josie wrote:

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Just heard summer enrollment may be low this year.  They may count the 100 or so Warren pavers on campus as students to get the numbers up.

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Au contraire.  We believe summer enrollment may well top 25,000,  allowing USM to assume it's rightful place as the biggest wurl' class university in Mississippi.  Dr. Malone is reviewing the figures as we speak,  with a press release to follow. 

It seems in my department numbers are way down. Even if the numbers pick up by next week it won't be a fair comparison to last year if they continue to recruit students well into the semester like they did in the fall and spring. In previous years we would never be recruiting students 2 + weeks into the semester like was done the past two semesters.

where do you get the 5% up information?  please do tell, for everyone on the board.

headcount or FTE?

they weren't dept. data--university wide data.

I'll be interested to see real college-wide figures. It's not uncommon for departments to be "up" nicely when overall enrollment is down. In fact, it's normal.

I have it on good authority that USM's largest single community college feeder institution (Gulf Coast) has been seeing declining enrollment growth for the past year. Moreover, USA, Tulane & Carey are recruiting Gulf Coast students far more aggressively than USM. Pretty soon, this "trough" is going to reach USM.

There are other reasons you can expect USM to begin to see some enrollment stagnation...

At a recent high school awards ceremony (less than 35 miles from Hattiesburg), there were several kids that I know will be receiving scholarships (band, academic, etc.) to USM. But there was no USM representative to call their names & make a presentation. Carey, Tulane, Ole Miss & the community college all had representatives present. Heck, the Ole Miss recruiter announced the scholarships & then recognized several other kids who would simply "be joining the Ole Miss family next fall."

That high school parking lot used to have a lot of USM stickers on students' cars. Now, it's a big mass of red-and-blue "M" stickers.

Not a magnet anymore wrote:

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Invictus wrote: I'll be interested to see real college-wide figures. It's not uncommon for departments to be "up" nicely when overall enrollment is down. In fact, it's normal. I have it on good authority that USM's largest single community college feeder institution (Gulf Coast) has been seeing declining enrollment growth for the past year. Moreover, USA, Tulane & Carey are recruiting Gulf Coast students far more aggressively than USM. Pretty soon, this "trough" is going to reach USM. There are other reasons you can expect USM to begin to see some enrollment stagnation... At a recent high school awards ceremony (less than 35 miles from Hattiesburg), there were several kids that I know will be receiving scholarships (band, academic, etc.) to USM. But there was no USM representative to call their names & make a presentation. Carey, Tulane, Ole Miss & the community college all had representatives present. Heck, the Ole Miss recruiter announced the scholarships & then recognized several other kids who would simply "be joining the Ole Miss family next fall." That high school parking lot used to have a lot of USM stickers on students' cars. Now, it's a big mass of red-and-blue "M" stickers. Invictus, I was discussing this very issue with a colleague earlier today. Many students from Oak Grove and Petal who would otherwise consider USM are now going to State and Ole Miss. As the economy in and around Hattiesburg improves, more and more high school students from the Hattiesburg area will make State and Ole Miss their school of choice (or a private college). I recall a time when  USM attracted students from some of the top high schools in Mississippi, such as Episcopal in Jackson. I don't detect that trend now. That, along with your observations and the competition that exists from the University of South Alabama (not to mention Tulane on the Coast) does not bode well for USM.

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Don't forget the good deals that UNO is now running.  If you aren't familiar, check out what kind of tuition breaks they are giving to good students from Mississippi.

It would help if USM were even half as "aggressive" as USA, Carey & Tulane about recruiting on the Coast.

Most coast campus student recruiting, thanks to Malone and the dufus who heads Admissions down there, is geared towards professionals at local corporations (like Grumman) who they hope to convince to take business classes.  Very little emphasis is being placed on the coast on "traditional" college students or on non-business non-traditional students - no recruiting being done among teachers, for example.

Recruiting?  As in a comprehensive, well-thought out plan?  Not hardly.

Shelby pulls a 20,000 number out of his......hat.  Joe Paul knows it's not doable and looks for greener pastures.  When he stays at USM, he negotiates a "sharing" across the university of the responsibility so that the failure to meet the unrealistic goals doesn't come back to bite him.

No legitimacy for the goal, no buy-in of the goal, no plan to achieve the goal.

Invictus wrote:

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 It would help if USM were even half as "aggressive" as USA, Carey & Tulane about recruiting on the Coast.

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Invictus, do you think there might a rationalle for the less than aggressive recruiting of full-time traditional students on the USM coast campus? If the coast campus aggressively recruited full-time traditional students, fewer of those would matriculate at  the Hattiesburg campus. The demand for Hattiesburg apartments would be diminished. It would not be good for those with an interest in the apartment complexes. But that may have absolutely nothing to do with it. Can you think of an alternative explanation?

A couple of cents,

"Live", you're right.  The deals they are offering at UNO are eyepopping.  I didn't believe it until I saw a flyer.  With a 27 ACT you can go there virtually for free.  Even more interesting is that a MS student with only a 2.5 GPA from a CC is eligible for partial a partial scholarship on out-of-state tuition.  There's a sliding scale on everything in between.  The other place to watch is Millsaps.  They are offering a surprising amount of aid to good but not great students.  They are getting some of the liberal arts type kids that would have gone to USM in the old days but wouldn't touch MU or MSU.

If I were MU or MSU, I wouldn't get too comfy.  Anybody with a 24 to 30 ACT and decent grades doesn't have to pay the out-of-state premium anymore.  My guess is that in ten years UM will be down to the core of kids wanting what the SEC used to be and that over 50 percent of their students will be doing Southern-style finishing school work with majors in bidness with a minor in social skills.  At least UM has a niche,  MSU doesn't have a niche in anything.  The better students won't go there (see Invictus above) and who is going to come from out of state to go to a third-tier school in the middle of nowhere in a poor state.  Maybe their niche will end up being ag oriented students who wanted to go to Auburn, Clemson, or Texas A&M but couldn't get in.  Maybe they could recruit engineering students that couldn't cut it at Georgia Tech or LA Tech.  Dunno, coming up with a plan for MSU is tough. 

pisco--with a 27 ACT at USM you can do pretty well. why go to UNO if you're from MS? i know folks that teach at UNO and they wouldn't recommend it unless you live in the greater NO area.

Invictus wrote:
More aggressive recruitment of full-time students for USM-Gulf Coast would mean fewer students matriculating into departments on the Hattiesburg Campus.

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I thought we were into this thing together. What you say makes it seem like the 20,000 student body projection is geared toward Hattiesburg and not toward the coast.

stinky cheese man wrote:

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 this is one of the enigmas of the USM Hattiesburg/Gulf Coast arrangement--how do you recruit for one campus against the other?

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Make them two separate schools, That will happen eventually anyway. No need to prolong the enigma.