Time with the chancellor
University of Arkansas at Little Rock Chancellor Christina Drale made her first public appearance as chancellor before state lawmakers Thursday, discussing the university’s latest attempts to engage potential students and retain existing ones.
The university must cut its budget by possibly $5 million in light of an enrollment decline of 8%, which is much higher than the 1% the university budgeted for under its previous chancellor, Andrew Rogerson.
“What we will do is a combination of budget cutting and revenue enhancement … trying to optimize recruitment and retention,” Drale told the Arkansas Legislative Council’s Higher Education Subcommittee.
The university is more data-driven now than before, is examining its on-campus housing policies, has hired a retention officer and is re-exploring its relationship with eStem Public Charter High School, which is on UALR’s campus.
Lawmakers asked Drale about the impact of the state’s new public higher-education funding formula on UALR, its career services offerings, why the yield rate of applicants has gone down, and whether lower retention is contributing to lower enrollment, among other things.
Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, asked whether UALR leadership had seen the university’s current predicament coming after years of enrollment drops.
“Were there not any indicators, red flags, so to speak … that could have triggered some change in strategic” planning? Lowery asked.
Drale said she believes previous leaders — enrollment drops took place under the past two chancellors — always thought of it as a temporary condition that would be turned around.
“I think the red flags were there,” she said. “They were either not noticed by anyone, or they were interpreted as temporary by many.”
Drale said the enrollment landscape is different now. Schools have less of a hold over their regions, and students are going farther away to school, she said. UALR is “committed” to being the institution needed by businesses and government in central Arkansas, she said.
Many of the school’s applicants didn’t just choose to go to other schools, Drale noted. Many, despite being admitted at UALR, chose not to enroll anywhere.
The university’s enrollment management has not had “as strong of effort as we could in recent years,” she said. But the university’s financial aid office is now providing names to the admissions office of students who indicated an interest in UALR when they filled out their Free Application for Federal Student Aid.
UALR also will need to help potential students “see the connection between what we’re offering” and what they want to do, she said.
Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, asked Drale if the university is getting many students from eStem now that the high school has been on campus for a few years. At the most, about two dozen eStem graduates enroll at UALR each year, according to data from the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
Drale said she had lunch Thursday with eStem CEO John Bacon to discuss how the schools can better interact with each other and maximize benefits to both schools. That may include having more eStem students dually enroll in UALR courses, she said.
Elliott also expressed concern about how UALR was affected by the new funding formula.
UALR lost more than $300,000 from the state since last year after scoring lower, in large part because of a decline in research expenditures. At the time, UALR officials said that loss in points was a glitch in the formula that the state Higher Education Department is fixing. UALR is one of the most research-heavy institutions in Arkansas.
Drale said Thursday that UALR’s research is well-supported.
“I think we are fairly comfortable with our research profile at the moment,” she said.