Prediction: Utah Colleges will see huge drop in freshman enrollments!

The predominant religion in the State of Utah "Mormon" announced today it will allow missionaries to serve 2 year missions starting at 18 years old for males and 19 years old for "sisters". I can only imagine the huge impact this will have on Utah college freshman enrollments as well as their battle to recruit High School athletes for collegiate sports. Any ideas or comments? Please be civil and respectful!
Church Lowers Missionary Service Age

 

There may be some impact, however, since missionaries are volunteers and their mission expenses tend to be paid for by the missionaries themselves and/or their families, there will likely continue to be a large number who work after graduating high school to raise money for their missions. This may mitigate the expected "flood" of 18 year-olds to the Missionary Training Center.

 

"Utah colleges mull impact..."

Utah colleges mull impact of Mormon policy change

 

I wouldn't think it would be a huge problem. The enrollments might go down next year, and then up in two years. It's pretty late in the college-admissions cycle to change direction for some college-bound soon-to-be 18 yo kids, especially if they need to work summers to earn the money as some do. I have several friends whose kids are on missions this year and next, so I'm familiar with the process. The way it is now, guys usually go to their freshman year and then go on the mission, whereas girls might tend to finish their degree then go. (Elizabeth Smart did the girl version as I've outlined it, IIRC.) I think it’s BYU’s quarterback that is now done with his mission, older and wiser and he said it helped. (Can’t find the source now… but here’s an article about sports Dick Harmon: New mission policy impacts BYU football recruiting in a big way | Deseret News )

I would assume that if kids want to go on the mission right out of high school, they might get some sort of “gap-year” deferral of admission from BYU or even UUtah or other schools, go on the mission and then start school without missing a beat. My son’s friend was a freshman last year on a four-year, full-ride Founder’s scholarship at BYU including room and board and stipends: His scholarship is just “paused” for two years while he’s on his mission as BYU obviously expects most scholarship winners to go on mission. He'll return as a sophmore instead of being a senior.

 

It's actually a freshman Stanford quarterback...

 

You mention BYU as if that's the only college in Utah! BYU is a private religious college so of course they are going to cater to their missionaries. There are numerous other state and private colleges in Utah whose freshman athletic programs will take a big hit!

 

Good point. Utah State University has already formed a task force to study the issue and University of Utah, Utah Valley University, Weber State, Southern Utah and Dixie will likely do the same, as will the community colleges. The large LDS populations in Idaho and Arizona may also influence some shift in college enrollments.

It remains to be seen whether there will be a huge spike in 18 year-old missionaries or if they will continue to take some time to work and save for their missions. Perhaps some will enroll in BYU's online high school courses to finish early.

 

No...

You must have mis-read my post. I specifically said BYU, UUtah or other schools. My brother is tenured faculty at UUtah so I obviously know there are other schools in Utah. My point was that Utah schools won't be unduly handicapped when recruiting LDS freshmen, whether for athetics or freshmen in general. Sure, it adds a bit of a challenge in recruitment but it's not a tragedy and I don't see a huge drop. Utah is approximately 62% LDS, so not all prospective students will be going on missions. Further, not all practicing LDS members go on missions - some are not religious, some wait until after college and some can't afford to go.

 

Sorry, I counted BYU mentioned 5 times, must have been the optical illusion but thanks for the correction.