Enrollment goals present challenges - Erica R. Hendry, the Ithacan

Ithaca College has received the second-highest number of applications in its history for next year, admissions officers say — but whether those applications will yield enough students to meet the college’s target enrollment is not as clear. As of last Friday, 12,662 prospective students had applied to the college, a 6 percent decrease in applications from fall 2008 — a year many called the “peak” of the demographic shift anticipated by enrollment officers at institutions across the Northeast. This year’s application numbers are more comparable to the 12,506 applications received for fall 2007, Director of Admission Gerard Turbide said. “We knew that we would drop — we knew going into the previous year that [applications were] going to peak and come down on the other side,” Turbide said. “What we didn’t know was that coupled with the economy, it was going to be a much bigger concern for everybody.”