The College of Design was the only ISU college to report an enrollment decrease this year, but design personnel say they are not concerned.

The College of Design Fall 2001 enrollment dropped by 25 students – from 1,945 to 1,920 – according to figures recently released by the university. Iowa State’s enrollment for fall 2001 is 27,823, nearly 1,000 more students than last year.

Mark Engelbrecht, dean of the College of Design, said he is satisfied with ratio of students to faculty.

“I’m perfectly at ease with it,” he said. “We have the enrollment that perfectly matches with our resources. I’m not the least bit concerned.”

However, Engelbrecht said, the story would have been different had this scenario taken place five years ago. In 1996, a lack of space for students and faculty caused enrollment concerns. As a result, the department was turning down some students who had higher than a 3.0 GPA, and who were clearly qualified for the program.

“It was just ridiculous,” he said. “We were denying students that were top-rate.”

Kate Schwennsen, associate dean of the College of Design, said students began to be scared away from applying during that period.

“We were feeling resource pressure,” she said. “It had a ripple effect. People didn’t feel that they had a chance [to be accepted], so they did not apply.”

The department set a goal in 1996 to have enrollment exceed 1,900 students in 2000. They made some compromises in order to draw freshmen, and the college began to see larger enrollment numbers.

The design college staff reached its goal, increasing from 1,850 students in 1999 to 1,945 last year, taking the resource burden off of the college.

“That is pretty stable enrollment,” Schwennsen said of this year’s figure. “I would not like to see it drop below 1,900.”

The college recruited potential freshmen in the past, but Engelbrecht said recruitment is currently unnecessary.

“We’ve got the enrollment that we need right now,” he said.