(Lee's Summit, MO) – The President of the National Research Center for College & University Admissions (NRCCUA), Don Munce, served as the panel expert for The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Live Discussions on the topic “The Numbers Game”. NRCCUA is the leading organization connecting young people and their families with colleges and universities around the country.

Don Munce has served as president of NRCCUA for the past 18 years making him uniquely suited to participate and provide insight into this topic. Munce’s background also includes 10 years as director of admissions and financial aid at a Midwestern private college and he holds a master's degree in adolescent development.

Every week the Chronicle hosts an interactive chat, joined by an expert from the world of higher-education finance and technology, to answer questions about recent news and to share ideas on how institutions can function more effectively.

Of one question during the session about statistical modeling, Munce answered, "I think the power of computing has allowed us to do more in a shorter time than we could in the old days. 30 years ago, I spent hours on my calculator looking at the results I received from various outreach programs at my institutions. I had to make purchasing decisions with the results of this tedious work. Now, we can look at many more factors and get more accurate results."

As colleges collect more information about potential applicants than ever before, feeding it into sophisticated formulas that rank students according to how likely they are to apply and, later, to enroll, as well as identifying students with desirable demographics and academic records raises many questions.

These newer systems help admissions officers seek certain students more aggressively, but critics fear the data may be misused – for example, by influencing admissions decisions in favor of students who can pay full tuition. Others say the statistical models can help make the admissions process fairer.

This live discussion allowed participants to call in with questions ranging from tracking student's interests, to websites and to print budgets. For more information on NRCCUA visit: www.nrccua.org/about and for a full transcript of the Live Discussions: "The Numbers Game", please visit http://chronicle.com/live/2006/10/munce/.

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NRCCUA - The National Research Center for College & University Admissions (NRCCUA) is a non-profit education research organization based in Lee’s Summit, MO. For over 35 years, NRCCUA has conducted the largest nationwide survey of high school students, which serves as a communications link between college-bound high school students and public and private colleges and universities. For more information, visit www.nrccua.org.