RIVERSIDE, Calif. (June 11, 2013)—More than 100 attendees participated in the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities (IABCU) annual meeting held at California Baptist University June 2-4. The organization elected new officers; approved a $268,170 budget for the association's 2013-14 fiscal year; and heard reports on the Baptist College and University Scholars program, and the state of IABCU member institutions.

Top administrators from IABCU schools came from as far as Nigeria and Japan for the three-day meeting. The group elected new officers for 2013-2014: Dr. David Olive, president of Bluefield College, as chair; Dr. Fitzgerald Hill, president of Arkansas Baptist College, as vice-chair and chair elect; and Dr. Samuel "Dub" Oliver, president of East Texas Baptist University, recording secretary.

New board members elected for terms beginning June 2013 to June 2017 are: Dr. Jairy Hunter, president of Charleston Southern University; Dr. Kina Mallard, provost at Carson-Newman University; Dr. Elizabeth Davis, provost at Baylor University; and David Wilkinson, executive director of Associated Baptist Press, who will serve as an at-large member.

An IABCU research study titled "The State of Higher Education Among Baptist Colleges and Universities 2013" revealed that enrollment at IABCU member institutions is up 21.3 percent from the fall 2000 to fall 2011. Also, tuition at those schools is still an average of 22 percent less nationally than other private, four-year, not-for-profit institutions, even as the total cost of attendance for students steadily increases at all institutions.

In addition, the majority of students enrolled at IABCU schools are within the traditional college age group, with more than 76 percent of undergraduates under the age of 25 and the same percentage of graduate students aged 25 or older.

The research also revealed that larger IABCU institutions report higher retention rates. For colleges and universities with 4,000 or fewer students, about 65 percent of first-time freshmen in 2010 enrolled again in the fall of 2011, while universities with larger enrollment saw higher retention rates—77 percent for institutions with 4,001-9,999 students and 85 percent for those with 10,000 or more students.

The study was conducted for IABCU by the Office of Institutional Research, Planning div id = "rssurl" style = "display:none"> https://www.calbaptist.edu/dashboard/page_importer/export/