The number of enrollment applications for next semester received so far are well ahead of the amount normally received at this time of year, and administrators say that makes it more likely that Eastern will see an enrollment increase for the next academic year, a contrast to the enrollment drops of the last couple years.

As of Tuesday, freshman applications for next fall are 31 percent ahead of where they were last year, Frank Hohengarten, Enrollment Management dean, said Wednesday.

In addition, Mark Hudson, director of Housing and Dining, has said that residence hall applications are up by over 200 for next semester.

Last year at this time, 4,356 freshman enrollment applications had been received compared to this year’s 5,715, Hohengarten said. Transfer applications were at 511 last year and this year 561 have applied so far.

Hohengarten estimated that the number of applications received so far will probably be about 70 percent of the total.

Interim President Lou Hencken said Tuesday he is “very, very” pleased with numbers.

“I say very a number of times,” he said.

Going back 10 years, this year appears to have the most freshman applications at this time, the president said.

A lot of people have worked on getting the applications up, he said, and now the next part is getting those prospective students to enroll.

At the beginning of the fall semester as he settled into the presidency after Carol Surles left, Hencken stated a goal to increase enrollment 250 students by the fall of 2002.

Last year the administration partially attributed a 2.9 million budget shortfall for this fiscal year to a decrease in the fall’s enrollment that equaled over 200 fewer students.

Hencken has also said that an increase in enrollment is one of the surest ways to offset Eastern’s financial troubles, the latest of which has been the possibility of a $2.3 million state cut in this fiscal year’s budget.

Hohengarten said that given the number of applicants thus far, Hencken’s goal may be achieved, but that will also depend on the number of current students who attend the next academic year.

Last year about 35 percent of those accepted enrolled, Hohengarten said.

Out of the total 6,267 freshmen who applied last year, 4,392 were accepted and 1,500 people enrolled, Hohengarten said. For transfer students, a total of 1,803 people applied, 1,406 were accepted and 870 enrolled.

Hencken credits the increase in applications to the addition of three more admissions counselors and a new brochure created to promote the university.

Action is already being taken to ensure the applicants that are accepted follow it through and to become Eastern students, Hencken said.

Accepted students are being invited back to campus for tours, the orientation staff is getting ready to call those accepted students and Hencken plans to write a letter to the accepted students about Eastern.

“That’ll be a 12-page letter,” he said, adding that he would have to make it more concise.

Both Hencken and Hohengarten expressed thanks to all those involved in the effort to increase enrollment.

“It seems to have paid off,” Hohengarten said.

The number of housing applications is encouraging too, and Hudson said the anticipated increase in residence hall students may lower room and board rate increases slated for next semester, Hudson said Wednesday.

So far, 899 applications for housing have been received, compared to 645 a year ago, creating a current gain of 254 applications.

The Bond Revenue Committee, which consists of Student Senate and Residence Hall Association members, originally were told the room and board rate increases could reach 6.02 percent, Hudson said.

But, the committee said it wanted to get that increase down into the 5 percent range.

Original budget projections included an increase of 100 residents for next year. Seeing the number of applications, Hudson thought it would be safe to increase that projection to 125.

The number is met to reflect a net gain of new students over current residents that might leave the residence halls next semester.

Hudson said he also took $20,000 out of the renovation and repair budget.

Despite the removal of funds from the renovation and repair budget, he said the budget is still expected to receive an increase of about $400,000.

The additional projected income and the cut in the renovation and repair budget can lower the increase to the 5.6 or 5.5 percent range, Hudson said.

While Hudson said he hopes for the increase in residents to be more than 125, the estimate cannot be too high in case that number does not come through.

“You want to be a little bit conservative,” he said.