N.C. State met its admissions goals this fall, while more than three-fourths of all public universities had difficulty filling their classrooms. 

The annual Survey of College and University Admission Directors reported that about 77 percent of public colleges and 59 percent of private colleges were unable to fill their enrollment goals for freshman.

Conversely, Thomas Griffin, the director of undergraduate admissions at N.C. State, said the freshman enrollment goals at N.C. State are being adequately met.

“We’re right on target for fall of 2013. Out of our target of 4,200, the preliminary census figure was 4,187, so we’re within 1 percent of our target with freshman,” Griffin said.

Griffin said that most colleges should be within a similar one percent margin. 

“When you set a goal, you want to be close to that goal, you don’t want to go over because if you enroll hundreds of students beyond what you expected you’ll run into problems with course availability and housing,” Griffin said.

Griffin said that a college should not be significantly less than its target goal for enrollment because having a lower amount of students could also cause additional setbacks.

According to Griffin, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions works with the University to recruit students. Its mission is to encourage students to apply and to be welcoming to potential applicants.

“We also have to adapt to the current pool of applicants, to try to reach them through various types of communication channels,” Griffin said. “We’ve also been fairly stable here in our administrative and recruiting areas, which add to our ability to meet our goals.”

Griffin said that N.C. State helps students by giving them assistance with financial difficulties, and that also helps attract new applicants.

At Wake Technical Community College, admission rates are rapidly increasing according to Laurie Clowers, the college’s director of public relations. Clowers said that Wake Tech enrollment rates have increased by 50 percent during the last five years, and that the college is expecting them to increase by another 50 percent during the next five years.

 “We’re growing because we are located in a growing county, so we need to grow to meet the needs of the community,” Clowers said. “The other reason we’re growing is because of the economic downturn, so a lot more people are coming to community colleges to learn skills for jobs.” 

According to Griffin, many of the colleges that do not meet their enrollment goals may not be employing the proper strategies.

“One reason that these colleges may not be meeting their enrollment goals is that their goal is aspirational and is not a realistic number because they set the goal too high,” Griffin said. “Another could be that their recruitment effort and admissions process are not as robust as some schools.”

He also said the changing demographic of applicants could be a problem, because colleges have to find new appropriate ways to communicate.