Gary Swegan has been the university's Associate Vice President for Enrollment Planning and Management for the past 15 months, and has felt all along that Fall 2015 would be the university's turning point.


"We do believe we will stabilize the enrollment and maybe see a modest up tick," said Swegan "But then we think we're going to do it again, and again."


While it's too soon to know for sure how enrollment will look this fall, so far the numbers are good.


Freshman applications are up 125 percent.


Those offered admission is up 70 percent.


And those showing a firm interest by signing up for orientation is up about 40 percent.


"So each successive barometer is a little bit less favorable but, still extraordinary favorable. If we could end anywhere close to that we would be thrilled and start to see a very positive impact to the overall enrollment," said Swegan.


To help achieve their goal, President Jim Tressel has been visiting high schools outside the Mahoning Valley.


"We've been out with President Tressel to about 20 high schools, seeing as many as 16-hundred students at a time in big assemblies," said Swegan. "That would be access that Youngstown State would typically not have an opportunity to get in schools that are outside the Mahoning Valley."


The university is also paying Royall and Company, a student recruitment firm, $300-thousand for a year of service. The money was privately raised, so it doesn't come from university funds.


"For everyone one hundred students that we increase enrollment by we generate about one million dollars, so you can do the math backwards and say a 30 student increase would justify the cost of hiring Royal," said Swegan. "And our feeling is if we don't do significantly better than that then we've got bigger problems."