March 13, 2020
Welcome to the first edition of Enrollment Management News! This internal newsletter is comprised of messaging from all areas of Enrollment Management, including Admissions, Student Financial Aid, Registrar's Office, Office of Student Transitions and Precollege Programming. Like the Registrar Notes, emails will be sent every other week via registrar-info@wmich.edu.
Spring midterm grade reporting
Midterm grades were reported in 43% of all spring 2020 gradable sections. This is a 7% increase from last spring, and a new record. Arts and Sciences, Aviation and Haworth College of Business reported midterm grades in more than 50% of their courses.
Today is the last day for December graduation application extension
Students have until 5 p.m. today to apply to graduate in December 2020. As a reminder, the fall deadline was extended to help students in the transition to the new February 1 deadline.
Hiring updates from the Office of Student Transitions
The Office of Student Transitions is in the process of selecting student leader teams for this year's programming, including 30 Orientation Student Leaders, 50 First-Year Seminar co-facilitators and 200 Fall Welcome Ambassadors. OST is also hiring 50 primary instructors for First-Year Seminar and reimagining the class to create an exciting first-semester experience for new students that focuses on wellness. Learning outcomes are being modified to align with the Wellness Wheel.
Fall registration began this week
Fall 2020 registration opened on Monday for graduate students. Priority registration concludes Tuesday, March 24. Staff from the Registrar's Office will be available to answer phone calls beginning at 7:30 a.m. throughout the priority registration period.
Commencement tickets now available
Spring graduates may reserve their commencement tickets until Monday, April 20, at 11:59 p.m. An email with a link to the reservation system was sent by the Registrar's Office earlier this week. Additional reminders will be sent before the reservation system closes on April 20.
Last day for students to withdraw from spring classes is Monday
GoWMU will be available for students to withdraw until 11:59 p.m. on Monday, March 16. Students with a registration hold who are unable to use GoWMU may email @email using their WMU email address. The Registrar's Office will send a final reminder to all registered students via email on Monday.
Updates from Precollege Programming
Summer camp registration
The 2020 Summer Camp web page is now live. If your office is hosting a WMU summer camp this year, please register at the page linked above. Once you register your camp, Erika Carr will be notified and the web page will be updated shortly thereafter.
Summer camp advertisements
Precollege Programming does general summer camp advertising each year, and the office is in the process of rolling out ads in a few new publications and websites. To be included on the camp web page, please follow the instructions listed above regarding summer camp registration.
Pre-College Leader Training
The next leader training is set to take place April 22-23 from 8:30 a.m. to noon (both days). Register online.
Updates from Admissions
Fall 2020 data
Fall 2020 Admits through March 6, 2020:
- First-year students: 12,861 (+1.5% compared to same time in 2019)
- Transfer students: 1,044 (+4.7% compared to same time in 2019)
Campus visitors and events
- Student tour guests (June 2019 through February 2020): 4,376 (plus their families)
- Special tour guests (June through December 2019): 3,516
The Office of Admissions hosted 4,934 students and their families at major events in Fall 2019, including three Open Houses, Transfer Student Preview Day and the Medallion Scholarship Competition. This year's Medallion Competition saw a nearly 10% increase in student attendance, with a total of 1,072 students competing over three days (the University hosted 978 competitors last year).
Admissions spring events
In response to the recent University announcement regarding the cancellation of events that anticipate an attendance of more than 100, the following admissions events will be canceled:
- Admitted Student Event: Friday, March 20; Friday, April 3
- Transfer Student Preview Day: Friday, March 27
- Spring Open House: Saturday, March 28
Note that the Office of Admissions is working to directly notify all registered guests in the coming days. Virtual options for prospective and admitted students to continue connecting and engaging with WMU are being explored. Daily campus tours will be capped at 100 guests and continue as planned (with the exception of residence halls tours).
From Director Alicia Kornowa:
I would like to thank all of you who attended Render Experience's presentation, It Takes a Campus. The admissions team and I have received a lot of positive feedback about the session and I cannot properly express how appreciative I am that the session has created and propelled conversations. We will receive the post-visit report within the next few weeks, and my team and I will begin connecting with the many campus partners to continue the conversation. In the meantime, you may view the It Takes a Campus slide deck.
Updates from Student Financial Aid
Self-service mobile financial aid process
Last fall, Student Financial Aid introduced a personalized, mobile financial aid process for students. Students are now able to complete financial aid forms on their mobile device (appeals and verification), securely upload documents from any device, e-sign documents and more. Becoming a more digital office has allowed SFA to work more efficiently and effectively in meeting students’ requests through technology. Student Financial Aid also updated its scholarships and grants web pages, and implemented a new scholarship application tool where students can apply for multiple internal and external scholarships in one location. As SFA strives to go paperless, the office is able to provide a five-day processing time, thus allowing greater interaction with students and their needs.
SUM I and II financial aid applications
Summer I financial aid applications (undergraduate, graduate and Parent PLUS) are now available online. Summer I applications will be processed in mid-March. Summer II financial aid applications will be available in April.