Scholarships, heavy recruiting and an increase of southern-migrating, students explain the steadiness of nine northeastern states and North Carolina, yielding 80 percent of Elon’s student population for the past two years.

While students from North Carolina make up a third of the student population, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Massachusetts are all major contributors, according to recent figures released by Elon’s registrar.

“I think they come for a variety of reasons such as word of mouth, distance from home, the cost of Elon and the weather in North Carolina,” said Raechel Hester, assistant director of admissions. “I consistently see students from all over the country in my information sessions, but I would say the majority are coming from Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina and the New England states.”

Dean of Admissions Greg Zaiser explained that Elon’s goal is to keep North Carolina as the largest state on the list because of state funding that the university receives based on the number of home-state students who attend. This money helps off-set the cost for in-state students, who receive a $1,900 discount on their tuition.

Elon’s scholarship programs and lower tuition are seen as a draw for many in-state students. At $22,000, Elon’s tuition is markedly lower than some more high profile northern schools like Bates College, Syracuse University or Columbia University.

Elon offers numerous scholarships and the Fellows programs.

The North Carolina Teaching Fellows program offers scholarships to North Carolina residents majoring in education in exchange for their employment in North Carolina public schools after graduation. Elon takes 25 teaching fellows every year. The state awards teaching fellows a $6,500 scholarship, which is then matched by the university, totaling a $13,000 incentive for students to become teaching fellows at Elon.

“I knew applying for colleges that financially my parents weren’t able to provide a lot for me in terms of paying for tuition,” junior teaching fellow Amy Sharpe said. “[Elon] was my first choice and I knew I wanted to teach, but I knew if I didn’t get some sort of scholarship, I wouldn’t be able to do it. I was the only one from my high school to get this scholarship.”

For Sharpe and other students for whom a scholarship is the only option, Elon’s program is unbeatable.

“There is no question that the fellows programs are our lifeline,” Zaiser said. “I think if we didn’t have the teaching fellows program, we would have 25 fewer North Carolina residents attending.”

He explained that Elon is predisposed to accepting students from the northeast who might seek warmer weather and close contact with professors.

Zaiser said Elon has made a conscious effort in the last few decades to focus recruiting efforts in certain areas of the country more heavily than others, such as Ohio, Maryland and New England.

“About 40 years ago, there was a deliberate attempt to go to places where there wasn’t an Elon,” Zaiser said.

New Jersey was the first state to receive greater attention by admissions staff members. Today, New England and the Mid-Atlantic are the focus. Of the top 10 feeder states, only four are south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The second most contributing state is Maryland, representing about 10 percent of students. Virginia, in third place, contributes about 8 percent, though Connecticut and Massachusetts are beginning to make a greater showing.

A reception in the Boston area the evening of Oct. 1 yielded more than 300 attendees; almost double that of previous years. This year’s freshman class had about 1,500 applications from Massachusetts and Connecticut alone, Zaiser said.

“We have to go where there’s interest in our school,” Zaiser said.

More and more the whole country and some of the world is getting interested, with Elon’s students coming from 46 states and 45 countries, the admissions office is optimistic for even greater diversity in the future.

Copy Edtior: Bethany Swanson - 10/31/07