TSU Student Affairs reports enrollment targets, new TimelyCare contract and band recruitment spending

At the March 13 Student and Academic Affairs Committee meeting, Dr. Goldman delivered a Student Affairs update that covered enrollment trends and forecasts, student health and counseling services, recruitment work for the Aristocrat of Bands (AOB), and student-activities funding.

Enrollment and recruitment: Goldman said about 300 people were registered for an April 12 preview day. The division—s goal for first-time-in-college freshmen for fall 2025 is 968; current trend numbers cited were 286 in-state and 540 out-of-state for a total of 826 first-time freshmen currently accepted. Transfer students were reported at about 89. The university is projecting a fall 2025 total enrollment of about 5,706 in the pro forma model, reflecting persistence and retention assumptions that account for downstream declines from recent larger cohorts.

Band recruitment and scholarships: Goldman described continued recruitment for the Aristocrat of Bands and temporary leadership arrangements; recruitment spending of a little more than $200,000 was cited to bring in over 30 new band members. She reported scholarship spending for band members last year at about $2,300,000 across approximately 240 members; this year the band is expected to cap at roughly 200—210 members.

Health, counseling and TimelyCare: The university has an on-campus medical director (Dr. Dorsha James) and a counseling/medical clinic that saw over 2,100 visits this year compared with about 1,500 the prior year. TimelyCare, a virtual 24/7 medical and behavioral-health vendor funded through Title III grant support, was described as providing medical-now visits, behavioral-health talk-now appointments, scheduled counseling and access to psychiatrists; Goldman said the university currently had 573 students enrolled on the TimelyCare platform with about 91 students who have used the app and 11% adoption among the student population. Goldman said Title III is covering the TimelyCare contract for less than three years and the service is not covered by student fees.

Counseling demand and crisis response: Goldman said the counseling center handles a regular caseload and on-call emergencies; she said five suicide-related incidents had occurred this semester that required on-campus response and that on-site clinical staff were important for response and continuity of care.

Student activity funding and questions on fees: A student participant asked whether campus activity fees or student-fee income supports student organizations. Goldman said the Office of Student Affairs budget (E&G and other sources) supports units, and that some fee money and a large grant are allocated to support student activities and SGA. She said budget limits remain and allocations are managed across units.

Recruitment staffing and timeline: Goldman said the president approved three additional recruitment positions and that at least one staff member has been reassigned to recruitment; the additional staff are expected to improve outreach but will primarily affect fall 2026 yield, given recruitment lead times. Goldman said a full recruitment/enrollment plan is about 90% complete and can be provided in executive summary form at the June board meeting.

Trustee questions led to follow-up commitments on a handful of items: Goldman said she would provide a historical five-year comparison of presidential-office and division-level expense trends at trustees— request (audit committee follow-up), and she agreed to supply data about transfer students and AP-credit applicants for recently accepted students.

The committee also discussed mandatory hazing education for Greek organizations and continued outreach to kinesiology, advising and retention programming; Goldman noted training for Divine Nine organizations and required hazing workshops are conducted each semester.