Ithaca College is paying 31 students up to $10,000 each to put off going to college for one year.  The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that “Ithaca had hoped to enroll 1,700 to 1,750 new freshmen but found itself with an incoming class of 2,027 for this fall semester.”  Most would think that ending up with a class of students 20 percent larger than expected would be a good thing.  However, this circumstance can bring short-term and long-term costs, in addition to creating some added financial stability.

George Dehne, financial consultant for colleges and universities, had this to say about Ithaca’s issue, “They have to feed that animal for four years.  It looks like someone took their hands off the wheel.”  The feeding that Dehne is referring to includes extra spending for financial aid, the hiring of additional instructors and constructing a new temporary residence hall in just six weeks that costs $2.5 million.  However, Jim Mica, a research specialist in admissions at Ithaca College says, “The hope was to find students who could benefit from the extra year by working in service positions or earning more money to pay for their college experience.”

Ithaca’s problem stems from a decline in enrollment in 2008.  Many of the steps the school took over the past year were designed to compensate for the low number of students enrolled.  One of these steps included lowering selectivity.  In 2008 the school only accepted 59 percent of applicants compared to accepting 73% of applicants in 2009.  In addition, the school also changed its merit-aid policy so that money could be spread among more students and intensified “yield “efforts to get more students to attend.

In addition to offering payments to students willing to defer entrance, Ithaca College is also providing $2,000 to upperclassmen willing to move off campus along with 20 percent reductions on room charges and free cable television to those students housed in lounges.  Despite all of this money that school is dishing out, Carl Sgrecci, vice president for finance and administration at Ithaca College says that the school will benefit financially with an expected surplus.