines for freshman and transfer students to PSU. Establish a Priority Action deadline. Establish firm application deadlines for each term. Align co-admission with freshman and transfer application deadlines.

Website

Provost

ARC

Recommendations and Decisions 1. Implement application deadlines effective winter term 2011 to ensure smooth processing of overlapping fall term applications. If delayed beyond winter term, the priority action benefit will be lost, as evaluation of winter applications will compete with fall priority applications. ARR does not have sufficient staff to reach timely decisions if the winter application term is open in November and December when priority applications are received. 2. Establish a December 1 priority action deadline for fall term undergraduate applicants each year. Students who submit complete applications by this deadline will be assured of an admission decision with ample time to receive early scholarship and financial aid awards. The priority action deadline will be relatively easy to communicate and aligns well with other OUS application schedules. See attached photocopy of Overview of Admission and Scholarship Deadlines from page 19 of the 2010-11 OUS Viewbook. 3. Establish firm application deadlines for each academic term: Term Fall Winter Spring Summer 4. Date August 1 November 1 February 1 May 1 Decision not to implement project by Provost and VP EMSA

Align co-admission with FR/TR application deadline for greater clarity and implementation.

A single FR and TR application deadline should be established because FTF with AP/IB/concurrently-earned transfer credits do not always identify as FTF applicants. Separate deadlines would create confusion for many and potentially cause high achieving students to miss an earlier FTF deadline. Implementation of deadlines will be complicated by receipt of applications, which overlap admission terms and other deadlines relating to ATD and orientations. 2010-11 Application Flow Winter Term 2011 Spring Term 2011 Summer Term 2011 Fall Term 2011 Priority Action Fall Term 2011 Oct Nov Dec Jan 2011 Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept

Requirements for implementation 1. Communication plans for prospective students, applicants, guidance counselors and community college constituents; 2. Consistent messaging on website and across campus; 3. Continued assessment of application yield. Academic Schedule UG Deadline Priority Action Standard Application Co-Admin Application Scholarship Application Advance tuition deposit/Intent to Enroll refund deadline. Last ORN Fall Term 2011 Dec. 1 August 1 August 1 Feb 1 May1(FTF) July 1 (TR) Sept 20 Winter Term 2011 NA November 1 November 1 NA NA Dec. 30 Spring Term 2011 NA February 1 February 1 NA NA March 24 Summer Term 2011 NA May 1 May 1 NA NA June 20

Classes Begin Graduation Application for Spring term Calendar September 20, 2010 September 27, 2010 November 1, 2010 December 1, 2010 December 30, 2010 January 3, 2011 February 1, 2011

Sept 27

Jan 3

March 28 February 1

June 30

Last ORN before fall classes begin Fall 2010 classes begin Winter term application deadline Winter term co-admission deadline Priority Action deadline for Fall term Last ORN before classes begin Winter term classes begin Spring term application deadline Scholarship application deadline Deadline to apply for spring graduation Last ORN before classes begin Spring term classes begin Summer term application deadline FTF Advance tuition deposit refund deadline Summer term classes begin Transfer student advance tuition deposit refund deadline Fall term application deadline Fall co-admission application deadline

March 24, 2011 March 28, 2011 May 1, 2011 June 20, 2011 July 1, 2011 August 1, 2011

Impact on Applicants Implementation of an application deadline for freshman will have minimal impact as fewer than 4% of FTF applications are received after August 1. A later application deadline would create unnecessary and time-consuming exception processing for ARR senior staff. The most significant impact will be on transfer applicants. Up to 15% of transfer applications are received after August 1. Late receipt of transfer applications is problematic as transfer application evaluation and academic advising is more complicated than for freshmen. In addition, the time-to-admission decision and transfer evaluation can be much longer than for freshmen. This processing delay often creates stress among the largest proportion of PSU's entering class each fall. If PSU can influence early application submission for transfer students, there will be corresponding improvement to the student experience as transfer students seeking admission cannot be adequately advised without a transfer evaluation provided by ARR. The August 1 deadline will allow ARR sufficient time to produce TR evaluations and minimize the angst and urgency among incoming TR students thus supporting a positive educational experience at PSU. There may be a potential negative impact on athletic or special program recruitment yield with such programs as Russian Flagship, CCJO and international (e.g., Chinese students who wait until receipt of National exam results who will only have approximately one month to file their PSU application). These will be managed with heightened communication. ARR and Community College Relations staff will engage in extensive communication of these deadlines. This communication will include: Extensive communication to departments in all UG schools and colleges as well as Athletics, Extended Studies and administrative departments. Auto-response emails having deadline communication with each online application submission; Deadline notices on all application and admission materials;

Deadline email notices to all prospective UG students; Deadline email communication to all guidance counselors and community college counselors in our database; Deadline posters at all area community colleges.

Online applications will be removed from the PSU website at midnight prior to the deadline. Hard copy/down-loaded applications will have deadlines specified on the applications. ARR will accept all applications post-marked or hand delivered prior to the deadline. Students who wish to submit applications after the deadline will be invited to update their applications for an upcoming term. Exceptions ARR will give full consideration to any applicant for whom an administrative mistake has been made or other circumstances beyond the applicants control. In addition, senior staff in ARR (Hoffman, Baccar, Trifiletti, Kindle & Garbarino) will review exceptional circumstances using consistent criteria to determine if an exception should be granted. Funding Required Funding to be determined

Timeframe and Metrics Timeframe to be determined Metric Name/Description Application Levels: Are fewer students applying due to the new application deadlines? Does this have a significant negative impact on the university? New Deadline Adherence: Are new deadlines being adhered to by staff/applicants? Applicant Satisfaction: Are new applicants bothered by new application deadlines? Application Policies and Procedures Review: Analyze and assess application policies and procedures to ensure continuous improvement Formula Old/new applications, old/new admits, old/new advanced deposits Numbers of students admitted after application deadlines. Random surveys of applicants. Admissions staff meetings/discussions.