Published: September 24, 2009

The condition of the economy has not proven to deter students from pursuing performance and natural science majors—both of which are more expensive than the average major.

According to Patricia Peek, associate director of admissions and director of the Lincoln Center Enrollment Group, this year’s incoming class has one of the highest numbers of performance major enrollments in the last eight years, with 54 freshmen anticipating majoring in theater or dance. She added that this year’s freshman class is one of the largest in the recent past, with 420 students.

A recent New York Times article pointed out the fact that, due to the higher cost associated with certain majors, such as theater, some colleges are cutting down the presence of such majors at their school.

“The expense associated with an applicant’s major is not a factor in the admission process,” said Peek. “[At Fordham] we seek to enroll a diverse class with a broad range of interests and welcome students of all majors.”

Over the past eight years, the number of performance majors at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) reached an all-time high in 2006, with 55 majors, up significantly from 2005, in which there were only 42 accepted, according to numbers provided by Peek. She pointed out that, overall, the numbers have been relatively consistent over that time.

In this year’s freshman class, with 30 anticipated majors, natural science is the fourth most popular major, falling behind communication and media studies, political science and international studies, respectively, but it exceeded theater by one person. Natural science is another major that the New York Times pointed out as being one of the more costly departments at a college.

Even with added lab fees, the difference in tuition is not significant between majors at Fordham. The higher cost of the theater or natural science major does not make a large difference in the tuition that these students pay.

“The cost of attendance is an average… cost for students in the college for a nine month period,” said Angela Van Dekker, assistant vice president for Student Financial Services. “Some students may incur less cost and others possibly a little more.”

According to Jeff Gray, vice president of student affairs at Fordham, Academic Affairs is given the task of deciding the budgets for each academic department.

Despite the prevalence of these more expensive majors at FCLC, Peek said that Fordham does not have a quota system concerning intended majors admitted each year.

“The cost differential among majors is not a factor in the admission process,” Peek said. She said that since many students do not declare a major until the end of their sophomore year, it would be difficult to pinpoint the number of majors in each discipline at such an early stage.

Over the past five years, approximately 30 percent of the freshman class has come in as “undecided,” which holds true this year with 84 undecided majors as of August 24. “The dance and theatre enrollments remained typical, with 25 dancers and 29 theatre students enrolled in the Class of 2013,” Peek said.