Alma Mater Makeover

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 30, 1999 | by Andrea Billups

Women's schools are hot, the result of savvy marketing and revamped programs.

Girl power is taking center stage in more places than the soccer field. Applications at many of the nation's 79 women's colleges are on the rise for the eighth year in a row, following a similar trend in enrollment growth at all-girl schools around the country.

"Students are seeking the value-added education that a women's college provides -- the mentoring, the hands-on opportunities in science and technology and the talent-developing approach of the teaching," says Jadwiga S. Sebrechts, president of the Women's College Coalition.

At Marymount College in Tarrytown, N.Y., the number of applications is up 35 percent over last year, the highest it has been in 20 years, says Michaelita Quinn, the college's vice president of enrollment management and student affairs. This year's freshman class will be the biggest in the school's history.

At Wells College, a 131-year-old women's college in Aurora, N.Y., the picture is equally bright. Two years ago, enrollment hit a 20-year low. This year, the number of applications has increased by 37 percent and the incoming freshman class is 61 percent larger than last year's group, according to De Villo Sloan, the school's director of public relations.

Women's colleges have become more aggressive marketers, launching ambitious fund-raising campaigns and touting their ability to empower women. "I have noticed more women in recent years choose a college where they know they will be developed as strong leaders in their own right as women," says Quinn.

Studies of single-sex education have found that women enrolled in those schools participate more fully in and out of class, says Sebrechts. They have more opportunities to be leaders on campus, are more likely to graduate and are more satisfied with their college experience.

"There is a lot of very compelling research out there about the benefits of a single-sex education, and the students and their parents are hearing those messages," says Sloan.

Naomi Adams, 19, a junior at New York City's Barnard College, says she doesn't feel like she has missed out by not having men in her classes. Barnard, she says, "reaffirms what I can be. It's just beyond being stronger. It makes me understand the significance of what women can do."

The reputation of women's colleges has changed over the years, say administrators. Colleges that once were seen as fluffy finishing schools where rich young women were groomed to be ladies of distinction have become rigorous academic institutions that attract students from around the world. About 45 percent of all students at women's colleges also receive some kind of financial aid, according to coalition reports.

Many graduates of women's schools, buoyed by the supportive learning environment, go on to become leaders in business and public service. Those students feel a responsibility to give back, not only financially, she said, but by helping recruit other bright young women who will benefit from an education at a women's college.

"Women's colleges have led the movement to help women return to college later in life," says Lisa Marsh Ryerson, who has served as president of Wells College for five years and is an alumna. "I'm so proud of what has happened."