Sumner acknowledged his appreciation, and that of the full Committee, for all members of the Committee and especially those departing members (Dani Gazibara, graduating senior, and Professors Montgomery and Cunningham), as well as the fact that this was the last meeting of the academic year.

Sumner also announced that he was collecting some information regarding the Iowa Academic All-Stars and their interest in Grinnell College. He said he was doing this because of both the Committee's past interest in this program and the College's Board of Trustees interest in the enrollment of more Iowa students. Sumner promised to distribute the information in June.

Sumner provided an update on the current year admission cycle, making note of a few points in particular;
1) The class will be full and academically excellent.
2) Applications ended the cycle up by over 22% compared to 2003.
3) He is concerned about both net tuition revenue (NTR) and the enrollment of new students of color. Although it is too early to tell about either of these important class features, Sumner noted the increased competition for new students of color. The College had an increase in both the number of applicants of color and the admitted students, but he fears it will be difficult to reach his goal of another increase in new enrollees of color. Regarding NTR Sumner noted that last year we had over a $1 M negative swing in the NTR of new students between May 15 and Sept. 15 due to the loss of 39 mostly low-need and no-need students over the summer. He hopes to void that situation this summer with special anti-melt activities aimed at low-need and no-need students, as well as students of color.
4) Sumner also announced that some students are likely to be admitted from the wait list due to his fear of summer deposit melt, and the greater then ever pressure from many members of the College community to see students of special interest to them admitted.

The Committee then discussed the concluding year as well as potential agenda items for the 2004-05 academic year. Two suggestions seemed to rise to the top of a possible agenda;
1) Update on the admission and financial aid policies for international students in light of the strategic planning process that is winding down. The Committee spent a great deal of time on this topic during the 2002-03 academic year, ultimately deciding to wait out the then emerging planning process and see how/if it addressed the topic.
2) The marketing of the College. Jim Swartz said that he thought we could improve our message about our curriculum to both make the college sound more distinctive and to send a more aspirational message to prospective students. He believes that there should be a better descriptor than 'open curriculum', but does not know what it is.

The meeting was adjourned at 1:05 PM.

--Jim Sumner