USM pre- hurricane enrollment? - USM Forum -- Message Board

Date: Sep 23, 2005

USM pre- hurricane enrollment?

Date: Sep 23, 2005

Prior to Katrina summer preview numbers were down at the Hattiesburg campus and there was/is concern within the administration as to what this might mean for the fall. Whether that resulted in a 2% deficit, I don't know. In fact the only reason enrollment has grown at all this year is because of the Coast campus. As far as an explanation of the decline in students in Hburg, which is still our flagship campus, well, Kat fixed that little bad piece of PR for Thames. Of course in the Spring if enrollment grows by even as much as 1 student there will be press releases as there was last year for a 90 student growth.

Date: Sep 23, 2005

IHL press release, 9/23/05

PRELIMINARY FALL 2005 ENROLLMENT FIGURES SHOW INCREASE

http://www.ihl.state.ms.us/newsstory.asp?ID=355

...Because of Hurricane Katrina, final enrollment may differ more than normal from this preliminary Fall 2005 data. In particular, there was destruction of Gulf Coast classrooms used by The University of Southern Mississippi. USM has found classroom space at other locations, but the disruption has already resulted in reduced enrollment at these locations and may cause further attrition....

[USM is down 1.5%.]

Date: Sep 23, 2005

The pre- Katrina enrollment figures are very telling. It looks like USM is barely hanging onto #2 place by the skin of its teeth. We are one of only two schools to actually lose enrollment. Ole Miss' increase, if it continues, could easily place USM as #3 within a year. What has happened to USM's enrollment is sure at variance with the 20,000 aspiration we all heard about a couple of years ago.

Date: Sep 23, 2005

Journey to the center of the earth wrote:

The pre- Katrina enrollment figures are very telling. It looks like USM is barely hanging onto #2 place by the skin of its teeth. We are one of only two schools to actually lose enrollment. Ole Miss' increase, if it continues, could easily place USM as #3 within a year. What has happened to USM's enrollment is sure at variance with the 20,000 aspiration we all heard about a couple of years ago.

That ridiculous aspiration is surely why we lost Bucky Wesley.

Date: Sep 23, 2005

That plus the fact that he didn't enjoy verbal abuse.

Date: Sep 23, 2005

Journey to the center of the earth wrote:

...What has happened to USM's enrollment is sure at variance with the 20,000 aspiration we all heard about a couple of years ago.

I would just like to point out that the 20,000 aspiration, in my opinion, wasn't really "enrollment", that is, "full time equivalent" students. It refers to head count. That is why there is such a large effort to enroll part-time students in Hattiesburg, at local high schools and on the coast.