California (USC) has created has created a new interdisciplinary research center focusing on higher education enrollment. The center will bring together admissions and enrollment professionals, academic scholars, policymakers and business leaders to focus on issues surrounding access to higher education.

USC's Center for Enrollment Research, Policy and Practice will focus on critical issues related to enrollment in higher education, including admissions access to underserved populations, financial aid and tuition effects and selectivity and college-bound student assessment. The center will share results with all educational institutions with a goal to achieve new benchmarks and standards for "best practice."

Jerome A. Lucido, USC vice provost for enrollment policy and management and a College Board trustee, is founding executive director of the center, which today announced a call to scholars for research proposals.

"Today in America, a laser light is focused on the point of college access," said Lucido. "Parents and students view the college admissions process as a gateway to future prosperity, health, security and satisfaction. This new research center will look at critical questions, including: 'Why is the admissions office door the focus of all these hopes and dreams?' 'What barriers exist within admissions processes that continue to separate many Americans from the opportunities and benefits of higher education?' and 'What can be done through enrollment management to improve access and facilitate success of students?'"

USC President Steven B. Sample said: "We at the University of Southern California realized that there was a need for a central hub for the field of enrollment management. Our awareness of the need induced us to create a new center—unprecedented in its focus and scope - to inform, educate and explore issues in the field and to connect education leaders from around the nation and the world."

As its first scholarly activity, USC's new Center for Enrollment Research, Policy and Practice has issued a call for proposals to researchers studying higher education enrollment management issues. The proposal deadline for the grants—which will range from $5,000 to $10,000—is Feb. 1, 2008. More information and grant application standards are located at the center's Web site, which can be found at http://www.usc.edu/cerpp. At its home page, the center's Web site also provides message boards for scholars, practitioners and policymakers and an opportunity for visitors to help shape future activities within the center.