Freshman Enrollment up 9%

[OkaForPrez]

CT Mirror

Freshman enrollment is about to swell at the University of Connecticut. The $1.1 billion budget its governing board is preparing to approve Wednesday relies on a 9 percent increase in freshman enrollment next school year.
The move to enroll an additional 400 students at the state's flagship university comes as the number of Connecticut high school graduates declines as the state’s population shrinks

More Students = More Fans = More Alumni = More $ = B1G?

 

[IMind]

That's cool... the only part about that that rubs me the wrong way is the BS about the state's population shrinking. I know it doesn't feed into the myth that people are fleeing the state that some like to peddle but Connecticut's population has grown and is not shrinking. It grew 4.9% from 2000 to 2010. CT isn't the rust belt state some people pretend it is.

 

[upstater]

That's cool... the only part about that that rubs me the wrong way is the BS about the state's population shrinking. I know it doesn't feed into the myth that people are fleeing the state that some like to peddle but Connecticut's population has grown and is not shrinking. It grew 4.9% from 2000 to 2010. CT isn't the rust belt state some people pretend it is.

HS graduation is declining though. We're in a down period nationally for HS grads.

Don't be surprised everyone if UConn starts falling the USNWP rankings. Those are bogus and often overemphasize selectivity and acceptance rates.

 

[DSquiz]

HS graduation is declining though. We're in a down period nationally for HS grads.

Don't be surprised everyone if UConn starts falling the USNWP rankings. Those are bogus and often overemphasize selectivity and acceptance rates.

I dont see that happening. One of the first things Herbst said when she came into office was that she wanted UConn to be a top 10 public in the USNWP ranking. When I was still at UConn it was talked about a lot. It is very very important to the univeristy. In fact all of this money, the new tech park, etc. is in part to boost our ranking.

 

[upstater]

I dont see that happening. One of the first things Herbst said when she came into office was that she wanted UConn to be a top 10 public in the USNWP ranking. When I was still at UConn it was talked about a lot. It is very very important to the univeristy. In fact all of this money, the new tech park, etc. is in part to boost our ranking.

USNWP does not take research money into account. They do no research on the schools. Everything they do is based in a survey filled out by Presidents. Some of these surveys are laughably bad (as we saw with FSU's survey a few years ago that put Ivy league schools in the 3rd tier, while pumping up Clemson to first tier). Outside of that, they look at full-time staff, student-faculty ratios, SATs and acceptance rates. Reputation is the #1 thing.

Without a doubt, admitting all these extra students in a time of declining graduates is going to hurt UConn in USNWP. It will hurt SATs and acceptance rates and knock UConn down a peg.

That being said, expanding the school, using state money to hire more research faculty, expanding research funding, and helping future endowments with more graduates, is going to IMPROVE the school (especially when it comes to Carnegie metrics) in the eyes of more important assessors, such as the AAU and the National Foundations.

Beefing up your USNWP cred is easy. Compared to the cred that really matters, which is much more difficult.

USNWP has some loopy rankings up and down its lists. Check out where Reed College is ranked. This is one of the top liberal arts schools in the nation. They have it somewhere near Albertus Magnus.

 

[IMind]

HS graduation is declining though. We're in a down period nationally for HS grads.

Don't be surprised everyone if UConn starts falling the USNWP rankings. Those are bogus and often overemphasize selectivity and acceptance rates.

Really?

http://www.theatlantic.com/national...tion-rate-hits-40-year-peak-in-the-us/276604/

http://courantblogs.com/capitol-wat...-rates-it-could-take-a-ph-d-to-figure-it-out/

Connecticut's number is down, but it looks like there's some dispute to that. You may have more information on this than me and since you're in education I'll defer... but what gets under my skin when you hear people constantly yammering on about how crime is bad when we're enjoying the lowest crime rates in 40 years, how people are 'fleeing' Connecticut and yet you see historically consistent population growth... it's almost like there's a certain segment of the population who have a vested interested in pretending things are worse than they ever were.

 

[kibblesnbits]

USNWP does not take research money into account. They do no research on the schools. Everything they do is based in a survey filled out by Presidents. Some of these surveys are laughably bad (as we saw with FSU's survey a few years ago that put Ivy league schools in the 3rd tier, while pumping up Clemson to first tier). Outside of that, they look at full-time staff, student-faculty ratios, SATs and acceptance rates. Reputation is the #1 thing.

Without a doubt, admitting all these extra students in a time of declining graduates is going to hurt UConn in USNWP. It will hurt SATs and acceptance rates and knock UConn down a peg.

That being said, expanding the school, using state money to hire more research faculty, expanding research funding, and helping future endowments with more graduates, is going to IMPROVE the school (especially when it comes to Carnegie metrics) in the eyes of more important assessors, such as the AAU and the National Foundations.

Beefing up your USNWP cred is easy. Compared to the cred that really matters, which is much more difficult.

USNWP has some loopy rankings up and down its lists. Check out where Reed College is ranked. This is one of the top liberal arts schools in the nation. They have it somewhere near Albertus Magnus.

That's because Reed and a few of its peer, smaller liberal arts schools have refused to cooperate with USN&WR by filling out their statistical survey.

I'm not so sure UConn will fall, because a significant piece of the ratings is the peer ranking (hence the reason you see the president of Clemson submit a survey that had a handful of top tier schools - Harvard, MIT, a few others.....and Clemson). One would think its fairly well known in academic circles that UConn is on a faculty hiring spree because so few other schools are doing so. Hopefully that will help on the peer score from all reviewers outside of Chestnut Hill.

UConn has also been on a steady upward trajectory in terms of class demographics. I think even adding a significant increase in class size is more likely to plateau the supposedly objective measures (e.g. test scores, GPAs, etc.) than yield a significant decline.

There was a time when I probably would not have sent a child to UConn (I was horrified 20 years or so ago when I first saw the condition of the campus), but I'd be happy to have one attend the UConn of today. My youngest will be a high school senior this year and I've offered her the same terms as her older sister, who was accepted at UConn but chose to attend a well known school out of state. She can apply anywhere she likes as long as UConn is on the list. In the spring time we'll sort out it out - and if its UConn I'll be a proud dad. Of course, I'll be proud of her regardless.

 

[upstater]

That's because Reed and a few of its peer, smaller liberal arts schools have refused to cooperate with USN&WR by filling out their statistical survey.

I'm not so sure UConn will fall, because a significant piece of the ratings is the peer ranking (hence the reason you see the president of Clemson submit a survey that had a handful of top tier schools - Harvard, MIT, a few others.....and Clemson). One would think its fairly well known in academic circles that UConn is on a faculty hiring spree because so few other schools are doing so. Hopefully that will help on the peer score from all reviewers outside of Chestnut Hill.

UConn has also been on a steady upward trajectory in terms of class demographics. I think even adding a significant increase in class size is more likely to plateau the supposedly objective measures (e.g. test scores, GPAs, etc.) than yield a significant decline.

There was a time when I probably would not have sent a child to UConn (I was horrified 20 years or so ago when I first saw the condition of the campus), but I'd be happy to have one attend the UConn of today. My youngest will be a high school senior this year and I've offered her the same terms as her older sister, who was accepted at UConn but chose to attend a well known school out of state. She can apply anywhere she likes as long as UConn is on the list. In the spring time we'll sort out it out - and if its UConn I'll be a proud dad. Of course, I'll be proud of her regardless.

Good point about reputation rising because of the hires. That would offset the demographic drop, which is what I expect. 9% more students in years of declining demographics is going to mean lower SATs and higher acceptance rates. But it could instantly be offset by reputation.

I mention Reed because what self-respecting statistician is going to sit back and let the people he's studying do his research for him?

 

[upstater]

Really?

http://www.theatlantic.com/national...tion-rate-hits-40-year-peak-in-the-us/276604/

http://courantblogs.com/capitol-wat...-rates-it-could-take-a-ph-d-to-figure-it-out/

Connecticut's number is down, but it looks like there's some dispute to that. You may have more information on this than me and since you're in education I'll defer... but what gets under my skin when you hear people constantly yammering on about how crime is bad when we're enjoying the lowest crime rates in 40 years, how people are 'fleeing' Connecticut and yet you see historically consistent population growth... it's almost like there's a certain segment of the population who have a vested interested in pretending things are worse than they ever were.

I've never checked any of the stats, but in meeting after meeting, all we've been hearing at schools throughout the Northeast is that the Baby-Boom-Boom is over. Things will come around soon--maybe in just a few years--for the next cycle.

 

[Rumrunner]

There's always a way, in this case, maybe the Pitt way:

http://old.post-gazette.com/localnews/20020912pitt0912p3.asp
This year, the practice meant scores from 10 percent of the freshman class, or 305 students, were excluded. The practice in effect inflates the school's SAT average, raising it by 19 points this year and by as much as 33 points in years past.

The practice runs counter to a code of good practices published by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, to which Pitt belongs, which recommends that all scores be reported. The National Center for Fair and Open Testing, an advocacy group that monitors standardized testing practices, said Pitt was misusing test scores by "calculating their average in a way to create a misleading impression of the institution."

Nordenberg, though, said the practice was sound.

 

[woomba]

If UConn increases its pull from OOS students UConn can probably keep its student body quality about the same even with a smaller local pool.

Admittance rates/yield will still fall though - perhaps even more so since OOS students are less likely to attend than in-state.

 

[itgoeslike]

Really?

http://www.theatlantic.com/national...tion-rate-hits-40-year-peak-in-the-us/276604/

http://courantblogs.com/capitol-wat...-rates-it-could-take-a-ph-d-to-figure-it-out/

Connecticut's number is down, but it looks like there's some dispute to that. You may have more information on this than me and since you're in education I'll defer... but what gets under my skin when you hear people constantly yammering on about how crime is bad when we're enjoying the lowest crime rates in 40 years, how people are 'fleeing' Connecticut and yet you see historically consistent population growth... it's almost like there's a certain segment of the population who have a vested interested in pretending things are worse than they ever were.

I think upstater was referencing the "volume" of students graduating versus the rate of graduation, which is the topic discussed in the articles referenced above. If you increase the the number of entrants from a smaller pool it's possible that quality could suffer. Although, I think the other positive aspects of UCONN's growth plan will mitigate a decline in the rankings. The following article talks about expectations in terms of overall graduation numbers. http://www.nacacnet.org/research/briefing/Projections/Pages/summary.aspx