The University of Colorado is poised for a comeback, say school leaders buoyed by a 15 percent jump in out-of-state applications and a 25 percent boost in donations.
They credit CU’s new leadership, faculty accolades that include a second Nobel Prize in four years, and the fading of scandals involving the football program and professor Ward Churchill.
“I think part of it is things just calming down,” CU president Hank Brown said Tuesday. “This is an enormously attractive place for people to spend their college years. That was interrupted a little bit by some of the attention of the last couple of years.”
Still, the public relations crisis isn’t over, Brown said.
He uses every chance he gets in speeches across Colorado and the country to explain policy changes. More often than not, he gets questions about the football recruiting scandal or Churchill.
“I find inevitably it’s on people’s minds,” Brown said. “They’re genuinely concerned and want to know that we are stepping up to the plate.”
One sign of change is a jump in applications to the Boulder campus from out-of-state students, whose $21,000-a-year tuition subsidizes tuition for state residents. The campus received about 1,200 more out-of-state freshman applications than last year by the Feb. 15 deadline, a 15 percent increase, said Kevin MacLennan, director of admissions.
He credited the national and “very visible leadership” of Brown and Boulder chancellor Phil DiStefano.
“The message to prospective students is, ‘Boy, they’ve been through a rough couple of years, but we really see them moving along, and the leadership is strong,”‘ he said.
In-state applications are even with last year. Out-of-state freshman enrollment dropped 12 percent, or 258 students, last year.
The increase in out-of-state applications represents a recovery from a bad year, and some of the increase likely is due to population growth in Western states that send students to CU, said David Longanecker of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education.
While CU’s new leadership affects fundraising, Longanecker doubted it has a huge impact on out-of-state applications.
“The out-of-state students don’t know there is a new president,” Longanecker said. “They know that they’re not hearing about the University of Colorado being in trouble every day.”
Boulder Faculty Assembly chair Jerry Hauser said faculty research and awards also play a role in recruiting and donations, though he said Brown’s “decisive” leadership has “influenced people’s perceptions.”
“People that I have talked to around the nation have stopped asking questions about our problems and begun to say, ‘It looks like your university is on the upswing,’ ” Hauser said.
The CU Foundation is outpacing last year’s donations by 25 percent, spurred by a $1.5 million gift to the athletic department shortly after the firing of football coach Gary Barnett. A $3 million gift for cancer research followed.
The foundation won’t know until after June 30, the end of its fiscal year, whether total donations surpassed last year’s total.
“It certainly demonstrates that there is a vote of confidence from our community about where the university and the foundation are headed,” said Lance King, senior vice president for development.
Many donors want to know whether Brown, an interim president, will stay on as the permanent head of CU, he said.
Brown said again Tuesday that he doesn’t plan to apply but would stay if the search committee names him as a finalist and the regents choose him.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
