triday, sept. 7, 1990
cabrini college, radnor, pa 19087
New billing processcancels class registrations by Chris Pesotski Over 50 students' fall class registrations were canceled as college administrators cracked down on students who were late in paying their fall bills. The new system, designed to streamline registration day and encourage pre-payment of student bi1Jsrequires all bills to be paid by Aug. 20. "Anyone who did not have a clean balance as of Aug. 20, will have their registration canceled," JohnBarclay, chief financial officer, said. According to Dean of Students Bob Bonfiglio, any student who was not financially clear as of that date would also be denied access to housing. "We made very few special exceptions,'' Barclay said. ·'Some of them were based on unusual circumstances or the newness of the process." An additional exception has been made for the incoming freshmancia&s. llJe admissi~ office staff attempted to contact all freshmen who had outstanding balances. '' Since they are new to Cabrini we wanted to help them through for the present time," Nancy Gardner, director of admissions, said. Thus, only upperclassmen actually fac~d the possibility of losing classes for late payments to their account. Anyone who had a balance to pay or a student loan check to sign had to report to the Atrium to get a clearance card. This enabled them to register for classes and gain admittance to residence halls. Meredyth Leahy, dean of continuing education, said that the earlier financial deadline may have caused a hardship for some of the college's non-traditional students. '' I think maybe a couple of adult students were taken aback and couldn't take care of the bills be.cause of other family commitments," Leahy said. "We have not experienced a rash of complaints, though." One of the major benefits of the new system is the longer period of time the college has to prepare for incoming students. ''Once we have a student's money, we're
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pretty sure that they're coming," Leahy said. The additional time also allows for the college to compile accurate class lists in time for the first day of classes,eliminating the needfor most clearance cards. With the new registration system, a new drop/add system will also be instituted. ''There will be two separate forms," Registrar Jennifer Hansbury said. "We will know immediately when a student drops a course. which will allow us to let students add a course on the spot.'' The time factor is important because this year course adds will be based entirely upon course enrollment. '' Students will not be approaching professors for admission to a course this year," Hansbury said. ''Only the most extreme academic emergencies will have exceptions made." Barclay keyed the institution of
Freshmanclasssize stabilizes by Sharlene Sephton
John Barclay
photo by Frank Emmerich
the new system less than a year following his arrival to the college. "My first day last year was fall registration," Barclay said. "Let's face it, that was a zoo. Right now we're all working triple time, but that's just to work out the wrinkles in the system." "This is the way everyone does it everywhere else,'' Barclay said. "We're in the 20th century now."
Heightened competition among colleges and universities for quality students and fewer high school graduates leave the Cabrini class of I 994 short of the record high enrollment numbers from the past two years. With 224 students, the largest class in the school's history enrolled in 1989. This year, the freshman class size has dropped to 197. "That's a little lowerthan what we had hoped for," Nancy Gardner, director of admissions, said. The goal for this year was 200. ''The number of high school graduates has severely dropped. All colleges are being affected," Gardner said . Gardner bases the trend on lower birth rates for the current college-aged generation and the added deterrence of rising tuition costs. As a result of the shortage, institutions must make significant decisions on whether to lower their
standards to maintain enrollment. "It's easier this year for students to get into more competitive schools. We've lost some at our top end," Gardner said. Schools that are more fully endowed are able to offer more full-tuition scholarships. Several of this year's Dean's Scholars, who are offered half-tuition awards, enrolled at other schools for better packages.
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Overall, only 37 percent of the students who were accepted and offered entrance, enrolled. Gardn~ maintains that despite this response, quality has not been lowered at all. "Our goal is to admit students who have a reasonable chance of graduating," Gardner said. "If we lowered our standards,
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Freshman Class Size 224
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1985 - 1986
1987 1988
1989 ; 1990
inside perspectives . ......... 2
Newcomers make
Working
news .................... 3, 6
the transition to
towards
features ..... ......... 4, 5
campus
perfection
sports .................. 7, 8
(see page 5)
(see page 7)