Millennial Generation: College or bust

Jennifer Knight

Friday, Jan. 31, 2003 | 2:18 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: Feb. 1, 2003

Amber Jennings, a sophomore at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has her mother on speed dial and lets her in on every step of her college education.

"That's why I bought a cell phone, to keep in touch," Jennings said. "I pretty much tell her everything."

Jennings, 19, according to a new study, is typical of what has become known as the "Millennial Generation." Millennials, also known as members of Generation Y -- people born from 1982 to 2002 -- are culturally a new breed of young adult. They are confident and secure yet rely on their parents more than previous generations did.

Collectively, they will create the largest college enrollment surge in U.S. history. As a result, experts say, colleges must not only prepare to open their doors to more students, but they also must learn about who the Millennials are as a culture.

"If you have been running a school for the last 20 years, you have been dealing with Generation X (people born from 1965 to '81) for the most part," said Neil Howe, a historian and co-author of the new book, "Millennials Go to College."

"Our feeling is that if you (as an educational institution) get this generation wrong, you could suffer. If you get this generation right, you could benefit."

Dealing with influx

Millennials constitute the largest population surge to hit since the Baby Boom peaked in the 1950s and '60s. From 1982 through 2002 there were 81.3 million births in the United States. The nation logged 87.2 million births during the Baby Boom.

The largest part of the millennial generation bubble has already begun to hit colleges and will reach its peak between 2005 and 2011, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Colleges nationwide are struggling to make room for these students when there is increasingly less money for higher education.

At UNLV, enrollment is expected to jump from 24,965 students in 2002 to an estimated 35,243 students in 2010. Numbers for the Community College of Southern Nevada are even more dramatic, from 33,481 students in 2002 to a projected 52,565 in 2010.

Yet both schools have been operating under budget constraints. The result has been hiring freezes and large class sizes.

Nevada's spending per student in 1992 was $7,219, a figure that declined to $5,977 in 2000, according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.

"Nevada proportionally has the largest enrollment increases of anyone," said Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, an educational think tank in San Jose, Calif.

"This is the first time in the modern history of higher education where we had to deal with an unprecedented enrollment growth in the middle of a recession. It's really putting the pressure on states and that is why a lot of folks are paying attention."

Gov. Kenny Guinn outlined Nevada's budget woes in his State of the State address.

Despite the state's projected $704 million deficit over two years, Guinn proposed an increase in higher education funding -- bucking a nationwide trend of cutting into university funds to save money.

The university system has been living off 79 percent of its requested budget, but Guinn proposed $80 million in additional state funding to help keep pace with enrollment growth, bring the funding level up to 86 percent.

"Enrollment in some math, science and technology classes is up as much as 200 to 300 percent," Guinn said. "We cannot afford to lose those hard-won gains."

In Nevada and elsewhere, experts say, community colleges will likely emerge to play a bigger role in helping ease the crowding at jam-packed state universities.

"The community colleges are going to have to take some of the overflow," said Lisa Rosenberg, a senior education consultant with the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

University and Community College System of Nevada officials already have some plans in the works.

"The way we have to ramp up is to get our facilities ready now," said Ron Remington, president of CCSN. "I think community colleges will increasingly become the option to take for the first two years."

As they struggle to meet such a large demand, community colleges and traditional four-year universities will have to do so with the high level of customer service that parents of Millennials have come to expect, according to Howe, the author and historian.

"This is a new reality," Howe said. "This is not Boomer. This is not Gen-X. Increasingly, it is about Millennials and they really want everything to go perfectly well."

'Helicopter parents'

The millennial generation is different largely due to their Baby Boomer parents, whom Howe calls "helicopter parents" because of their tendency to hover over every aspect of their kids' lives.

Helicopter parents are the soccer moms of yesteryear. They doted on their children in the '80s, quizzed them with cue cards in preschool and followed that up with doses of Barney, the purple dinosaur who sang to them in a sticky-sweet voice about how special they are.

This "helicoptering," along with the Barney songs, shaped the millennial kids, Howe said.

"This is a generation that feels collectively like they are special," Howe said. "They have been treated that way by their parents, by the government and by the school system."

Marketers as well as college recruiters have already begun to recognize the influence the Millennials will have as future consumers.

Car companies have been plotting out the differences between the needs of Millennials and their Boomer parents, for instance.

While the Boomers are motivated by comfort, luxury and safety, Millennials are motivated by technology and brand loyalty, Howe said.

As teens, Millennials identify closely with their parents' values, according to the author. They tend to be conservative, cautious and much more studious than previous generations.

They have a more positive life view. They are sheltered but confident team players and tend to be conventional in their views. They like the idea of being middle-class and plan out their lives in five-year increments, Howe said.

According to a survey Howe conducted, 84 percent of children ages 9 through 17 say they will attend college, and 94 percent of that same group say they share their parents' values.

Millennials are also more likely than previous generations to consult with their parents on important decisions such as where to attend college and what to study.

That parent-child bond has already been noticed by administrators at UNLV.

"Parent involvement has increased," said Anne Hein, director of the student development center at UNLV.

Although that sounds like a positive development on the surface, Hein said, it can lead to unexpected challenges for college administrators.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) bars schools from giving out information on students who are 18 or older.

"Parents will call and try to get involved and it's difficult because we can't discuss (certain) issues with them," Hein said.

More parents are asking for feedback about their children, attending freshman orientation with them and taking an active role in finding out about the college.

'Letting go'

Janet Jennings said that before her daughter Amber went to UNLV, Mom did some homework.

"When we went on campus I asked specifically if they had statistics on crime," Janet Jennings said. "I was very concerned about it."

Jennings said she also helps her daughter plan her schedule each semester -- along with making other, more important life decisions.

"I just think that our generation has put an emphasis on having every child continue through college," she said.

Howe said that Boomer parents of boomlet babies are even challenging FERPA in court.

At UNLV, there has been a slight rise in the number of students who opt to waive their FERPA rights so that parents can have access to grades or medical records, Hein said.

In another case, at CCSN, one parent complained about her child receiving credit card offers from the school. Her action prompted an ongoing battle on the issue of universities' rights in selling student names for profit.

"The boomer parents of trophy kids will absolutely not tolerate not knowing what's going on with them," Howe said. "Colleges are going to find that when their dorms and their classrooms are filled with Millennials, they are going to have to be more accountable with what happens with their kids."

While some colleges have created what they call a "parent office" in response to this demand, UNLV sends out a quarterly newsletter to keep parents informed.

UNLV has also created a one-hour seminar for parents. It is titled "Letting Go."

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