Local high school seniors will receive mail letters within the week, encouraging them to make Midwestern their university. This is one of many marketing strategies Keith Lamb, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management, has developed to attract freshman.

Lamb said MSU plans to address the 4.9 percent enrollment drop by recruiting more students from the Metroplex as well as the Oklahoma City area. He said there are also plans to expand the availability of online classes to cater to distance education students.

Area high school counselors have explained the reasons why students from the surrounding region are turning to other universities other than MSU that are not so close to home.

According to Burkburnett High School counselor Susie Nix, some students simply want a change of scenery, which means moving away from the Wichita Falls area to expand their horizons.

“In some cases, [high school seniors] either want to get away from certain people or situations that they have grown up with,” Nix said.  “Occasionally, it is because they have family elsewhere or they have been raised to attend the university the family has attended.”

Skyler Warrick, 20, is a junior from Wellington, Texas. Warrick said students from small towns tend to want to escape from the small-town mentality and hone their skills at larger universities.

Similarly, many students wish to be farther away from their parents and the people they grew up with.

In addition, larger universities usually entail larger cities with exponentially greater opportunities.

“Most of my graduating class actually chose to attend West Texas A&M,” Warrick said. “The main reason I chose MSU, is because I am on a basketball scholarship.”

Had Warrick not received her basketball scholarship, she would have been more likely to attend a D1 university out-of-state, she said.

“If students want to attend MSU in order to obtain a broadcasting degree, one must actually graduate with a major in mass communication, with a minor in broadcasting.”

Warrick said this is not the case at larger universities in Texas, which tend to have more specific degree plans, she said.

Ryan McKelvy, 22, a first-year history graduate, grew up in Wichita Falls, but attended high school in Rockwall, half an hour away from the Metroplex area.

McKelvy said most students from Rockwall choose Midwestern, because they want to be more than a short drive away from their hometowns and parents.

“Sure, there are closer universities to Rockwall than Wichita Falls, but MSU is just the right amount of distance away from their parents, without being too far away or out-of-state,” McKelvy said.

Barbara Merkle, director of admissions, said area students use a vast number of search engines, including social media outlets, when shopping for a college that is right for them.

“For the fall 2012 semester, we received 3208 applications from beginning freshmen, and we admitted 1532,” she said.

MSU tries to go above and beyond in order to encourage students to enroll, Merkle said.

“We never discourage students from attending our university and those who aren’t admissible are shown the proper steps to make them become admissible,” she said.

For many reasons, some freshmen and sophomores still choose to either withdraw completely or transfer to another university, despite the valiant efforts of MSU to retain those students.

“There are so many variables.  Sometimes its grades – families struggling with the economy may not want a student on academic probation to return. Sometimes its personal reasons, or work or health-related,” she said.

Nonetheless, Rider High School Counselor Julie Johnson believes that there is a misconception amongst high school seniors that entrance to MSU is a simple application process where the student can “settle” for a Wichita Falls university.

“I think a lot of high school seniors in Wichita Falls just assume they can always go to MSU and they are surprised when they do not meet admissions qualifications,” Johnson said.

Johnson said when she thinks of MSU, she thinks of a beautiful campus, smaller classes, and good academics.

However, according to Johnson, the number one reason she believes enrollment at MSU is declining is simply the declining economy.

“I think many more are beginning at Vernon College and then plan to transfer,” she said.