On April 4, the College at Florham entertained a total of 1,250 students and guests for the Admitted Students Day.

More than 400 accepted freshmen attended and the comments from students and parents were very positive, according to Provost Kenneth Greene.
“Our target for next fall is 600 freshmen,” Greene said.
Last year, the College at Florham enrolled 603 freshmen.
Overall, however, FDU is expecting three percent fewer students (both graduate and undergraduate) than it had last fall.

“We won’t know the freshman to sophomore retention rate for last fall’s freshmen until next October,” Greene said. “However, our freshman to sophomore retention rate is usually around 75 percent.”

The sophomore to junior retention rate is usually about 84 percent and the junior to senior rate is approximately 95 percent.
Despite economic downturns, FDU has had a 15 percent increase in freshman applications and a 25 percent increase in acceptances.
According to Greene, the SAT scores for accepted freshmen are slightly higher than those of last year’s group.

FDU will not know for sure the number of students who are on campus until about the middle of September, according to Greene.

“I have talked with a number of administrators of other colleges and they agree that the economic climate is making predictions about fall enrollments very difficult,” he said.

According to an article in The New York Times, published college tuition fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, and the median family income rose only 147 percent.

The New York Times also reported that for most families, net tuition (the amount most students actually pay after financial aid, grants, tax benefits and scholarships) is usually more important than a college’s published tuition.

At private four-year institutions, the average net tuition is around $14,900. This is almost $10,000 less than the published price, according to The New York Times article. The net price has been growing more slowly than the published price.

KAYLA HASTRUP
News Editor