When applications fall, trouble often follows. So when Drexel University saw about half as many applicants this year as last, it braced for a smaller freshman class — and less revenue. In June the institution laid off a few dozen employees, part of a restructuring plan already underway to save $18 million while reducing tuition increases. Those cuts went hand in hand with a new enrollment strategy, says John A. Fry, the university’s president: "We were trying to hedge our bets, knowing we were going to be in uncertain territory." Still, he’s confident. To understand why, it helps to go back a few years, when Drexel was breaking records and crowing about it. In 2008 the Philadelphia institution called itself "one of the hottest schools" around, with an unprecedented 24,000 applicants. The plan was to quadruple that number. Last year the tally hit 55,000. That called for trumpets, right?

July 28, 2015 ・ From Chronicle of Higher Education