More potential students are applying for early admission to SU this year compared to last year, admission officials said.

The number of early decision applications for the fall 2009 semester had increased by 40, said Susan Donovan, dean of undergraduate admissions. A total of 862 students had applied to SU early decision compared to the 832 from last year, she said.

Early Decision, which makes a student commit to the university if accepted, has been increasing for the past few years. In fall 2007, the Early Decision number was 696 applicants.

In the past, early decision has had the reputation of being exclusive to wealthy students. A lot of students can’t make the commitment to a school before they see the money they are offered. After raising their application fee from $60 to $70 last year, SU seemed like it might see fewer applicants.

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported sweeping lows of early decision applicants for private universities. Lehigh University reported that its early decision applicants were behind last year’s by 23 percent.

Hastings High School senior, Danny Cunningham, from Hastings, N.Y. said he didn’t allow the price of SU to get between him and his dream school. He applied early decision.

‘SU was my number one choice and was the only school I applied to,’ he said. ‘I’m willing to pay whatever price it is to go.’

Cunningham said most of his friends decided to apply regular decision to schools because they didn’t want to make the commitment to a school and find themselves financially bound.

Donovan said this year, SU met the full needs of its applicants as students indicated on their CSS Profile – a financial aid questionnaire – and FAFSA reports. So far the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarship Programs has reported that $7,713,787 in financial aid has been awarded to the Early Decision applicants. This includes scholarships, Work Study, federal loans and grants.

Cunningham said he is still in the process of filling out his financial aid forms, so he’s unsure about how much money – if any – he’d be receiving from the school.

‘I guess that’s part of applying early, I’m willing to take that risk (not getting the money I anticipated),’ he said.

Catherine Schur of Poolesville, Md., hasn’t received money from SU thus far. She said that although she applied to SU Early Decision, money was a factor.

‘Money is a very important factor especially in this economy,’ Schur said, ‘But I know I wanted to go to Syracuse so I’ve applied to many scholarship opportunities nationally and at the state-level.’

Student deposits are due on Feb. 15. The students who choose early decision must pay the $750 deposit to reserve their spots in the Class of 2013. However, there is no program in place to help students pay for the deposit.

Kaye DeVesty, the director of the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarship Programs said that the students could also pull out of the early decision agreement if their financial needs aren’t met. However, DeVesty isn’t expecting students to forgo SU because of financial reasons, at least not this year.

‘We have created a new financial aid policy this year, so it’s a lot different than last year’ DeVesty said. ‘In this new program all freshman file for a CSS Profile, and their full needs are met.’

Under this new plan 600 of the 862 students who applied for Early Decision, as well as financial aid, received it. This means that almost 70 percent of the incoming class so far has received some financial aid. That is slowly removing the stigma attached to Early Decision applicants that implies it is catered to students who can afford the school without financial aid.

‘Early Decision applications just mean that not only is SU their top choice, but it’s their only choice,’ DeVesty said. ‘We would still award based on our new policies. So we don’t treat the students any differently or they don’t get any type of handicap by not getting aid.’

The idea is that every student will receive financial aid even if they’re not sure they need it by being required to file for the CSS Profile. While freshman students are getting their full needs met, this plan does not apply to current SU students.

‘The reason why we can’t offer this to all students is a funding problem,’ DeVesty said. ‘This isn’t a program you can just spring on all levels at one time, we’re going to have to do it year by year and it’s easiest to start with the incoming freshman class and continue moving down. This doesn’t mean that the other years would be ignored.’

She encourages all students to apply for aid no matter what.

‘We won’t turn anyone away,’ she said. ‘We want everyone to be successful and the way to be successful is to pay your bills and if your bills are paid, you have no worries and then you can study.’

kaoutram@syr.edu

Published on February 9, 2009 at 12:00 pm