GoalQuest Inc. and Western Oregon University today announced significant increases in the diversity and academic credentials of the school’s first-year class following the implementation of several Web-based recruiting and yield programs. Improvements in the WOU 2006-2007 enrollment cycle versus last year’s results include:

• An increase in the average GPA of entering freshmen, from 3.19 in 2005 to 3.26 in 2006.
• A 50 percent improvement in the number of students who ranked first in their high school graduating class. In addition, the number of students ranked in the top 20 percent of their senior class rose from 178 to 205.
• A 44 percent increase among minority applicants and a 34 percent increase in the number of minority students offered admission. Among those admitted, 20 percent more students registered for classes this year.
• An overall increase in the percentage of minority students in the freshman class – from 9.11 percent in 2005 to 11.23 percent in 2006.
• A 600 percent increase in the enrollment of international students.

WOU utilizes three GoalQuest programs: eCRUIT™, which helps colleges increase the quantity and quality of their application pool; EYOp™ (Enrollment Yield Optimization), a pre-orientation program designed to help yield more admitted students and prepare them for college success; and PICS:EYOp™ (Parents Involved in College Selection), a dynamic e-resource that supports parents of admitted students as their sons and daughters prepare for college.

	GoalQuest Web Site E-mail Inquiries and Sales GoalQuest eCRUIT™ GoalQuest EYOp™

Each program combines features such as custom-written editorial content, interactive survey questions to track participant feedback as well as virtual communities through which admitted students begin building relationships with others before they arrive on campus. A version of this community, which utilizes GoalQuest’s UPeers™, is also made available to parents of admitted students.

"The eCRUIT and EYOp programs helped us to a great degree, especially in recruitment and retention of students from out of the region," said Rob Findtner, director of admissions at WOU. "The programs had a particular impact on students who did not have the opportunity to visit campus, by giving them a detailed perspective on our university as well as the opportunity to immerse themselves virtually in academic and campus life. The GoalQuest tools have truly enhanced the diversity and quality of the student body."

According to Gregory Zeleny, GoalQuest vice president of client services, "We are extremely pleased to see our enrollment management programs helping WOU meet – and even exceed – their expectations for expanding diversity and improving overall student quality. We believe that the combination of our expert-written content and powerful real-time intelligence tools will continue to play a central role in the University’s strategic goals for diversity and student achievement."

About Western Oregon University
Western Oregon University (WOU), a leading liberal arts school, is committed to changing lives, strengthening communities and transforming the world. Located in the Monmouth-Independence area, the heart of Oregon’s lush Willamette Valley, WOU is about 20 minutes from Salem, the state’s capital and about 75 miles from Portland, the state’s cultural hub. Founded in 1856, WOU, the oldest institution in the Oregon University system, has continued to adapt and transform itself to the needs of society and a changing world. From its origins as a normal school, WOU has become a nationally recognized leader in teacher preparation. In the seventies, WOU expanded its offerings with broad-based liberal education programs. Since then, the University has continued to emerge as a leading comprehensive public liberal arts institution, with approximately two-thirds of its students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the rest in the College of Education.