By Chaz Vanhaltren
Silliman University (SU) plans to open earlier enrollment dates for incoming students next academic year, SU Vice President for Academic Affairs and Research Lily Ann Bautista said.
Bautista said they want to give students more time “to decongest and lessen the administrative work” that flocks various offices during the week-long enrollment period.
“I think there has to be some action plan with regards to the enrollment. It’s difficult right now because of the change in calendar but hopefully once we’ve normalized the schedule,” she said.
Bautista also said that she sent an initial email to the Office of Registrar and Admissions to move the enrollment period sooner, but has yet to finalize any plans.
This follows a 7.9-percent loss in enrollment this year due to the academic calendar shift which pushed the opening of classes to June, compared to the usual July to August.
SU opened its enrollment on January 16 for incoming freshmen, while continuing students applied after the summer term.
Bautista said they have plans to encourage continuing students to enroll since they “wait until the last moment to enroll” while freshmen have pending documents to pass.
“Even if we open the enrollment, let’s say, on a Monday, nobody enrolls. We usually would wait Wednesday, Thursday. So, the line is so long already. I think we also catered to a lot of students outside of Negros Oriental,” she said.
SU then extended its enrollment to June 19, after classes across all levels officially commenced on June 8.
Bautista said that the enrollment rate loss was at 30 to 40 percent prior to the extension, when compared to the amount of enrollees during the first semester of academic year 2025 to 2026.
“We’re hoping to kind of like, bridge the gap a bit. For the graduate and undergraduate, it’s not so bad anymore, like, only 1%. So, the School of Basic Education is the problem,” she said.
Bautista said that SU will strengthen marketing efforts and expand recruitment beyond its own senior high school population, in response to the low enrollees.
“So marketing efforts would really be more intentional, in as far as like, traveling to other areas. The [college] deans have been asked also to try to create a plan on how they can improve their numbers,” she said.
Classes last 2025 began in July with a month-long registration and enrollment period, while last 2024 had classes begin in August with nearly two months of registration and enrollment from May to June.
