Small Colleges Use Football Programs to Draw Male Applicants
A growing number of small colleges across the U.S. have discovered a relatively easy, even fun way to attract more male applicants: football.
The New York Times reports that nearly 50 colleges have either created or resurected football programs over the past decade. JoAnne Boyle, president of New Jersey's Seton Hill University, explained how the move had paid off for her school. "I could have started a spiffy new major of study, spent a lot of money on lab equipment and hired a few new high-powered professors," Dr. Boyle told the Times. "I might have gotten 25 more students for that....Instead, I started a football team, brought in hundreds of paying students, added a vibrant piece to our campus life and broadened our recognition factor."
As has been widely reported over the past year, the applicant pools and student bodies at many small colleges are increasingly dominated by women. This worries college administrators both because they see gender balance as a campus diversity issue and because applications from all students tend to drop off if a school is perceived as overwhelmingly female.
Shenandoah University, a four-year institution of about 3,000 students located near Winchester, Virginia, saw its undergraduate enrollment go from 35 per cent male to 41 per cent male after it added a football program. University President James A. Davis told the Times that "I said no to football for 15 years, but I was wrong. Football is the best draw of qualified male applicants that there is anywhere."
Football appears to attract more working-class and minority applicants to colleges, too. Mike Kemp, the football coach at Utica College in upstate New York, told the Times that the football program that Utica began in 2001 had proven a valuable means of reaching out to high school seniors from blue-collar backgrounds who might not otherwise have thought seriously about attending college.
"I come across high school football players from blue-collar backgrounds, and as seniors in high school, they're not sure what they're going to do," Kemp told the Times' reporter. "They're considering a college here or there. But if you give them a chance to keep playing football, then they get motivated to come....We kind of trick them into seeing that getting an education is the real benefit."
Does this mean that the University of Chicago, the U.S. school most famous for not fielding a football team, might change its ways? Probably not. Unlike the schools described in the Times story, Chicago has no problem attracting enough male applicants to maintain a roughly even balance of male and female students.
For many smaller and lower-profile U.S. colleges and universities, however, a football program might be just the ticket to maintaining the number and quality of students that a college needs to provide a lively educational experience.
Source: "Small Colleges, Short of Men, Embrace Football," by Bill Pennington - the New York Times, July 10, 2006
The New York Times reports that nearly 50 colleges have either created or resurected football programs over the past decade. JoAnne Boyle, president of New Jersey's Seton Hill University, explained how the move had paid off for her school. "I could have started a spiffy new major of study, spent a lot of money on lab equipment and hired a few new high-powered professors," Dr. Boyle told the Times. "I might have gotten 25 more students for that....Instead, I started a football team, brought in hundreds of paying students, added a vibrant piece to our campus life and broadened our recognition factor."
As has been widely reported over the past year, the applicant pools and student bodies at many small colleges are increasingly dominated by women. This worries college administrators both because they see gender balance as a campus diversity issue and because applications from all students tend to drop off if a school is perceived as overwhelmingly female.
Shenandoah University, a four-year institution of about 3,000 students located near Winchester, Virginia, saw its undergraduate enrollment go from 35 per cent male to 41 per cent male after it added a football program. University President James A. Davis told the Times that "I said no to football for 15 years, but I was wrong. Football is the best draw of qualified male applicants that there is anywhere."
Football appears to attract more working-class and minority applicants to colleges, too. Mike Kemp, the football coach at Utica College in upstate New York, told the Times that the football program that Utica began in 2001 had proven a valuable means of reaching out to high school seniors from blue-collar backgrounds who might not otherwise have thought seriously about attending college.
"I come across high school football players from blue-collar backgrounds, and as seniors in high school, they're not sure what they're going to do," Kemp told the Times' reporter. "They're considering a college here or there. But if you give them a chance to keep playing football, then they get motivated to come....We kind of trick them into seeing that getting an education is the real benefit."
Does this mean that the University of Chicago, the U.S. school most famous for not fielding a football team, might change its ways? Probably not. Unlike the schools described in the Times story, Chicago has no problem attracting enough male applicants to maintain a roughly even balance of male and female students.
For many smaller and lower-profile U.S. colleges and universities, however, a football program might be just the ticket to maintaining the number and quality of students that a college needs to provide a lively educational experience.
Source: "Small Colleges, Short of Men, Embrace Football," by Bill Pennington - the New York Times, July 10, 2006
posted by AllStarEssays at 11:50 AM
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