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The University of Colorado Boulder is reporting a record number of applicants for the fall 2024 semester and a 50.5% increase in Black applicants – both of which may be partly due to the “Prime Effect” of hiring Deion Sanders to coach the school’s football team in December 2022.
Since the hiring of “Coach Prime,” the school has been flush with national publicity and was one of the most-watched college football teams in the nation in 2023 even though the Buffaloes finished 4-8. The school said Friday it has received and processed a record 67,664 applications for first-year students, up nearly 20% from last year and climbing. The admissions office is still processing late applications.
“It’s really hard to say if this is in any way related to Coach Prime,” university spokesman Steve Hurlbert said in response to questions from USA TODAY Sports. “The exposure that CU Boulder has received since Coach Prime was hired has been tremendous and certainly being showcased in a number of national media outlets is helpful for attracting applicants, but it’s difficult to draw a direct causational line between Coach Prime and this increase. Many of our peer universities have also noted higher application numbers this year, so CU Boulder is not an anomaly among other institutions of higher education.”
How will this affect Colorado’s enrollment demographics?
Sanders, who is Black, also brought a large following from the Black community to CU Boulder, which is mostly white. Last year, the university’s undergraduate population of 30,707 was mostly white (67.8), with Black students making up only 2.8%.
It’s not clear yet how these demographics will change with the increase in applicants. Hurlbert said the school is taking applications until July 31, and a large number of the applicants might not enroll.
The school…
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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/black-applications-soar-colorado-coach-015419387.html
Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2024-03-09 01:54:19
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