Michigan Tech cannot simply cut its way out of its current financial problems; instead, the university must also grow its way out of these problems through strategic improvements in all of its endeavors, including undergraduate enrollments. Undergraduate enrollment is a university issue, not an Office of Enrollment Management issue. Enrollment Management cannot market what Michigan Tech does not offer. The entire university community is responsible for providing a combination of programs, price, and place that will entice students to travel the extra distance to attend Michigan Tech.
In a 2002 study conducted by Stamats Communications, quality of program and availability of program (in intended major) ranked 1 and 2 in prospective students' choice of school. Currently, Michigan Tech offers by far the smallest number of undergraduate degree programs of any public university in Michigan (42 for Michigan Tech versus, for example, 149 for Northern Michigan and 272 for the University of Michigan).
Therefore, the University Senate proposes that Michigan Tech offer a larger number and wider variety of undergraduate degree programs; for example, in the School of Business and Economics; in the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science; and in the Departments of Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, Fine Arts, and Physical Education.
Plans to develop new undergraduate degree programs should spring from the grassroots level, but they need the strong support of central administration, including new faculty lines through the hot-majors program. Therefore, the senior administration should issue a call for proposals for new undergraduate degree programs. Proposals should still be processed as before (department to college/school to the University Senate and administration, etc.), but potential proposers would have some confidence that new undergraduate degree programs are a priority of the senior administration.
To this end, the University Senate supports efforts to restructure tuition such that Michigan Tech charges competitive tuition by degree program. We also encourage the administration to continue to support institutional marketing and student-recruiting advertising.
Adopted by Senate: November 19, 2003