This fall, Loyola may be seeing more freshmen around campus since the record-size class of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

With a projected goal of 750 enrolled students, the office of admissions is implementing new approaches to attract more students.

“It’s our team’s job to make sure that happens. So far we’re on pace,” said Salvadore Liberto, vice president for enrollment management and associate provost.

As of now, undergraduate applications are up 15 percent from last year. At press time, the number of applications in was 3,641, compared to the 3,163 received at the same time last year. Visits to the university are also up: 838 students have toured the campus so far, compared to the 620 also at the same time last year. In order to attain these numbers, the admissions office has increased direct communication and added more opportunities to visit.

“We added a fall open house this year, which was a jazz brunch, and which was very successful,” Liberto said.

The updates to the admissions Web site has helped also, he said, as the amount of web activity has doubled from last year. As part of an effort to increase e-communications, the office has also added student blogs and a blog for Liberto, called “Salutations.”

Through these changes, Liberto hopes to widen the scope of Loyola’s marketing.

“We want more kids from the local area, we want to expand what we’re doing in the Gulf South,” he said. “There are some great opportunities in Texas and Florida for us right now, so we’re going to keep expanding those.”

The university is projecting similar numbers for incoming students from Louisiana, who currently comprise about 50 percent of the freshman class. There is expected growth in Florida and Texas, as well as slight increases in the Midwest. The percentage of students in the Northeast is presumed to stay the same. Part of the difficulty in attracting students, however, has been quashing skepticism that resulted from Hurricane Katrina.

“We want to continue to serve Louisiana, but we also want to reclaim market share that was lost after Katrina, where there’s still mythology surrounding what people think of New Orleans,” he said.

To help do this, Loyola has added an admissions representative for the Northeast and for California. There will also be a high school counselor conference that will begin Feb. 6.
“As we increase demand for Loyola – and one of our goals is to increase our applications over the next several years – we’re hopeful to set a record this year for applications for the university to cross 4,300,” he said.

For many students, Liberto acknowledges that a final decision will not be made until the financial aid package is clear. Yet he believes that Loyola is in a good position within the current financial climate.

“You’ve got a lot of students flocking to state colleges and universities that aren’t going to get the services that they might have gotten one or two years ago,” he said. “As a university that’s poised now to grow, I think it’s a really good time to be here.”

Masako Hirsch can be reached at [email protected]