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Tennessee State Seeks Non-Traditional Students

By Gregory Brand
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Tennessee State University When consent decree is implemented, the racial composition of the student body will change.

As many universities attempt to increase enrollment by lowering admission requirements, Tennessee State University has a different strategy for increasing its student population.

Tennessee State still goes after traditional students fresh out of high school. But now, students over 23 and those with associate degrees are primary targets in the university's campaign to raise enrollment by 25 percent. The strategy also calls for pursuing in-state students more aggressively.

While the 2003-04 academic term had record enrollment of 9,024, Tennessee State aims for 10,500 students by 2006, according to its coordinating committee.

It’s all part of the school's campaign to fulfill the terms of a court decree that aims to increase the enrollment of white students at the 92-year-old historically black university. The university wants to move in that direction -– but not to reduce the number of black students it serves.

To meet this challenge, Tennessee State President James Hefner’s administration is enlarging the recruitment force, which primarily seeks traditional students. The old staff is being supplemented by recruiters pursuing non-traditional and associate degree enrollees.

“Increasing student enrollment is very important,” said Tennessee State recruiter Brandi Montgomery. “Having two recruitment staffs ensures that all bases are covered in getting more students enrolled.”

Nashville Technical College is working with Tennessee State by offering 350 academic scholarships to students who want to supplement their associate degrees with baccalaureates. The scholarships are offered only to students heading to Tennessee State.

Before this arrangement was established, Nashville Tech’s relationship with Tennessee State was limited to handling remedial courses. Spokesmen for Nashville Tech were not reachable for comment.

In another area, Tennessee State had supplied out-of-state fee waivers for many traditional students who had demonstrated academic achievement and leadership. Those waivers have been cut from the budget. Though out-of state students are still welcomed and accepted, Tennessee State is putting greater emphasis on snagging Tennesseans.

“We’re really pushing in-state enrollment,” said Montgomery. “In-state students are an important part of state schools. (As a result,) our focus has been put into making connections with Tennessee’s city and county schools.”

Many on campus look on the increasing enrollment as positive, but some students are not in full support of the way the scholarship program for Nashville Tech graduates is structured.

“I don’t understand why they would want to give all of the (scholarships) to the non-traditional students,” said Gregory Fletcher, a Tennessee State junior computer science major from Washington D.C. “Gaining students of any kind is a good thing, but traditional students are losing scholarship opportunities to individuals that have already had some education.”

Some students even believe that the new Tennessee Lottery Scholarships are a factor in the rush for in-state students. Some proceeds from the Tennessee Lottery that was set up early this year go toward student scholarships. To obtain a scholarship for use at a state school, all a student needs to do is to apply, retain a 3.0 grade-point average from high school and not drop below a 3.0 in college. The student must achieve a score of 19 on the ACT and complete 24 credit hours a semester.

“The school is set to make a lot of money from students awarded the lottery scholarship,” said Emily Harrison, a Tennessee State sophomore business major. “A lot of college-bound students are awarded the (scholarships) and the school gets the money. I know I’d go for it.”

The change in enrollment tactics arrives on the heels of the Geier Settlement Consent Decree, which orders Tennessee State to pull in enough white students over the next five years to fill half the student body at the predominantly black university. Tennessee State’s minority scholarship program is allowed to continue while the university tries to attract non-traditional students.

The decree came about because of a discrimination lawsuit filed in 1968 by Rita Sanders Geier against Tennessee for violating segregation laws. She argued that supplies and resources at public black colleges weren’t comparable to those available at their white counterparts. The courts ruled in her favor.

But change came slowly. So in January 2001, the courts set a five-year timetable for active implementation of the consent decree.

Gregory Brand is a student at Tennessee State University.

Posted Sept. 3, 2004