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Freshmen Flock To USF's St. Petersburg Campus

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By ADAM EMERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 11, 2008

ST. PETERSBURG - Brandon Reed didn't know what to make of the letter he got from the University of South Florida.

The news came with an unusual offer: Wait for a spot to open at USF in Tampa or attend the university's growing St. Petersburg campus in the fall.

With that, Reed joined hundreds of prospective freshmen squeezed out of the Tampa campus in the university's most competitive admissions season ever.

About 1,200 students who applied to USF Tampa were given the option of attending USF St. Petersburg. About 120 accepted, helping boost the Pinellas County campus' modest freshman enrollment by 58 percent from last year. Most who didn't – more than 800 – were dumped from the wait list because there were no other spots for them.

Like many others who weighed the decision, however, Reed, a Central Florida high school graduate, was not immediately enticed by St. Petersburg. He knew nothing about the waterfront campus before receiving USF's offer, and he didn't think it was as good as the school in Tampa.

"Of course, I was disappointed," said Reed, 18. "I wanted to have the college experience, the huge campus."

That changed when he visited the St. Petersburg campus last spring. "Everything was new," he said, including a residence hall at the doorstep of the city's downtown that allows a three-minute walk to all his classes.

He took the offer, forgoing acceptance letters to Florida State University and the University of Central Florida in Orlando. "I'm planning on staying here," he said.

USF officials haven't yet decided if they'll make similar admissions offers for the next school year, but undergraduate admissions director Bob Spatig said each campus "was pleased with the arrangement."

There was little room for growth at Tampa, the university's largest with about 39,000 students, and that won't change next year. With orders to freeze its freshmen numbers at last year's levels of about 3,500 students, USF anticipates becoming more selective while considering more applications.

Its selectivity has been a blessing to the St. Petersburg campus, however. The campus, which today enrolls 3,745 undergraduate and graduate students – and could eventually more than double its student body, university leaders say – got its own accreditation two years ago and has been heavily recruiting freshmen ever since.

School Courts Younger Students

The campus, which got its start in an old military complex 43 years ago, has long catered to the older, returning student, but lately has aggressively marketed its 2-year-old residence hall to more traditional students.

This fall, that residence hall reached capacity for the first time with 350 students, and many of them came from far outside Pinellas County, long the traditional base for the campus.

In 2006, 67 percent of the freshman class at St. Petersburg came from Pinellas County. This fall, that share dropped to 48 percent. The number of freshmen who came from outside the Tampa Bay area tripled from two years ago to 91 students.

In addition, the St. Petersburg campus drew students from 142 Florida high schools this fall, up from 98 in 2006.

Campus leaders point to more than just the admissions policies of its big sister in Tampa as the reasons for its growth. Kent Kelso, USF St. Petersburg's regional vice chancellor for student affairs, said the campus has stepped up its tours and sent mailers to more high school students outside Pinellas County.

"The future of this campus is the freshman class," Kelso said.

Accreditors Have Come Knocking

Its growth has come with growing pains, though. In July, USF St. Petersburg learned that it was placed on probation with the Southern Association of College and Schools Commission on Colleges. Accreditors said the campus fell short on two standards that measure student progress, including those that document student competency in college-level general education. The campus met 87 other accrediting standards.

It has a year to convince accreditors that it can comply, and Norine Noonan, regional vice chancellor for academic affairs, said she's devoting 50 percent of her job to make that happen.

When asked how threatening the thought of probation is to the university, Noonan quipped, "There's nothing like a hanging to focus the mind."

The campus also is feeling is own budget pains. While it has room to grow, USF St. Petersburg lost $3.1 million in state aid and cut 7 percent of its course sections for this fall and eliminated nine vacant faculty jobs.

"I feel like we're in the starting blocks," Kelso said. "The only thing that's stopping us now is the budget."

Signs Of Growth

Meanwhile, work has started on a new $12 million science and technology building that will rise in the center of campus. Student leaders say the residence hall, built at a cost of $18 million, has been the catalyst for the growing number of student groups on campus.

In 2006, there were 16 student groups at USF St. Petersburg. Today, there are 55.

"There are more students here, there are younger students here and there are more students who are willing to participate," said Chris Talley, the campus' student government president.

That happened, in part, because administrators "rolled out the red carpet" for the students interested in coming to St. Petersburg, Kelso said.

The campus didn't actively court all the 1,300 students on the USF Tampa wait list, Kelso said. When students accepted the offer, though, campus leaders sent them all the information they could, knowing most had little knowledge of student life there.

One of those students was Melanie Leal of Coral Springs. Leal applied to USF, her preferred choice over Florida International University and Florida State University. When USF told her about St. Petersburg, the 18-year-old took a week to weigh the decision with her family and friends.

"I wanted to go to a big school," she said, admitting she knew nothing about the St. Petersburg campus. The new dorms and the downtown waterfront setting, though, appealed to her.

"You can walk anywhere here," she said.

Reporter Adam Emerson can be reached at (813) 259-8285 or aemerson@tampatrib.com.

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