Well they had to build a budget on some type of projection. Find that tuition revenue number and you will know what they REALLY expect from student income year-over-year.
Budgets force very careful study. And the tuition revenue is actually a much more important number to finance and bond sales than headcount.
Indeed we likely won't get an actual press release until Labor Day. Understandable.
Sorry Realist, but I have a different view on several of your points.
The university where I work regularly releases information internally regarding progress toward enrolling new students. Throughout the Spring semester, information is shared regarding applications, visits (a really indicative stat), and deposits. There are no press releases until Fall, but no faculty or staff member is bound by any form of NDA - so the information is readily available. Openly sharing information builds trust with faculty and staff and gets them more involved in the process. I really think Valpo would benefit from being more open - I don't really care if I know, but faculty and staff at Valpo really need to know (and I sense that the information is limited).
May 1 (decision day) is not the final number and universities should work to get students who decide late and work to minimize melt (those who change their mind). Net transfers also plays a role in the final number and universities need to work various factors that contribute to that. However, where it stands on May 1st is a strong indicator of where the university will end up
In regards to revenue, it is driven by enrollment * (tuition - average discount) [yeah, I am stating the obvious]. My guess is that the discount rate does not dramatically change from year-to-year (but always needs to be considered), so enrollment is the primary factor.
Of course they know the number of paid accepts to VU, yet are unlikely to release that number to the public. I am sure the key people in administration have access to that number for planning purposes. There is, of course, the inevitable melt that happens even to the paid accepts number. However, that melt % is probably fairly predictable based on historic trends. So if there were say 800 paid accepts and an expected melt of 15%, that would be an incoming class of 680 (I am making up the numbers as I have no particular knowledge, just trying to provide a realistic example.)
What is happening right now is that some of the schools who did have a waitlist are clearing those waitlists - so perhaps a student was admitted to VU and accepted by the May 1 deadline. That student may have been on the waiting list at Indiana, and now IU offers an admission.
The other big part of the revenue equation is the room & board number. Obviously net tuition revenue is a key factor, yet the room, board and student fees also end up making a big difference.
Well it's June 1 now. Let's hope things are holding or rising.
One key number to watch early ought to be "legacy students" who had parents or family attend. If our President exemplifies to our alumni the Valpo we personally experienced, then we, the beneficiaries of that Valpo experience, would logically be his earliest and strongest enrollment advocates.
Realist - Excellent points regarding President Konkol, but his effect will realistically not be seen in enrollment until 2027. He just started too late in the process followed by prospective students and their parents. That said, my understanding is that the new enrollment/marketing VP has done a good job of starting to reverse things (I have seen some of her efforts firsthand) and the enrollment of new students for the 2026-2027 academic year will be holding.
Living in the Fort Wayne area, it was quite disappointing to see that of all the graduating Honor students in Allen County, and including Concordia Lutheran High School's entire Senior Class, not one was planning to attend Valpo this Fall. I cannot remember that ever happening before this year. Let's hope that President Konkol is able to change these results in the near future as I would think that this area is ripe for the picking.
Yes, the last two posts summarize the major challenge ahead. There is a dark tunnel created by 2010-2025 damage Valpo did to its prior enrollment networks and legacy family enrollment. But there is a bright light of hope ahead in our new Pres. and VP.
But now the question now is "How long is that tunnel?" And can more budget deficits be sustained for those years?
Living in the Fort Wayne area, it was quite disappointing to see that of all the graduating Honor students in Allen County, and including Concordia Lutheran High School's entire Senior Class, not one was planning to attend Valpo this Fall. I cannot remember that ever happening before this year. Let's hope that President Konkol is able to change these results in the near future as I would think that this area is ripe for the picking.
This may be a whole lot of nothing, but I truly wonder how much of this is because of the percieved decline of VU as an institution. Dont get me wrong, there has been decline, but also the LCMS would probably want their contingent to attend their own "in house" university system. It isnt too outlandish to assume that these 2 facts work in tandem to push the LCMS majority in FT Wayne to stay "close to home" as it were and go to Concordia and other LCMS operated institutions
go to Concordia and other LCMS operated institutions
The Concordia system is in deep trouble. Several have closed including most recently, Ann Arbor. Their endowments are very low and places like Chicago (River Forest) now rely to a large extent on graduate programs.
Valpo has made a move to restore the Fort Wayne relationship, with the musical performances and President Konkol making appearances. The relationship between Valpo and the LCMS high schools is a mess and will take time to repair. I know that an admissions counselor, dedicated to just those high schools and other Christian based schools, in under consideration and looking for funding.
I am not aware of any appearance by Rev. Konkol in Fort Wayne. I spoke with the former LCMS representative to the Valparaiso University (VU) Board on Friday and was appalled by the treatment he received during his last six years in that role. During his time with Heckler, he was completely ignored, rarely, if ever, asked for his input, and sometimes not even invited to virtual meetings. He thought things might get better when Padilla became president, but at the first board meeting, he intended to introduce himself in Spanish (he is a native speaker who spent much of his childhood in Spain), but Padilla was taken aback and told him he was insulted. Bad things just got worse. This gentleman is not insignificant in Lutheran circles, two of his children attended Valpo, and he is regarded as one of the most influential theologians in the LCMS. He comes from a wealthy East Coast family, has lived in other parts of the world, and holds degrees from Yale and Oxford. Due to the way he was treated, LCMS President Harrison advised him to cease attending meetings. However, he chose not to follow that advice and, despite everything, still believes that VU is an important part of Lutheran higher education.
From all accounts if appears that Konkol is a big improvement, but I will wait until I meet him in person, hopefully in the near future. The wound among alumni here is deep, and healing it could take a very long time.
FEAlum, See below. I was under the impression that President Konkol was present at this event. I may be wrong. He will, no doubt, be working on restoring this relationship.
The Valparaiso University Chorale and Chamber Orchestra recently visited Fort Wayne for their Spring Outreach Tour. They performed on Friday, March 6, 2026, at Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School, alongside the Concordia Lutheran High School A Cappella choir. [1, 2, 3, 4]
That sounds like Padilla and he were just cursed by that awkward language moment.
But Heckler overtly poisoned the well with the LCMS. It was not neglect it was open antagonism. And it was not diplomatic. He held deep passion for progressive issues. And there isn't a whole lot of common ground between a LCMS town that founded VU and an arrogant Colorado ELCA activist layperson. He taught in theater, and then as a key UCD administrator their patron donor was a huge activist. You don't have to be an energetic conservative to see that as a strained marriage.
VU made three possibly fatal choices in 2009-2013: 1) Choosing Heckler 2) Choosing a goal of 6,000 students in their 2013 strategic plan, 3) Choosing to borrow massively for construction on that scale. And..... if want to run away from your roots and alumni values, might you be wise to have studied your alternate source of students?
Were they really relying on China, Saudi Arabia to get to 6,000 and still form a coherent mission? There ain't a lot of common ground there. And the board leadership of 2008-2014 bears the blame for choosing Heckler.
And there isn't a whole lot of common ground between a LCMS town that founded VU and an arrogant Colorado ELCA activist layperson.
Huh? Valpo was really never an "LCMS dominated" town. The LCMS did purchase the university through the creation of LUA, but the dominant religion in valpo has been Catholic since the 1850s. Lutherans didnt move in until the 1860s when Immanuel was founded.
And there isn't a whole lot of common ground between a LCMS town that founded VU and an arrogant Colorado ELCA activist layperson.
Huh? Valpo was really never an "LCMS dominated" town. The LCMS did purchase the university through the creation of LUA, but the dominant religion in valpo has been Catholic since the 1850s. Lutherans didnt move in until the 1860s when Immanuel was founded.
@rezynezy, once again you miss the point, at least twice in three sentences. Surely the reference to town is Ft. Wayne, not Valparaiso - the LUA had many of its strongest supporters from Ft. Wayne. That is why it to have NO student from Ft. Wayne year after year is such a red flag. Second, the LCMS did *not* purchase the university, and never has had financial or ecclesiastical control over the independently-chartered LUA.
Thank you Valpo95. I moved across points a little quickly. Yes, nearly all the founders of VU were Fort Wayne people, the "LCMS town," and yes, the LCMS per se has never owned VU.
As an aside, we note on this board at times that those founders were LCMS members. But perhaps more important, there were church offerings throughout the LCMS taken and they raised all of the money to build the VU Chapel ($5m in the 1950s.) So there was a true felt "ownership" in the pews by laypeople even though VU wisely chose not to be legally owned by pastor-led denominations.