Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Alumnae are women with a plan.  Our approach to preserving the single-sex, Catholic identity of our College includes a comprehensive plan that ensures the College enrollment grows, without sacrificing high academic standards.

SMWC RENAISSANCE PLAN

 Purpose

The SMWC Women Alumnae Coalition hereby commits to creating a renaissance of the oldest, Catholic women’s college in America.

To rebuild Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College’s national reputation as an academically competitive women’s college.

To boost Saint Mary-of-the-Woods’ enrollment for the 2016-17 Academic Year and to keep SMWC as a Women’s College for generations to come.

To assist with the promotion of the value of a SMWC education to potentially undecided students for 2015-16.

To maintain high academic standards for current and incoming students.

To restore Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College’s identity as a Catholic college.

Factual Basis

Between 2009 and 2012, applications to women’s colleges, nationally, increased 54%.

Between 2010 and 2014, enrollment at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College declined over 20%, with enrollment in 2014 falling to 284 students.

At the height of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College’s enrollment, the residential program did not exceed 400 students.

The College has cut numerous academic majors over the past ten years, resulting in a limited number of majors and, therefore, a limited number of potential students in an already specialized market.

There are 38 of Catholic high schools in the Chicago area, 11 are all girls (9 are all boys).

There are 2 Catholic high schools in South Bend.

There are 3 of Catholic high schools in the Dayton area.

There are 7 Catholic high schools in Indianapolis.

The Los Angeles Archdiocese has no less than 45 Catholic high schools, with 17 in the City of Los Angeles — 6 of those are all girls, 5 are all boys.

The San Diego Diocese has six Catholic high schools.

The Phoenix area has six Catholic high schools. One of them is all girls (one on them also is all boys).

Milwaukee has seven Catholic high schools (one all boys)

Implementation

The Commitment of the Alumnae Coalition

 The Alumnae Coalition commits to recruiting 20 new resident students, enrolled for the 2016-17 academic year. Adding 20 additional resident students per incoming class would bring enrollment to 364 in four years.

A coalition of Woods Alumnae Coalition, who have backgrounds in marketing, law, education,  public relations, and organizing to create change commits to assisting the college with researching marketing or public relations companies and looking for donors to assist with the cost of hiring the firm selected.

This Coalition will create recruiting teams in the following cities, which have established alumnae connections and committed Coalition members:

• Chicago
• South Bend
• Indianapolis
• Phoenix
• Los Angeles
• San Diego
• Milwaukee,
• St. Louis, and
• Dayton.

These teams will attend recruiting events at Catholic high schools, equestrian competitions, and other activities geared to young women considering college, as representatives of the College.

The resident students recruited and placed at SMWC by the Alumnae Coalition will be:

in the top 35% of their high school class;

in the top 30% nationally of the SAT or ACT exams; or

demonstrate other potential for academic achievement, as shown through exceptional public service or sports performance.

Alumnae Coalition teams will track their recruiting efforts by student identifier, school, high school graduation year, and city.

Alumnae Coalition teams will report to the College what they need to recruit at specific events, in terms of marketing materials.

The coalition will commit to raising additional dollars earmarked for marketing and admissions efforts for SMWC as a women’s college.

Each year, at Reunion and the annual meeting of the National Alumnae Association, the Alumnae Coalition will present specific statistics about its recruiting efforts to the Alumnae Association and the College. This report will include the number of students recruited by city, high school, reported ethnic background, reported faith background, grade point, academic testing score, and whether or not she accepted admission to the College.

Commitment Required from SMWC

The College will add to its curriculum the Renaissance Program, which allows students to customize liberal arts-based majors. This addition to the College’s curriculum will attract students, who would not be willing to attend SMWC, because of its limited number of majors.

The Renaissance Program will require that the student maintain a 3.0 GPA, therefore ensuring that the College’s academic reputation is not further diluted.

The College will delay the implementation of its co-educational plan until the fall semester of 2017.

The College will increase its recruiting efforts, with a goal of signing 75 students per class, in addition to the 20 students recruited by the Alumnae Coalition.

The College will assign specific admissions counselors to the Alumnae Coalition recruiting teams, to share information and ensure follow-up with recruited students.

The College will match the cost of attending SMWC with in-state university tuition for each students recruited by the Alumnae Coalition. So, if a student is from California, the College will match the cost of attending a California state university. If a student is from Indiana, the College will match the cost of attending an Indiana state university.

The College will meet with a marketing or public relations firm and consider proposals to boost the brand of SMWC as a women’s college.

The College will approach key donors to assist with funding of the branding/marketing efforts of the College as a women’s college.

The College will be transparent with current students, alumnae, to include specific recruiting information by state, city, high school, and recruited student identifier disclosed to representatives of the Alumnae Coalition.

The College will effectively follow-up with any interested students and their parents, with copies of correspondence to the Alumnae Coalition recruiter assigned to the student.

This approach will:

1)        allow the current juniors and seniors to graduate from the women’s college to which they committed.

2)         Set a specific date by which to measure the Alumnae Coalition’s marketing efforts.

The Alumnae Coalition is willing to do what it takes to protect our beloved alma mater, without compromising the integrity of the College.  We now ask for the same commitment from the College administration and Board of Trustees.