One thing many folks may not know that needs to be public knowledge. The chancellor is trying to gut the athletic department! 3 Million cut in the budget this year. 3 million next year. Austin Lane is the problem here. He believes we should be funded at SWAC funding levels not Vallley funding levels. He is coming off as this great guy but behind the scenes, at least to this point is wanting to gut the athletic budget. Liz was fighting at every turn to try and prevent that. Now, I am not saying Liz was ever the best fit for that job. Frankly , I don't think she was, but in her defense she was trying to keep the ship afloat while Lane is trying to gut it. Ask someone in athletics off the recored .
If you've personally heard him speak about athletics and our place in the national landscape regarding athletics, you would not subscribe to this belief. He has academics as a high priority but has no interest in lowering our athletic footprint anytime soon.
One thing many folks may not know that needs to be public knowledge. The chancellor is trying to gut the athletic department! 3 Million cut in the budget this year. 3 million next year. Austin Lane is the problem here. He believes we should be funded at SWAC funding levels not Vallley funding levels. He is coming off as this great guy but behind the scenes, at least to this point is wanting to gut the athletic budget. Liz was fighting at every turn to try and prevent that. Now, I am not saying Liz was ever the best fit for that job. Frankly , I don't think she was, but in her defense she was trying to keep the ship afloat while Lane is trying to gut it. Ask someone in athletics off the recored .
If you've personally heard him speak about athletics and our place in the national landscape regarding athletics, you would not subscribe to this belief. He has academics as a high priority but has no interest in lowering our athletic footprint anytime soon.
It might not be his call.
Fired without cause. Wow
Nice to know the school has an extra 400k to give away.
Jesus. I get that the relationship was probably strained, but with 400K on the line, couldn't you just suck it up for a couple more years?
Jesus. I get that the relationship was probably strained, but with 400K on the line, couldn't you just suck it up for a couple more years?
Asking departments to take major cuts but they are ok handing over 400K over nothing.
The ship is sinking and the outlook for additional students is pretty bleak honestly. The number of potential students will drop substantially in the next 4 years. Think 2008 financial crisis and fast forward 18 yrs...way less students (Reference: https://hechingerreport.org/college-students-predicted-to-fall-by-more-than-15-after-the-year-2025/)
By 2030, SIUC may be forced to merge campuses with the E....grim days ahead.
The "value" of SIU will be squeezed by higher paying non-college jobs (try to hire an electrician these days), the community colleges, and at the top end--> simply better more prestigious universities.
I loved it there, but the time has past. Especially when many alumni would not choose SIU ant longer.
This was via her attorney. Are they declaring it as fact, or is that just their stance on it? There has to be more to the story. I would imagine SIU will fight this in court… unless there was actually no cause.
The ship is sinking and the outlook for additional students is pretty bleak honestly. The number of potential students will drop substantially in the next 4 years. Think 2008 financial crisis and fast forward 18 yrs...way less students (Reference: https://hechingerreport.org/college-students-predicted-to-fall-by-more-than-15-after-the-year-2025/)
By 2030, SIUC may be forced to merge campuses with the E....grim days ahead.
The "value" of SIU will be squeezed by higher paying non-college jobs (try to hire an electrician these days), the community colleges, and at the top end--> simply better more prestigious universities.
I loved it there, but the time has past. Especially when many alumni would not choose SIU ant longer.
I thought the pandemic might have an affect on 4 year colleges but I don't really see that it's had much of an impact, at least so far. SIU's Freshman class is the highest in 5 years and they've been doing much better with retention. SIU has a ton of problems but I'm not sure it's as doom and gloom as you're claiming.
@salukiworld --> they will need all the budget tightening they can get. Most other states are in way better financial situation to help the colleges and universities than Illinois. The guiding principle has to be retention. They have to keep the students they get on campus. Thats what the article eludes to. SIUC has started that, but it has a huge hill to climb financially. The State of Illinois will save the flagships first and then maybe get to SIUC.
Being better stewards of the students and money they have is the best thing they could do.
Hope it works, but I am not hopeful at all. Never thought this would happen 25 years ago...but here we are.
@salukiworld --> they will need all the budget tightening they can get. Most other states are in way better financial situation to help the colleges and universities than Illinois. The guiding principle has to be retention. They have to keep the students they get on campus. Thats what the article eludes to. SIUC has started that, but it has a huge hill to climb financially. The State of Illinois will save the flagships first and then maybe get to SIUC.
Being better stewards of the students and money they have is the best thing they could do.
Hope it works, but I am not hopeful at all. Never thought this would happen 25 years ago...but here we are.
SIU has the advantage of being the flagship university in Southern Illinois. There's a reason the state has pledged to invest millions of dollars in renovating the communications building. They might be lower on the totem pole than a U of I but the state has a lot of incentive to make sure SIU thrives.
What SIU should do is offer cheap in state tuition. And offer that, I would set it at around $5,500, to those from Illinois and every state surrounding Illinois(including Michigan).
And also offer cheap, around $8,500, out of state tuition to those from states not from Illinois or surrounding states.
But on the flip side pair this with high academic standards so good students will see it as an option to continue education for the money.
Hopefully this would lead to an increase in enrollment and make up for the lessening enrollment.
I would also add some ancillary programs(e.g. Naval ROTC to combine with the aviation program).
Build some new residence halls.
The ship is sinking and the outlook for additional students is pretty bleak honestly. The number of potential students will drop substantially in the next 4 years. Think 2008 financial crisis and fast forward 18 yrs...way less students (Reference: https://hechingerreport.org/college-students-predicted-to-fall-by-more-than-15-after-the-year-2025/)
By 2030, SIUC may be forced to merge campuses with the E....grim days ahead.
The "value" of SIU will be squeezed by higher paying non-college jobs (try to hire an electrician these days), the community colleges, and at the top end--> simply better more prestigious universities.
I loved it there, but the time has past. Especially when many alumni would not choose SIU ant longer.
Glad you're not guiding the ship! Talk about negative. And your comment that many alumni would not send their kids there? How big is your statistical sample? LOL That's a ridiculous statement - you're extrapolating from your own negative views of SIU.
No doubt the number of students available fluctuates over time, and several years of Bruce Rauner, a pandemic, and idiot administrators like Dunn and Colville who didn't do squat for enrollment were disastrous to enrollment. And NIU, WIU, EIU, and schools all over the country have had the same issues.
Those higher paying trades jobs? They have a very hard time getting apprentices - those jobs are not popular.
There will always be a demand for counselors, teachers, software developers, engineers, medical people, chemists, etc. etc.
Finally the administration is putting enrollment as a very high priority and doing some smart things like hiring permanent recruiters in Chicago and St. Louis, the takeover tours, etc. This stuff should have been going on years ago.
The ship has been sinking, but I think it's starting to float a bit better. I agree with Spike that lowering tuition would help, but can SIU afford it? The BOT won't let that happen unless Eville gets it too.
