Penn State applications down 32% in last two years (most expensive public U. in the US)
http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-penn-state-applications-down-20130426,0,2146744.story
"As of Monday, Penn State received 53,872 applications from prospective students who want to be part of the university's freshman class in the 2013-2014 academic year.... Last year at this time, that number was higher, at 59,353
.....The 2013-2014 application numbers are off pace significantly from 2011-2012, when the university saw a record of 78,873 people applying for admission."
The administration blames a decreasing number of high school graduates in the northeast. However, a comparison published by the New York Times showed that Penn State by far had the biggest drop in applications this year of any major university that provided data.
The mis-handling of the Sandusky scandal also is a factor. Some students also may have been turned off by the football sanctions that were accepted by the Penn State Board (including boardmember Corbett).
Let's also keep in mind that Penn State has consistently been the most expensive public college in the US for in-state tuition - it currently ranges from $16,000 to $20,000 in-state depending upon the program. No one knows what the cost will be next year, because the Penn State Board doesn't set them until July - which is 2 months after incoming students need to pick their college.
In addition, Penn State has suffered from major state budget cuts during the Corbett years. University Park also has a shortage of on-campus housing, which can mean high housing costs for students.
(My two kids recently went through the college selection process, and several private and out of state public universities offered each of them merit aid that brought their cost down below in-state Penn State).
Penn State has never been known for providing significant merit or need based aid to students. Once Penn State saw the drop in applications, they recently added a couple thousand dollars of merit aid to some incoming students who had not yet placed a deposit for admission. Most of that aid is only good for the first two years.
Meanwhile, Penn State-University Park is probably the only selective public university in the US that does NOT GIVE ANY preference in admissions to residents of their own state. University Park is now about 1/3 out of state residents.