Fewer students from Ohio at Case Western Reserve University

For many decades, Case Western Reserve University, like many of its peers, had a strong regional flavor. Just as universities like Emory and Tulane attracted students from the South, CWRU was a place for Ohioans.

Ohio's first black congresswoman and Cleveland native Stephanie Tubbs Jones attended college there, as did Nobel Prize winner Paul Lauterbur from rural Ohio, and Cameron Brown, the current NFL coach for the San Francisco 49ers, who graduated from Westlake High School.

Still in 2009, almost every second student came from Ohio.

Today it is less than one in five.

Enrollment has nearly doubled during that time. Although most of the nearly 6,200 students now come from Ohio, enrollment from states such as California and Texas, as well as from other parts of the United States, is growing rapidly.

And while the university is working to increase its national profile, the number of Ohioans it serves is declining.

Such trends are likely to worry Ohio politicians, who repeatedly emphasize how important it is for the state and its workforce to keep homegrown – and well-educated – talent in the country for college and beyond.

“We are blessed with great colleges and universities and have become a net importer of college students from other states,” Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said in his State of the State address in April. “But we need to keep more of our students in Ohio.”

CWRU wants the “very best students in Ohio”

Case Western Reserve occupies a vast physical and figurative space in Cleveland and its University Circle neighborhood. It is the only university in the city—and one of only five in the state—to receive a prestigious award for conducting a variety of important research.

Last fall's freshmen had impressive credentials. Almost three-quarters of them were in the top 10 percent of their high school class. About 60 percent wanted to study engineering, mathematics or natural sciences.

CWRU says it wants to continue to attract Ohio's best and brightest, but it must balance the appeal of Ohio's best students with its desire to become an increasingly nationally focused university.

One reason is Ohio's changing demographics. As the number of high school graduates continues to decline, school officials say it's important to make sure the market is large enough to attract the high-caliber students they want to attract.

“We want the very best students from Ohio that we can get,” said Rick Bischoff, the university's vice president for enrollment management.

But an adviser at a local private college, who asked not to be identified in the article so he could speak freely, said the college's commitment has changed.

One example the consultant cited was that the university had eliminated in-person admissions interviews with domestic applicants. Admissions officers confirmed that they no longer conduct such interviews with interested students from other countries.

They said they could no longer keep up with demand as the school became more popular. Additionally, these interviews were not taken into account in the admissions decision.

Tracking enrollment changes at CWRU

CWRU creates a balance between attracting top talent and local responsibility

Bischoff said the university continues to recruit “very aggressively” in Ohio. He and his team visit schools, exhibit at college fairs and shop around for names from standardized testing companies to get in front of high school students across the Buckeye State.

And when school officials talk about recruiting the state's best talent, they're talking about students like Jacob Hannan.

After achieving a perfect score of 36 on the ACT test during his time at Wooster High School, he chose Ohio State University and CWRU. Being close to his family was important to him, and each campus is less than two hours from his home.

One difference: The state's flagship university is cheaper. Much cheaper, in fact. Tuition and fees for Ohio State students are $13,240. CWRU's tuition and fees are about $67,375.

It's important to note, however, that most students don't pay the full list prices of these colleges, thanks to scholarships and financial aid. CWRU also now covers the full demonstrated need – or the difference between what a student and/or their family can pay and the school's tuition – for admitted students.

Despite the price difference, Hannan chose CWRU because he liked the character of the campus better. Additionally, the rising sophomore said his choice offered “much better access to opportunities such as teaching assistantships and research opportunities at the undergraduate level than the competition in the area.”

Universities can not only admit students, but also impact their states and communities in many ways. Broader engagement in Cleveland has been “very, very central” to Eric Kaler's presidency since he took over as the university's helm in 2021, Bischoff said.

The university offered social workers in the city the opportunity to take classes for free. A community engagement center is set to open later this month. And this fall, 64 graduates from schools in Cleveland and East Cleveland will enroll for free in a new program called Cleveland Scholars.

What it means for the CWRU to advance its national ambitions

However, the university felt that its support for Ohio's Jacob Hannans needed to be balanced with its larger ambitions to expand its national presence.

Bischoff uses the phrase “national university” — a lot. From an enrollment perspective, he says it means he can walk into classrooms from San Francisco to Chagrin Falls and meet people who know the college he's worked at for nearly 15 years.

In some ways, Case is struggling on that front. In an August Reddit thread on a popular forum about nationwide college admissions, a question was asked that might make university administrators cringe: Why don't more people apply to Case Western?

In over 60 comments, users cited a variety of reasons. Some suspected a lack of brand awareness. Many others said it was due to the location. Some said the university lacked prestige.

Last fall, a record 39,000 people applied for freshman year. The university accepted nearly 11,200 of them, or almost a third. Only about 14%—about 1,500 students—enrolled. This percentage is known in higher education as CWRU's “yield rate.”

The most recent yield rate at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh was twice as high. Emory University in Georgia came in at about 40%, while the University of Rochester was around 20%.

About 33% of the CWRU class of 2023 got a job in Ohio

And at the same time, there are also consequences after graduation.

Ohio State outperformed CWRU in U.S. News and World Report's latest roundup of national university rankings, taking over Cleveland University's former spot as the state's top-ranked institution. The demotion earned a passionate editorial in CWRU's student newspaper.

The missions of the two universities are different – ​​and so are their students’ plans for after graduation.

About 7,000 members of Ohio State University's class of 2023 took a survey asking them about their plans after graduation. About half of respondents said they had already accepted a job, and of that group, more than 70% said the position was in-state.

CWRU conducted its own survey. About 650 members of this class said they were looking for full-time employment after graduation. Of that group, about 200 – or nearly 33% of respondents – said they would stay and live and work in Ohio.

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