First-year enrolment past 6,000

Any faint hope that summer might linger for a few weeks yet, before the grind of the fall term begins, was dashed yesterday when the schedule for next week’s orientation events arrived on my desk. I guess they really mean it: 5,969 new first-year students will be arriving on campus over the Labour Day weekend, and 445 returning first-year students will join their ranks by the time classes start on September 8.

The housing web site was announcing, when I checked it yesterday morning, that it’s “3 days, 22 hours, 49 minutes, 31 seconds” until check-in time at the Villages, suites and townhouses where most of those new students will be living. Actually the move-in process is spread over two days, this Sunday and Monday, to keep the traffic jams to manageable levels.

Some preliminary orientation events are happening on Monday, Labour Day, especially at the four colleges and (at Federation Hall and other central sites) for the “off-campus” group of new students. Then orientation starts at full speed and volume on Tuesday, with a mixture of residence-based and program-based events. Engineers will get their hard hats, arts students will meet Porcellino, and so on. And somehow, by the end of next week everybody will have seen “Single and Sexy”, everybody will have taken the English Proficiency Exam, everybody will have toured the campus, everybody will have met deans and profs and advisors — and everybody will have made a million new friends.

Orientation highlights include the customary Monte Carlo Night party, which will close the Student Life Centre to general use on the evening of Thursday, September 4; Black and Gold Day at midday Saturday, with a chance to see the Warriors-vs.-McMaster football game; and the Saturday night toga party on the Matthews Hall green.

It’s a door-crashing crowd of first-year students, just as it was in 2007. Counting them is actually not a simple matter, as indicated in a memo from Mary Soulis of UW’s institutional analysis and planning office: “Year one students are defined as 1A or 1B students carrying a full-time load in a degree program. Data are reported broken out by OSS vs. non-OSS, domestic vs. high fee-paying, and new admits vs. continuing students.”

To put it another way, there are first-year students who have been at UW in past terms (445 who are either changing faculties or plugging away at a program they started last year) and there are first-year students who are brand new to Waterloo (5,522 Canadians and 447 international students).

But all those are September numbers, and what really matters is how many will still be registered and trudging to class when November 1 rolls around. Predictions for November enrolment, says Soulis, “are estimated based on historical ‘show’ rates and the number of applicants who have confirmed as of the report date.” The prediction: a total of 6,011 full-time students at UW on the count date. The target, as set by deans and admission experts, was 5,726.

“Data collected in July in previous years indicate that these estimates have an accuracy of about 2% or 3%,” says Soulis. “This means that by November 1 we should be between 200 and 370 over target for total enrolment, and between 130 and 240 for new admits.

The faculty of mathematics is exceeding its target the most — by 13 per cent — but environment, engineering, applied health sciences and arts are right behind. Software engineering, science, and the computing and financial management program are expected to be just a hair below their targets, unless of course the September and October dropout rate is lower than usual.

Soulis notes that “domestic” students (those who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents) are at 107 per cent of the target and international “high-fee paying” students are at 83 per cent.

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Students call federal loan plan 'good'

This week’s announcement of a new federal student aid program, introduced in Kitchener by the minister of human resources and social development, is “good news” but not the solution to everything, UW’s Federation of Students says.

The federal minister, Monte Solberg, posed with high school students in the local branch of the Pathways to Education program as he gave the details of the Conservative government’s plan for rebuilding its part of the student financing system. First announced in the federal budget last February, it’s the successor to the Liberal-created Millennium Scholarship Foundation, which is expiring. The new programs are to go into effect for the 2009-10 academic year.

They’ll offer students “more opportunities than ever”, a government news release says. It quotes Solberg: “Because of the changes our Government has introduced, the dream of a post secondary education will be open to every Canadian regardless of their level of income. What a tremendous opportunity for students and for their potential, and what a powerful advantage for Canada."

Says the government: “The changes in student financial assistance programs include a new up-front Canada Student Grant . . . a new repayment plan to help students who are having difficulty paying back their student loans, as well as improved services for students to simplify the whole loan process; and greater support for students with permanent disabilities. . . .

“Available to students in fall 2009, the Canada Student Grant program will provide $250 each month in grants to students from low-income families and $100 a month to students from middle-income families. The new grant will be paid throughout all of the years of a university undergraduate, college or trade school program. Students from low- and middle-income families will qualify based on clearly defined income levels. The low- and middle-income thresholds will be adjusted to reflect the cost of living in each province and territory for different family sizes. . . .

“In the 2009-2010 academic year, a new student loan Repayment Assistance Plan will be in place to make it easier for student loan borrowers to manage their debt by ensuring that they can afford their loan payments. The Repayment Assistance Plan is an optional program for students facing difficulty in meeting their student loan payments including those with permanent disabilities. This new Plan will ensure that student loan payments will be affordable, that individuals with very low incomes will not be required to make payments and that the eligibility criteria will be easier to understand in order to obtain the support they need. Loan payments will be based on the borrower's income and debt levels. No more than 20 per cent of a borrower's income would go towards the payment of the loan. Furthermore, no borrower will have a repayment period of more than 15 years.”

Ottawa is also promising “new on-line services including viewing up-to-date information on federal and/or provincial/territorial loans all in one place”, and “simplified and streamlined processes” for the complex student assistance system.

So far so good, says Andres Martines, vice-president (education) of the Federation, in a statement issued Monday evening. “Minister Solberg’s announcement,” he writes, “brings good news for students with difficult levels of debt and students with permanent disabilities.

“This is a strong step towards limiting the effects of persistent student debt, but the government must also begin to address rising levels of debt as it is a known barrier to the completion of Post-Secondary programs.

“We are always happy to hear there is more money in the system, but the trouble with income-based programs is that it is a poor proxy for need. It is also curious that the government should seek to distribute funds on a monthly basis, as it is well known students face front-end loaded costs including books, tuition and rent.”

He adds that access to post-secondary education “will continue to be a problem for policy makers in the road ahead. To pursue an access agenda, the government will need to address barriers for aboriginal and rural students, students with disabilities and first generation learners whose barriers may require more assistance than merely financial support.”

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A few notes as August slips away

As thousands of new students arrive at UW and other local institutions of higher learning, and thousands more students return from a summer away, representatives of Waterloo's city government are working hard on "town-gown relations" and keeping neighbourhood harmony. "We want them to have a successful academic year, fun, and at the same time respect the city and the community," Kaye Crawford, manager of community relations at City Hall, told the Record newspaper. For the fifth September in a row, the city is providing goodie bags for year-round residents to give to their new student neighbours, with a combination of treats and reminders about bylaws and good citizenship. Students make up about a quarter of the fall and winter population of Waterloo. Says the city's web site: "The City of Waterloo and the universities and college demonstrate that students will have safe, suitable and affordable housing, as well as a positive environment in which to study, work and play for the duration of their studies."

Scott Murie (right) "has worked at our office most of his life, since was 17," says a colleague in the distance and continuing education department, sending word that Murie is celebrating a landmark birthday today. • Artwork by Linda Sitler-Howe, retired from UW's communications and public affairs office, is on display through September 12 at the Kuntz House Community Gallery, 171 King Street South in central Waterloo. • May Yan, UW's director of retail services, has been appointed to the board of governors of Renison College.

A memorial service is to be held Sunday, September 7, for Michael Houston (left), a former UW faculty member, who died last month in Blacksburg, Virginia, where he was a professor emeritus at Virginia Tech. Houston was a member of UW's kinesiology department from 1969 to 1996, and the kin department has set up a scholarship fund in his memory (for information about donations, call ext. 33631). Sunday's event will take place at the Waterloo Inn on King Street North, starting at 1 p.m., with a reception to follow.

Deaths of several retired UW staff members are reported by the human resources department. Adolf Polski, who was a custodian in plant operations from February 1980 to his retirement in March 1987, died March 29. Ewald Wirschke, also a custodian, worked from October 1968 to retirement in March 1975, and died July 13. Gerda Steinmoeller was a food services assistant from September 1972 to retirement in March 1991, and died August 9.

CAR

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