How is the economic crisis affecting the admissions and retention of students? Is there any effect projected for current enrollments, applications, and financial aid needs?
We did not experience unusual attrition between the fall and winter semesters. The Office of Financial Aid has worked with some families who will require greater assistance because of changes in their financial circumstances. At the same time that we increased tuition for 2009-10, we also increased the budget for student financial aid by 18 percent which includes a contingency fund to assist families. The admissions picture looks positive. Early decision applications for the Class of 2013 were about the same, and we have admitted slightly more than half the class (237) through Early Decision. Another extraordinarily strong group of Johnson Scholar candidates will be on campus in March. Regular admissions applications are still being counted, but preliminary estimates suggest that applications are tracking about the same as last year when we had a record number. We will not know the number of students actually matriculating until May, but the number of applications is a good sign of str
