Directors hired in preparation for enrollment increase
Two new undergraduate directors, Director of Student Financial Services Anne Walker and Director of Admission Keith Todd, were hired this summer. Both play integral parts in facilitating the enrollment increase, Vice President for Enrollment Chris Munoz said.
Todd, who had previously worked at Rice as associate director of admission, returns to campus after a stint as Director of Admissions at Northwestern University. Todd increased the applicant pool by 19 percent at Northwestern, and he will bring the same increased applicant interest to Rice, Munoz said.
“The combination of being both a former employee of Rice and having left and taken on the responsibilities of Northwestern, is very appealing for our aspirations at Rice to grow enrollment by 30 percent,” he said.
Todd has also worked at Stanford, and he will be able to bring what he has learned from all three universities to improve Rice, Munoz said.
“He’s worked at three highly selective universities, another added value that he brings to Rice,” Munoz said. “He’ll bring what he learned there to here.”
Todd was unavailable for comment.
Walker has served as director of enrollment management and financial aid at Brazosport Community College and was more recently a senior account executive at Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation. Walker was hired in July.
Walker replaces former Director of Financial Services Julia Benz, who left July 2006.
Walker said she plans to reorganize several processes to provide a more efficient way for students to apply for financial aid. She plans to make the office as paperless as possible and process loans exclusively by computer.
“You’ll be able to go directly from ESTHER to Loans by Web, so there won’t be a 24-hour lag,” she said.
Merit- and need-based financial aid expenditures at Rice total $23 million, and 74 percent of students receive some form of financial aid, Walker said. She also plans to redesign the financial aid Web site to make it more accessible to students, especially those looking to take out loans, she said. Currently, the site has a lender chart with side-by-side comparison of different rates. This information will be made easier to access with the new design, she said.
“Our goal is to get this kind of information front and center where you guys can find it quickly,” she said. “Students can still choose the lender they want, but we want to make sure we’re providing the best information we can and at the same time, giving the students the option to go out and do their own research if they wanted to.”
A link to simpletuition.com will be added to the site for additional loan comparison, and a financial aid calculator will be available for prospective students to calculate the amount of aid they should receive. Additionally, the financial aid office will focus on customer services, with a fall customer service survey of all students who receive aid.
Munoz said this plan to expand the number of applicants fits in directly with President David Leebron’s Vision of the Second Century. Currently, the university admits 24 percent of its applicants, and the student population will not suffer as a result of the planned 30 percent increase in enrollment, Munoz said.
The recent dropping of the Interim Decision process, due to admissions having too little time to review interim applications, and the hiring of Todd and Walker will help Rice’s admissions process, Munoz said. A more efficient method of processing applications is necessary for the expected increased applicant pool, he said.
“We are looking at how we can use technology to help us improve our efficiency, optical imaging and workflow,” he said. “The amount of processing time that it takes to thoroughly evaluate each application is very significant at a highly selective school like Rice.”
Hanszen College sophomore Catherine Huang said this expected increase in the applicant pool and student population does not come without its trade-offs.
“The student-to-professor ratio is going to go up to 7:1 because they’re not hiring new professors,” Huang said. “For students in the humanities [with small classes], it’s a drawback. I’m actually in favor of [increased] enrollment so long as the quality of life at Rice is not affected, but I don’t think there’s any way you can guarantee that the quality of life is not going to be effected.”
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