The University of Wisconsin experienced a decrease in applications from incoming freshman for the 2009-10 school year, a result of tough economic times.

This year, 24,830 people applied for 5,700 freshmen slots, marking a decrease of 753 applicants from last year, a trend seen throughout the Big Ten schools, according to Karen Mittelstadt, assistant director of admissions.

The majority of the decrease comes from fewer in-state applicants, as there was an increase of 175 applicants from out of state.?

While this goes against what the admissions office anticipated, Mittelstadt said the discrepancy between in- and out-of-state applicant numbers may be due to the fact that higher volumes of out-of-state applications come earlier in the admissions cycle, before the global economic downturn last fall.

An increase in applications to community colleges and two-year programs has also coincided with the decreases experienced at UW, suggesting students are opting to stay closer to home to save money, according to Undergraduate Admissions Counselor Gia Euler.

“In general, if someone is in Superior, for example, they might choose to go to UW-Superior instead of spending an extra eight or nine thousand dollars for housing and food here,” Euler said.

Mittelstadt agreed community colleges have become a cost-effective alternative, with many students opting for two years at their local college and then transferring to UW.

Another factor that may have lead to the decrease in applications is the raised application fee, which went from $35 to $45 last year.

“Where students might have applied to eight schools in the past, now with the economy they can’t afford to pay $50 for eight different places, so they say, ‘Maybe I can’t get in so why spend the money?'” Euler said.

The economy is not the whole story, however, as last year there was a demographic trend for college applicant numbers.

“The number of high school graduates peaked last year so now nationally we are sort of on the downhill trend of high school age college applicants,” she said.

But while applicant numbers may be down, the quality of applicants has actually gone up.

“Better applicants may be a result of the economy too,” Euler said. “People may not bother spending the money to apply if they only have a 20 percent chance of getting in.”