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
This is exactly what the university needs to do a better job of promoting. Several academic programs are still strong as well. Hopefully they credit Mr. Woogers in their ads 😉
Any spring numbers yet??
I am still waiting....would love to see where we stand this spring. I guess no news is ? news....
Well, according to the FB page for SIUC....they only provide official numbers once a year. Which is odd, because I've seen the spring enrollment numbers several times for the spring. Interesting....
"To provide consistency in reporting and communication, we use official enrollment numbers. For every college and university, the official data is collected once a year during the fall semester, specifically the 10th day of classes. We report this information to the U.S. Department of Education, post it on our website and use it in official SIU communications."
So, for whatever reason, they are not reporting them this spring.
numbers always drop in the Spring...hopefully didn't drop too much. Some freshmen drop out while they can still get a refund - college is not for everybody.
