College Admissions

A recent VT Digger article features Carrie Harlow, a counselor for Vermont Student Assistance Corporation (VSAC), who talks about her thoughts on how the absence of in-person events and meetings for transitioning students may lead to a lack of interest for incoming students.

This poses a problem for schools like Champlain where they desperately need money from students to function. Declining student interest and struggling economy make the practicality of attending costlier colleges a much more thought-provoking decision for incoming undergraduates.

Colby Gunther, a Champlain first-year student, was asked whether his thought process about attending college would have changed knowing if he knew about the restrictions that would be in place. “Signing up for college knowing that I wouldn't be able to participate in all of the things that most college students usually do definitely would have had an impact on my college decision… If I had known that it (a normal college life) wouldn't be the case there definitely would've been a lot more doubt in my mind in regards to attending college this year.”

We asked the Director of Admissions, Diane Soboski, whether Covid concerns had affected student enrollment plans, to which she replied “Across the country, students and families were forced to make difficult decisions this year… For some students that meant deferring or taking a gap year. For others, it meant beginning their college career closer to home… For me, the bigger impact of Covid was in the conversations we had with families.”

Soboski also mentioned that Champlain is aware of the lack of activity on campus, saying “Because we're not able to host in-person visits, bringing the campus to life has been our greatest challenge, but thanks to the collaboration of our amazing community members and partnerships with other offices on campus, we've been able to figure it out… I have no doubt that Champlain College will attract another stellar incoming class this year, just as it has for so many years throughout its long history.”

With one of the main draws to colleges being the “College Life” which gives many young adults their first taste of living in the real world and on their own now being sidelined, the question is how soon will these restrictions go away to return everything back to normal. For now, it sounds like Champlain College is very capable of adapting to the abnormal but it has yet to be seen if these drastic changes will sit well with students in the long run.

By Isaac Jones

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