For many decades Case Western Reserve University, like many of its peers, had a strong regional flair. Just as universities such as Emory and Tulane attracted students from the South, CWRU was a place for Ohioans.  

Ohio’s first Black congresswoman and Cleveland native Stephanie Tubbs Jones spent her undergraduate years there. So, too, did Paul Lauterbur, a Nobel Prize winner, from rural Ohio, as well as Cameron Brown, a current coach for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers who graduated from Westlake High School. 

As recently as 2009, just about one out of every two undergrads came from Ohio. 

Now, it’s less than one out of every five. 

Enrollment has nearly doubled over that time. Though Ohio natives still make up the biggest chunk of the university’s now nearly 6,200 undergraduate students, enrollment from states such as California and Texas as well as outside the United States is climbing rapidly.  

And as the university works to boost its national profile, the number of Ohioans it serves is trending downward. 

These are the kind of trend lines that may worry Ohio politicians, who continue to stress how vital it is for the state and its workforce to keep homegrown – and educated – talent here for college and beyond. 

“We are blessed with great colleges and universities and have become a net importer of college students from other states,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said at his April State of the State address. “But we must keep more of our students in Ohio.”  

CWRU wants the ‘very best Ohio students’ 

Case Western Reserve occupies a massive space, both physically and figuratively, in Cleveland and its University Circle neighborhood. It’s the only university in the city – and one of just five in the state – to earn a prestigious distinction for completing lots of important research. 

Last fall’s first-year class boasted impressive credentials. Nearly three-quarters of them graduated in the top 10% of their high school class. About 60% planned to major in  engineering, math or science. 

CWRU says it still wants to serve Ohio’s best and brightest. But it’s balancing attracting top Ohio students with its desire to become an ever-more-national university.

Ohio’s shifting demographics are one reason. As the number of high school graduates continues to decline, school officials say it’s important to make sure they have a big enough market to land the high-caliber students they want to attract. 

“We want all of the very best Ohio students we can get,” said Rick Bischoff, the university’s vice president for enrollment management.   

But one local private college consultant, who did not want to be named in the story in order to speak freely, said the school’s outreach has changed. 

One example the consultant pointed to was how the university eliminated in-person admissions interviews with local applicants. Case officials confirmed they no longer do those interviews for any interested student from anywhere.

They said they could no longer meet the demand as the school grows in popularity. Plus, they said those interviews aren’t used in admissions decisions. 

Tracking CWRU’s enrollment changes

CWRU balances getting top talent with local responsibility

Bischoff said the university is continuing to recruit “very aggressively” in Ohio. He and his team are visiting schools, posting up at college fairs and buying names from standardized test companies to introduce themselves to high school students across the Buckeye State. 

And when school officials talk about recruiting the state’s top talent, they’re talking about students such as Jacob Hannan.

After scoring a perfect 36 on his ACT during his time at Wooster High School, he whittled his college decision down to Ohio State University and CWRU. Staying near his family was important. Each campus is less than two hours from his home. 

One difference: The state’s flagship university is cheaper. Much cheaper, in fact. Tuition and fees are listed as $13,240 for in-state undergrads at Ohio State. CWRU’s tuition and fees are about $67,375.

It’s important to note, though, that most students don’t pay those colleges’ full sticker prices thanks to scholarships and financial aid. CWRU now also meets full demonstrated need – or the difference between what a student and/or their family can pay and the school’s cost of attendance – for admitted students.  

Hannan chose CWRU despite the price difference. He liked the personality of the campus more. Plus, the rising sophomore said, his pick offered “quite a bit better access to opportunities, like teaching assistantships and research opportunities, at the undergraduate level than competitors in the area.”

Beyond who they enroll, universities can impact their states and communities in a range of ways. Engaging with Cleveland more broadly has been “very, very central” to Eric Kaler’s presidency since he took over the university’s top spot in 2021, Bischoff said.

The university offered social workers in the city a chance to take classes for free. A community engagement center is slated to open later this month. And this fall, 64 recent graduates from Cleveland and East Cleveland schools will enroll for free as part of a new program called Cleveland Scholars. 

What it means for CWRU to push its national ambitions 

But the university said serving the Jacob Hannans of Ohio needs to be balanced with its bigger ambitions to grow its national footprint. 

Bischoff uses the phrase “national university” – a lot. To him, from an enrollment standpoint, he said it means he can pop into classrooms from San Francisco to Chagrin Falls and find people who know about the college where he’s worked for nearly 15 years. 

In some ways, Case has struggled on this front. An August Reddit thread in a popular forum about nationwide college admissions asked a question that may make the university’s administration wince: Why don’t more people apply to Case Western?

Users listed all kinds of reasons in more than 60 comments. No brand name recognition, some surmised. Lots of others said it was the location. A few said they thought the university has a lack of prestige.  

A record 39,000 people applied to be part of last fall’s freshmen class. The university admitted nearly 11,200, or nearly a third, of them. Only about 14% – about 1,500 students – enrolled. That percentage is what’s known in higher ed as CWRU’s “yield rate.” 

Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University’s most recent yield rate was double that. Emory University in Georgia came in at about 40%, while the University of Rochester’s clocked in around 20%. 

About 33% of CWRU’s class of 2023 got a job in Ohio 

And at the same time, there are ramifications after graduation, too. 

Ohio State ranked higher than CWRU in the most recent roundup of U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of national universities, taking over the Cleveland school’s former spot as the highest-ranked institution in the state. The slip earned an impassioned editorial from CWRU’s student newspaper. 

The two universities have different missions – and their students’ post-grad plans differ, too. 

About 7,000 members of Ohio State’s class of 2023 responded to a survey asking about their post-grad plans. Roughly half of respondents said they already accepted a job, and out of that group, more than 70% said the position was in the state.

CWRU did a survey of its own. About 650 members of that class said they looked for a full-time job after graduation. Out of that group, about 200 – or nearly 33% of respondents – said they were staying to live and work in Ohio.

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