Applicant interest in the Resumed Undergraduate Education program has declined over the past few years, which University administrators and RUE students attributed to limited financial aid, a lack of name recognition for the program and changes in the expected course load.
Approximately four RUE students matriculated in the fall 2012 semester and one student matriculated this spring, said Matthew Ricci ’16, student coordinator and president of the Resumed Undergraduate Students Association. The RUE program, established 40 years ago, accepts students who graduated high school six or more years ago but have yet to receive bachelor’s degrees, according to the program’s webpage.
Annual enrollment data for RUE students was unavailable as of press time. In past years, the University has declined to release statistics about the applicant pool and matriculation information due to privacy concerns, Ricci said.
RUE admission is financially need-aware, and there is a limited pool of funding available for aid, according to a University veterans report issued in October. The amount of funding available has been stagnant in recent years, the report found. And the limited financial support for RUE students is a major obstacle for applicants, said Ricky Gresh, senior director for student engagement.
Director of Financial Aid Jim Tilton said the University allocates between $600,000 and $650,000 annually for RUE students’ financial aid. This year, 16 RUE students are receiving aid, he said.
In January, the Committee on Financial Aid — one of the University’s six strategic planning committees formed this year — recommended universal need-blind admission for all applicants. The shift to need-blind admission for RUE students is contingent on the size of the program, Tilton said.
“The cost depends on where we go, how we go and what we do” with the RUE program, Tilton said.
Most RUE students depend on University aid in order to attend Brown, wrote Eric Hunter, assistant director of admission, in an email to The Herald. “Considering rising tuition rates and a stagnant economy, … we must be need-aware in making our admission decision for the great majority of RUE cases,” he wrote.
There is a clear connection between financial aid and the shrinking of RUE’s applicant pool, said Alex Mechanick ’15, president of Brown for Financial Aid. “When you don’t guarantee people the financial resources that they need, they’re not going to be as predisposed or able to attend,” he said.
Expanded online and part-time options for non-traditional students in recent years might also explain a decline in the number of RUE applicants, Hunter wrote. In order to reverse the downward trend, the University could prioritize recruitment and publicity for the RUE program, though it might detract from other admission efforts, he wrote.
In the past few years, the University shifted the course load policy for RUE students, Gresh said. Previously, RUE students could more easily enroll on a part-time basis, but currently, students are expected to study full-time. Part-time status is granted on an application basis.
“There used to be a clearer sense that you could do the RUE program with part-time status if you have families and other things,” Gresh said. “My understanding is that Brown has been strengthening the language.”
Ricci expressed a similar concern that the University was impeding on the ability to enroll part-time.
“When the University changes the policy to take a reduced course load, that exacerbates the tension … between focusing on our academics and our finances,” Ricci said, referring to the fact that some RUE students must work while studying.
Many RUE students face challenges and distractions that do not apply to most undergraduates, including child care, marital relations and off-campus living, Ricci added.
The lack of name recognition for the RUE program is another possible reason for the decline in applicants, Ricci said. Even on campus, a number of faculty members aren’t aware of the program, he said.
“It puts the RUE student in an awkward situation — they’re older in an undergrad class, and they have to explain things,” Ricci said. “You know, ‘I had to bring my kid to the hospital and I couldn’t do my paper.’”
Half the students that matriculated to the RUE program were veterans last year, Gresh said, adding that if the University focuses on recruiting veterans due to limited financial aid, “we may adversely affect the diversity of … RUE students from non-military backgrounds.”
Most veterans who arrive at Brown enroll through the RUE program, including Ricci, a Navy veteran.
The RUE veterans are partly covered by post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits, including funds from the Veterans Association and the Yellow Ribbon program, Tilton said.
The University currently offers 20 total slots through the Yellow Ribbon program, each worth $10,000 per student. That number will increase to 30 funded recipients for the 2013-2014 academic year, Tilton said.
James Rattner ’15, a student coordinator in the Office for Student Veterans and Commissioning Services and a former Herald senior staff writer, expressed concern about the relatively small number of veterans at Brown. “It weakens the diversity on campus,” he said. “Student veterans have a unique perspective.”
A previous version of this article stated that half of the students in the Resumed Undergraduate Education program were veterans last year. Half the RUE students who matriculated to Brown last year were veterans, but a minority of all RUE students are veterans.
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