Do we know when they will be announced for this semester? Any ideas if it will be up or down?
I believe the report will come out the Tuesday after labor day. IF it isn't up I will be VERY disappointed. I think the Administration is expecting it to be up, but I believe they expected it to be up last year as well, and it wasn't. All signs point to it going up, especially the freshman class.
Freshman class went up last year, but total enrollment was down.
I Do like what Lane is doing as far as actively gettiing agreements with JCs, etc.
first Chancellor in years who appears to really be working on the enrollment
Freshman class went up last year, but total enrollment was down.
I Do like what Lane is doing as far as actively gettiing agreements with JCs, etc.
first Chancellor in years who appears to really be working on the enrollment
Even though the Freshman class was bigger last year they were still disappointed in the percentage of High School Students that had been accepted to SIU that actually enrolled in the University. Especially compared to past historical data. Also the retention rate had a slight down turn last year. Yes the enrollment was down last year , by about a 100 and that trend has to stop. However I really believe that for the first time in a very long time the current Chancellor understands how critical the enrollment is to not only SIU but all of the Southern Illinois region. Or at least I believe he does.
Any info yet?
Yet another year of the university sugarcoating very bad news. 2 consecutive large freshman classes but still a small decrease. It seems whenever we increase freshman enrollment, retention suffers in subsequent years. Wonder why that is….
Doesn't sound too bad to me. Retention needs to be better, but sounds like they've implemented a program to help address that, and a 7% increase in newcomers compared to last year is encouraging.
Also, the downward spiral of overall enrollment appears to have hit a plateau at around 11,000, based on the numbers from the last few years.
I'm encouraged, and I think Lane is doing good work. Let's hope he sticks around and the momentum continues.
Yet another year of the university sugarcoating very bad news. 2 consecutive large freshman classes but still a small decrease. It seems whenever we increase freshman enrollment, retention suffers in subsequent years. Wonder why that is….
Combination of the kids we’re admitting and the fact that Carbondale isn’t what it once was. Carbondale was in pretty bad shape when I was there and it’s only fallen off a cliff since (in terms of things to do for college kids). I’m not sure I’d feel the same way about the town if I was an SIU student today compared to a decade ago.
Obviously a lot of Carbondale’s problem stems from the enrollment drop the last 2 decades. You fix enrollment and the town will be revived somewhat.
I do think there’s some positive trends though and like what Chancellor Lane has been doing. I really hope he’s the long-term answer and not poached away.
Seeing that the overall number is still falling is quite disappointing but I think that there are signs of optimism in seeing the freshman numbers continuing to rise. I do know that they are working hard to keep the kids there for 4 years (or 2 for kids who went JUCO) and finish up their degree programs.
It's obvious that the days of 20,000+ enrollment are well behind us but I think if the number can be stabalized, Southern can be a good and productive school at the 12,000 to 15,000 range. It has to be a better alternative than the other 3 directional schools.
https://news.siu.edu/2022/09/090622-SIU-Carbondale-enrolls-largest-freshman-class-in-6-years.php
Largest frosh class in 6 years, frosh retention rate dropped to 70% (lower than the previous two years), and 10,900 applied to SIU (doesn't say how many were accepted). 4.9% increase in housing contracts, so on-campus students may have gone up since I assume some of this enrollment is remote (JC agreements to let students take SIU classes at their JC.)
1500 new freshmen sounds a bit disappointing vs 10,900 applications, and dropping enrollment again is extremely disappointing. Still think they do a poor job of advertising this place and it's nice features compared to a lot of universities in the state and region.
Illinois State released their fall 2022 enrollment numbers last week as well. They added 3,983 freshman, an 18% increase from last year. Their largest incoming class since the '80s.
It's sobering to see what I once considered an inferior university thriving while Southern still struggles. Here's hoping that trend reverses at some point soon.
https://news.illinoisstate.edu/2022/09/illinois-state-welcomes-largest-freshman-class-in-35-years/
To their credit Lane and Mahony are trying. It’s just going to take a long time to fix the mess. It’s sad we went though a 15 year leadership deficit on campus but at least there are some good signs. Now SIU needs to parlay that into continued increasing enrollment. No more excuses.
Yet another year of the university sugarcoating very bad news. 2 consecutive large freshman classes but still a small decrease. It seems whenever we increase freshman enrollment, retention suffers in subsequent years. Wonder why that is….
Combination of the kids we’re admitting and the fact that Carbondale isn’t what it once was. Carbondale was in pretty bad shape when I was there and it’s only fallen off a cliff since (in terms of things to do for college kids). I’m not sure I’d feel the same way about the town if I was an SIU student today compared to a decade ago.
Obviously a lot of Carbondale’s problem stems from the enrollment drop the last 2 decades. You fix enrollment and the town will be revived somewhat.
I do think there’s some positive trends though and like what Chancellor Lane has been doing. I really hope he’s the long-term answer and not poached away.
I think your description of C'dale is completely inaccurate. I live in this area, am on campus at least once a week, and both C'dale and Murphysboro are doing some serious improvements. They are both improved from when I was a student centuries ago. There are more things for students to do here than ever.
- some awesome mountain biking trails at Touch of Nature and elsewhere ( https://news.siu.edu/2021/08/081221-SIUs-new-Multiuse-Trail-System-hosting-Catalyst-bike-races-this-fall.php ) - Kincaid and Cedar Lakes trails (still two great bike shops in C'dale)
- E-sports in the student center
- a beautiful golf course in Hickory Ridge (students get a discount)
- the new VEO scooters are very popular
- free summer concert series at SIU and Turley Park
- a new Founders Park with bandshell in the works ( https://thesouthern.com/news/local/communities/carbondale/carbondale-announces-plans-for-a-new-founders-park/article_2bf6c0e2-7752-5829-a1e6-e94660a2320f.html )
- Illinois avenue streetscape improvements ( https://explorecarbondale.com/820/Illinois-Avenue-Streetscape-Project---Ph )
- a few new restaurants and bars opening up (Faye in Murph by Mike Mills' daughter has the best donuts you've ever tasted and some delicious breakfasts and gourmet coffee, excellent food at the Kincaid Marina restaurant - try the blue cheese fries!!)
- Murph rehabbing the old train station downtown - beautiful
- Murph free summer concerts on Fridays by the Brews Brothers place
- gourmet coffee at the old Cdale fire station, Scooters, etc.
- a beautiful new $17mill multi-modal transportation center in downtown C'dale in the works ( https://explorecarbondale.com/692/Southern-Illinois-Multimodal-Station-SIM )
- Carbondale super-splash park
- area micro breweries (Big Muddy in Murph, St. Nicholas in Duquoin and at the new Southern Illinois Airport https://www.stnicholasbrewco.com/mdh really good food too)
- S. Illinois beer trail ( https://www.southernillinoisbeertrail.com/ )
- S. Illinois wine trail
- Walkers Bluff near Carterville is becoming a resort and casino ( https://www.walkersbluffcasinoresort.com/ )
- the great outdoors...so many beautiful hiking trails..index in this blog: ( https://shawneegroup.blogspot.com/ )
- and still many student clubs (RSOs), beautiful new campus lake boathouse, frisbee golf, still a great rec center, blah, blah, blah
The pandemic was tough on businesses, but now that it has waned somewhat, these towns are going to town. I know of other future entrepreneurial plans by various people.
We didn't have a Chancellor worth a pig's butt for years...my apologies to sausage (Walter Chaseawaytheoutofstaters Wendler, Fernando Dumbass, Brad Donothing Colville, Backstabbing Randy Dunn, etc), and we still don't do a great job of selling this university in the prettiest part of the state.
I like what Lane's doing so far. Needs to do more.
Disclaimer: I don't work for the city or the university. LOL
They could probably do an analysis of those youngsters leaving and find some answers. I suspect we could do a lot better if you drop some of the PC degrees and focus on being a destination for JUCO grads. It would be interesting to see stats on majors vs. retention. It may be that the leavers are kids that should have went the JUCO route first or those who haven't decided on majors. It could also be we are getting some kids in over their heads with regards to relaxing standards for enrollment. It is long overdue to look at the org chart from the 90s (when more students here) versus current org chart and challenge every single new position.
“The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody has decided not to see.”
― Ayn Rand
