Ball State University's applications are at a record high, but enrollment is down because of the university's increased standards, according to university officials.
Kevin Burke, director of university communications, said more applications do not translate into more enrollments.
Although Ball State received more than 13,000 applications for the school year, enrollment is down 457 from 17,281 last year, Burke said. The decrease in Ball State's enrollment is because the university is being "more selective" in the enrollment process, he said.
There are 3,544 new freshmen on campus, which is less than last year's total of 3,629, Burke said.
Tom Taylor, vice president of enrollment, marketing and communications, said this year's goal was 3,600 freshmen.
Despite lower enrollment numbers, application numbers were more than previous years, Burke said.
"It's the most applications we've received in recent memory," said Burke.
The office of admissions received 13,199 applications for the Fall 2007 Semester, which is a 20.7 percent increase since Fall 2006, he said.
Taylor said several reasons contributed to the increase in applications.
"Marketing, visibility of various programs and hard work from the admissions staff helped contribute to the application increase," Taylor said.
Ball State considers standard criteria, such as students' SAT scores and grade point averages, when considering a prospective freshman, Taylor said.
"There is no rigid cut-off [for SAT scores and GPAs]," he said.
Freshman philosophy major Ben Mahoney said he chose Ball State because of its low tuition.
"I came here because it's cheap," he said.
Mahoney said he enrolled at University of Indianapolis on a partial music scholarship, but the remaining costs were too high. He is paying for his education with the help of student loans.
Freshman computer science major Joel Happ said he chose Ball State because it was ranked the No. 1 wireless campus in the nation.
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