Elmira College

Elmira College is located in Elmira, New York. It is a private not-for-profit, 4-year or above institution.

From Wikipedia: Elmira College is a private college in Elmira, New York. Founded as a college for women in 1855, it is the oldest existing college granting degrees to women that were the equivalent of those given to men. Elmira College became coeducational in all of its programs in 1969. As of 2023, the college has an enrollment of approximately 657 students. The school’s colors, purple and gold, are seen throughout the traditional campus, consisting mainly of buildings of the Victorian and Collegiate Gothic architectural styles. The colors purple and gold come from both the banners of the women’s suffrage movement and the iris, the college flower. The octagonal study in which Mark Twain wrote many of his most widely read novels, including A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is located on campus, and the center maintains Quarry Farm, where the Clemens family spent more than twenty summers, as a research facility for Twain scholars. Every four years the college hosts the International Conference On The State of Mark Twain Studies.

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Notes

These are items that bear looking into more closely.

  • This institution’s revenues have tended to decrease over time.

  • This institution’s total assets have tended to decrease over time.

  • This institution’s six year bachelors graduation rate is 55.6%, so approximately 2/5 of undergrads who enroll do not earn a bachelors degree from here.

  • This institution’s full-time undergraduate enrollment has tended to decrease over time.

  • From 2010 to 2021, full time undergraduate enrollment dropped from 1221 to 610, a decline of 50%

Overview of institution

  • Institution kind: Baccalaureate Colleges: Diverse Fields

  • Undergrad program: Professions plus arts & sciences, some graduate coexistence

  • Graduate program: Postbaccalaureate: Business-dominant, with other professional programs

  • Enrollment profile: Very high undergraduate (see more details below)

  • Average net price for undergrads on financial aid: $24,040 (1.2 times the equivalent cost of Harvard).

  • Actual price for your family: Go here to see what your family may be asked to pay. It can be MUCH lower than the average price but also higher for some.

  • Size and setting: Four-year, very small, highly residential

  • In state percentage: 60% of first year students come from New York

  • In US percentage: 90% of first year students come from the US

  • Graduation rate (within 6 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 55.6% (this is what is usually reported as “graduation rate”)

  • Graduation rate (within 4 years) for students seeking a Bachelors: 52.7%

  • Percent of students seeking a Bachelors who transfer out of this institution: 7.3%

  • Student to tenure-stream faculty ratio: 13.3 (undergrads to tenure-stream faculty) [Tenure explained]

  • Student to faculty ratio: 11.8 (undergrads to all faculty)

  • Degrees offered: Associate’s degree, Bachelor’s degree, Postbaccalaureate certificate, Master’s degree

  • Schedule: Four-one-four plan

  • Institution provides on campus housing: Yes

  • Dorm capacity: There are enough dorm beds for 1191 students

  • Freshmen required to live on campus: No

  • Covid vaccination requirement for students: This institution was never reported as requiring covid vaccination for students (based on info from here)

  • Covid vaccination requirement for faculty/staff: This institution was never reported as requiring covid vaccination for faculty and/or staff (based on info from here)

  • Advanced placement (AP) credits used: Yes

  • Disabilities: 10.00 percent of undergrads are registered as having disabilities.

Overview of location

  • Abortion in this state: Very protective (based on https://states.guttmacher.org/policies/ as of May 10, 2023)
  • Gun law stringency: A- (higher grade = more stringent)
  • State rep support for contraception: 76% of US reps from this state voted in favor of legal protections for contraception.
  • State rep support for recognizing same-sex and interracial marriage: 96% of US reps from this state voted in favor of requiring states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages performed in other states
  • Anti-trans legislative risk for adults over the next two years: Safest (based on Erin Reed’s work, as of September 6, 2023)
  • Ecological region: Allegheny Highlands forests
  • Biome: Temperate Broadleaf & Mixed Forests
  • Distance to mountains: 12.2 miles to Appalachian Mountains
  • Climate: See overview at WeatherSpark

Similar institutions

This is using information about school size, acceptance rate, yield rate, graduation rate, cost, athletic conference, and similar metrics, but it can miss important axes of similarity (for example, culinary versus hair styling schools).

Map

Enrollment

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years Trend
Undergrads (full time) 610 (2021) ‘Line
-60 per year
Undergrads (part time) 24 (2021) ‘Line
-26 per year
Grad students (full time) 19 (2021) ‘Line
Grad students (part time) 20 (2021) ‘Line
-14 per year
Admission rate (undergrads) 96% (2022) ‘Line
Yield rate (percent of applicants offered undergraduate admission who accept) 12% (2022) ‘Line
Graduation rate (bachelors in 6 years) 56% (2022) ‘Line
Transfer out rate (bachelors) 7.3% (2022) ‘Line

Student financing

At many universities, almost no students pay the listed tuition and fees (“sticker price”): instead, their financial aid package lowers this dramatically, but how much students pay can vary substantially based on family income and other factors. The tuition below is the average across many students receiving aid: your family may be asked to pay less or more than this.

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years
Average net price (for students awarded aid) $24,040 (2021) ‘Line
Undergrads getting federal aid 55% (2022) ‘Line
Undergrads getting any aid 100% (2022) ‘Line
Undergrads getting Pell grants 41% (2022) ‘Line

Teaching

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years Trend
Undergrads per tenure track instructor (lower is better) 13 (2019) ‘Line
-1.1 per year
Undergrads per instructor (lower is better) 12 (2019) ‘Line
Total instructors 60 (2020) ‘Line
-3.6 per year
Tenure track instructors 50 (2020) ‘Line
-1.6 per year
Non-tenure track instructors 10 (2020) ‘Line

Student details

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years Trend
Dorm capacity 1,191 (2022) ‘Line
-25 per year
Percent of undergrads with registered disabilities (≤3 is rounded up to 3) 10% (2022) ‘Line

Institution finances

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years Trend
Revenue from tution and fees 49% (2022) ‘Line
Revenue $21 M (2022) ‘Line
-$2.6 M per year
Expenses $30 M (2022) ‘Line
-$1.7 M per year
Assets $109 M (2022) ‘Line
-$5.2 M per year

Graduation rates

Graduation rates for bachelor’s degrees within 150% of normal time (6 years for a 4-year degree). Note that this uses US federal demographic data: it only has two genders and a specified set of ethnicities and races. For groups with small numbers, the graduation rate may be highly variable year to year (do all three people in this group graduate this year or just two of three, for example).

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years
Total 56% (2022) ‘Line
Men 47% (2022) ‘Line
Women 60% (2022) ‘Line
American Indian or Alaska Native men 0% (2020) ‘Line
American Indian or Alaska Native women 0% (2022) ‘Line
Asian men 0% (2022) ‘Line
Asian women 60% (2022) ‘Line
Black or African American men 25% (2022) ‘Line
Black or African American women 43% (2022) ‘Line
Hispanic men 33% (2022) ‘Line
Hispanic women 47% (2022) ‘Line
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander women 100% (2022) ‘Line
White men 54% (2022) ‘Line
White women 69% (2022) ‘Line
Two or more races men 0% (2022) ‘Line
Two or more races women 50% (2022) ‘Line

Freshmen demographics

Demographic data for first time degree-seeking students. Note that this uses US federal demographic data: it only has two genders and a specified set of ethnicities and races.

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years
Men (percent freshmen) 41% (2022) ‘Line
Women (percent freshmen) 59% (2022) ‘Line
American Indian or Alaska Native men (percent freshmen) 0% (2022) ‘Line
American Indian or Alaska Native women (percent freshmen) 2.3% (2022) ‘Line
Asian men (percent freshmen) 0.6% (2022) ‘Line
Asian women (percent freshmen) 1.2% (2022) ‘Line
Black or African American men (percent freshmen) 4.7% (2022) ‘Line
Black or African American women (percent freshmen) 1.2% (2022) ‘Line
Hispanic men (percent freshmen) 2.9% (2022) ‘Line
Hispanic women (percent freshmen) 4.7% (2022) ‘Line
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander men (percent freshmen) 0% (2022) ‘Line
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander women (percent freshmen) 0% (2022) ‘Line
White men (percent freshmen) 22% (2022) ‘Line
White women (percent freshmen) 42% (2022) ‘Line
Two or more races men (percent freshmen) 1.2% (2022) ‘Line
Two or more races women (percent freshmen) 2.9% (2022) ‘Line
Race ethnicity unknown men (percent freshmen) 0.6% (2022) ‘Line
Race ethnicity unknown women (percent freshmen) 1.2% (2022) ‘Line
Nonresident alien men (percent freshmen) 4.6% (2021) ‘Line
Nonresident alien women (percent freshmen) 2.6% (2021) ‘Line

Freshmen geography

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years
In state 60% (2022) ‘Line
US 90% (2022) ‘Line
Not reported 0% (2022) ‘Line

Tenure track faculty

Tenure track faculty are those who are eligible for tenure. This includes both pre-tenure and tenured faculty. Once faculty get tenure, they are (generally) protected from being fired for intellectual reasons, helping to ensure their freedom in teaching and research. They can still lose their positions for misconduct, financial problems, not fulfilling their duties, or other reasons. Note that this chart uses US federal demographic data: it only has two genders and a specified set of ethnicities and races.

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years Trend
Total (tenure-track count) 50 (2020) ‘Line
-1.6 per year
Women (tenure-track count) 27 (2020) ‘Line
Men (tenure-track count) 23 (2020) ‘Line
-1.3 per year
American Indian or Alaska Native (tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line
Asian (tenure-track count) 1 (2020) ‘Line
Black or African American (tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line
Hispanic or Latino (tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (tenure-track count) 1 (2020) ‘Line
White (tenure-track count) 46 (2020) ‘Line
Two or more races (tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line
Nonresident alien (tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line

Non-tenure track faculty

Non-tenure track faculty are not eligible for tenure. Some are hired one semester at a time, some have multi-year contracts. They typically have a higher teaching load than tenure track faculty, leaving less time for research or other creative endeavors. They are also easier to fire than tenured faculty. Sometimes they are external experts (a noted musician, a former senator) who are hired to teach some classes without the expected permanence of a tenure-track position. Note that this chart uses US federal demographic data: it only has two genders and a specified set of ethnicities and races.

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years
Total (non-tenure-track count) 10 (2020) ‘Line
Women (non-tenure-track count) 5 (2020) ‘Line
Men (non-tenure-track count) 5 (2020) ‘Line
American Indian or Alaska Native (non-tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line
Asian (non-tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line
Black or African American (non-tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line
Hispanic or Latino (non-tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (non-tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line
White (non-tenure-track count) 9 (2020) ‘Line
Two or more races (non-tenure-track count) 1 (2020) ‘Line
Nonresident alien (non-tenure-track count) 0 (2020) ‘Line

Library facilities

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years Trend
Number of physical books 88,241 (2022) ‘Line
-7,933 per year
Physical library circulations per students and faculty 2.0 (2019) ‘Line
Digital library circulations per students and faculty 1.9 (2019) ‘Line

SAT scores

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years
Applicants submitting SAT 17% (2022) ‘Line
SAT Evidence Based Reading and Writing 25th percentile score 553 (2022) ‘Line
SAT Evidence Based Reading and Writing 75th percentile score 630 (2022) ‘Line
SAT Math 25th percentile score 565 (2022) ‘Line
SAT Math 75th percentile score 642 (2022) ‘Line

ACT scores

Elmira College Change over ≤ 12 years
Applicants submitting ACT 1% (2022) ‘Line
ACT Composite 25th percentile score 17 (2020) ‘Line
ACT Composite 75th percentile score 27 (2020) ‘Line
ACT English 25th percentile score 15 (2020) ‘Line
ACT English 75th percentile score 25 (2020) ‘Line
ACT Math 25th percentile score 16 (2020) ‘Line
ACT Math 75th percentile score 27 (2020) ‘Line

Degrees by major

Bachelors

Masters

Doctorate

Certificate

Associates

Demographic cliff

There is a concern that giving changing US demographics, the number of students in the age groups who most commonly attend four year colleges will drop off, decreasing overall enrollment. This is often referred to as the “demographic cliff”. This concern comes with a lot of assumptions about the rate at which students will want to go to college, students coming from outside the US, what age students are when they go to college, overall immigration and emigration rates, whether there will be more or fewer colleges competing for students, time to degree and dropout rates remaining constant, and much more, but analyses often also look at just the population of the US as a whole, even though there can be substantial variation in growth by region. For this section, I am using US census data on the number of people in each state by age, and the proportion of students that come from each state for this particular college, to crudely model what will happen if everything remains constant except the demographic change in the population of 18 year olds in each year. For selective schools, they could probably change their admission rate and maintain enrollment; for less selective schools, they may need to change their marketing or other strategies to attract more students if they pull from areas with decreasing number of students of “traditional” college age, or, in rare cases, close. If there is no figure below, breakdowns of students by state are not available. Note that this uses just the 50 US states, not other US territories.

Stacked area plot showing trends if enrollment of 18 year olds per state stay constant; it will be 84percent of the current population.

Life expectancy

This hopefully will not be relevant for potential students, but it may be for people moving to an area longer term, such as faculty and staff choosing where to live. This uses information from US National Vital Statistics Reports for 2020; like much federal data, it assumes people are male or female. For age difference from median, it is from the median state, averaging across all genders (one consequence of this is that the difference from the median life expectancy is almost always negative for men).

  • Life expectancy at birth: 80.7 years women (4 years over the median), 74.8 years men (1.9 years below the median)
  • Remaining life expectancy at age 18: 63.2 years women (3.8 years over the median), 57.3 years men (2.1 years below the median)
  • Remaining life expectancy at age 30: 51.5 years women (3.3 years over the median), 46.1 years men (2.1 years below the median)
  • Remaining life expectancy at age 45: 37.3 years women (2.8 years over the median), 32.6 years men (1.9 years below the median)
  • Remaining life expectancy at age 60: 24 years women (2 years over the median), 20.4 years men (1.5 years below the median)

We can also plot the extra / fewer years of life expected for this state (red) compared to other states (dark gray) at each age. Again, this is normalized for the median state.

Line plots showing difference in life expectancy for each age for people of this state versus the median state