Browsing by Subject "University admissions"
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Item Enrollment management optimization using operations research(2008-12) Delgado-Coutino, Carlos B.; Kobza, John E.; Matis, Timothy I.; Smith, Milton L.Texas Tech University has devoted additional resources to recruitment efforts to help address the declines in applications and yield. However, to best utilize these resources a model-based approach is needed to allow decision makers to meet institutional goals by managing the recruitment and enrollment of students at Texas Tech or any educational institution. The proposed modeling approach is goal programming. The admissions goal planning model developed in this research is a powerful decision-making tool to optimize university admissions planning and to set a rational basis for the admissions policy based on institutional enrollment goals. It is used to plan admissions for the coming year with the intent to increase the effectiveness of recruitment efforts. The model is a single-period preemptive integer goal programming model that manages student flows. The decision variables are the number of freshman students admitted (admittance levels) for each student category and the goals are those contained in the Texas Tech University 2005 Strategic Plan. At the beginning of each academic year admissions and enrollment management personnel can program their recruitment efforts based on the admissions policy for the coming year. The model developed provides the best solution possible subject to the constraints, goals and priority structure established. The solution satisfies the Texas Tech Strategic Plan goals to the best possible extent. The admissions policy is not sensitive to changes in the priority structure and additional effors by the admissions officers should be focused on the goal levels.Item The road less traveled : factors affecting community college transfer student admission to a public flagship university(2010-05) Martinez, Rose Marie, 1966-; Somers, Patricia (Patricia A.); Reyes, Pedro, 1954-; Ekland-Olson, Sheldon; Paredes, Raymund; Vincent, Gregory J.Although much has been written about the challenges affecting transfer students, a mixed method study on transfer admission, particularly at the institutional level is an intriguing, albeit unexplored endeavor. In Texas, there is an added dimension of interest given the presence and popularity of the Top 10% Law. This study sought to provide a comprehensive portrait of transfer admission at The University of Texas at Austin from the 1990s to 2007. A sequential explanatory design was employed to identify changes in transfer admission policy and practice and to address if there were differences in admission rates among the major transfer pathways to the state’s largest flagship institution (Creswell, Plano Clark, Gutmann, & Hanson, 2003). Two main conclusions emerged from this study. First, transfer admission became more competitive and selective after the passage of the state’s Top 10% Law in 1997. Second, qualitative and quantitative findings suggested the implementation of a conditional transfer guarantee program for highly selective freshman applicants resulted in significantly less opportunity for transfer applicants from community colleges and other transfer routes to be admitted. Based on these findings, recommendations included reinvesting in a community college transfer student recruitment and scholarship program and significantly reducing the size of the university’s conditional transfer guarantee program for admissible freshmen applicants. A final suggestion was to identify and value the community college route in the holistic transfer admission process given the large proportion of first-generation college, low-income students who comprise this population. To avoid perceptions of sponsored mobility and to promote a social justice rationale, a pre-selection transfer program to prospective freshmen should be revisited given the adverse effects on the community college transfer population. With over 600,000 students enrolled in Texas 2-year colleges, a viable pathway to the state’s most prestigious flagship university provides increased opportunities for social mobility to the many competitively admissible first-generation and low-income students populating public 2-year colleges and seeking a baccalaureate degree from UT Austin.