By: Diane Benjamin
Media is reporting a slight drop in enrollment at ISU. Here’s the proof that numbers lie and liars use numbers.
Incoming freshman – down 342 students (9.3%)
Transfer students – down 239 students (11.7%)
Those are huge percentage drops, the source is WGLT which happens to be part of ISU: http://wglt.org/post/freshman-enrollment-falls-illinois-state-university#stream/0
Incoming freshmen and transfer students are ISU’s future. If this freshman and transfer decrease is a trend, the future looks bleak. Now what do those numbers say? Think Administration isn’t worried? They should be! Think the Town of Normal is worried? Since they can just raise taxes (unless an army of angry citizens shows up at City Hall), they aren’t worried. How many MILLIONS is this drop in undergrads going to cost ISU? Based on posted tuition – many millions. How much tax revenue is it going to cost Normal when fewer people are eating out and fewer parents will be visiting?
Total enrollment is only down 255 students because the number of graduate students is up. Why? Nobody asked. Is it because students couldn’t find jobs that will pay off their student loans with only a 4 year degree?
Speaking of student loans, once the Federal Government started doling out money – it created a disaster. The Student Loan Bubble will burst, currently 43% of all loans aren’t being paid or got permission to suspend payments. Almost half! I hear ISU isn’t the least bit worried about that either. Do these silly kids think the feds are going to bail them out? Considering the total is over 1 TRILLION now, think half of that will be forgiven while the other half gets paid? Ha Ha Ha
See more on student loans here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/college-bubble-what-true-value-higher-education-cole-feldman
IWU doesn’t have as many students as it used to either. Is college being phased out because of the cost?
You mean to say that the multi-million dollar gamble on the Uptown Boondoggle may have been a mistake? In a recent conversation with a friend of mine, the Overpaid ISU College president said that a tuition loan bubble didn’t exist? Someone is not telling the truth here? Could be the highly paid college president whose job is to get poor unsuspecting students to go into a life time of debt to pay for his salary (and the salaries of his bloated administration). I guess if you give someone enough money they will do or say just about anything. So as ISU enrollment begins to drop like all the other universities in the state and our car maker doesn’t make any cars (does anyone believe that they ever will?) and sales taxes continue to drop and property values decline because of the upcoming State Farm layoffs… where is the money going to come from to fill all of these deficits? More property taxes? More sales taxes? Another hot dog stand? You can only tax so much before people they arrive at your door with torches and pitchforks… are you listening Mayor of Normal and the media? You have lead Normal to a situation that will soon devastate it. Still want to talk about overpasses?
Most colleges in the U.S. have priced themselves OUT of the market. I RARE cases a college background WILL pay for itself, mostly in the math and science colleges, but WHO needs a person with a Philosophy, Art, P.R., Communications, Political Science, English, etc degree! Those CAN be learned in the private sector.
As for Rivian Lawrence, YEAH, they’ll make cars! And Artificial sweeteners won’t hurt you, there WERE W.M.D. in Iraq, and Anna Nicole Smith married for love!
And government don’t lie….
Basically 581 students out of ABnormal, and IF they EACH spent $10 K while here, well, Mr Koos.. Maybe you SHOULD have been talking to students rather then a hot dog maven!
Wanted: Buyer for bankrupt socialist town with modern bicycle paths and new unoccupied buildings in the UPTOWN (we’re too BUSY & BROKE to have a downtown)..
Apply at bicycle shop. Principles ONLY..
Do we need any more proof that bicycle shop owners and college professors should not be allowed anywhere near the reins of power or the purse strings of government? And just a side note: I was in a conversation with a General Manager of Hyatt Hotel in the area (the town will remain unknown) and he told me that the Normal Hyatt is struggling for survival right now. Now someone tell me what is going to happen to that building if they leave? I want someone to tell who is going to want to stay in downtown Normal (yes its still downtown Normal) except for the parents of the kids that go to ISU? Maybe during homecoming alumni will book rooms, but other than that, what is the draw to downtown Normal? And we have two big hotel there? Someone needs to have their head examined by a professional.
Best thing I’ve read today, in a sad way of course.
How is it a lie? Spin, yes, a lie, no. Of course it’s going to be made into a positive, as much as it could be. What are they supposed to say: “well, we’re screwed, better shut it down.”
An extremely small percent of grad students attend because they can’t get a job. It’s a myth to say students are going because they can’t get a job. The unemployment rate for college grads is around 3%, not too bad…
But, I agree, college prices are ridiculous, and it’s not gonna end well….
I wonder if getting a CPA certificate is now 5 years to help out colleges? I passed the exam with only 3 1/2 yrs, left me a half to suffer advanced math.
That’s a really good question! I worked with business majors at another school when that regulation was enacted. No one could really say why it was being done. Interesting…
I even taught myself fund accounting and still passed the essay question. Studied countless hours though
Of course it is, just like everything else government does. Like having to go to a doctor to get a $20 prescription for an advanced cold remedy after paying $100 for an office call.
Another food for thought….gov’t student loans are a lot like health insurance. It allows you (health issue wise) to pay way more than you should for service rendered….you aren’t paying for it; insurance is. In education the student is not smart enough to realize their loan is paying for a professor working 15 hours a week in class room time to make 6 figures.. Assuming they aren’t having a Grad Asst. do it for them.
The point here is: Normal has literally bet everything on the continued money that ISU and the students bring into the town. The signs of problems with higher education did not just arise overnight. This has been in the making for a long time. I personally have talked about it and written about it for a number of years now. Yet in the face of the reality of the growing student loan bubble, the growing uselessness of 4 year degrees, the growing ill preparation of students by the higher education for a 21st Century economy, and the fact that higher education is being disrupted by new and better forms of education, the current Mayor of Normal, city council, and lapdog media insist on perpetuating economic reliance on ISU via unrealistic spending on downtown infrastructure projects. And a result they are not telling the people the truth about what is really happening. Example: this was in the article that Diane referenced: “Illinois State remains strong and stable and its track record of success continues in the midst of a highly competitive student recruiting environment and the lingering effects of an unprecedented state budget crisis.” This is the standard statement used now by WGLT and the Pantagraph to explain and rationalize the drop in enrollment at ISU. It is not other state recruiting and the state budget that is affecting enrollment (maybe a small part) but it is instead all the things I listed above that is affecting enrollment. ISU is just now loosing its charmed existence and following the trend that has been happening with the other state schools for years now. Leaving out the very important parts of what is happening to Normal’s only economic driver is deceptive and wrong. Mayor Koos and the city government, as a result of their ISU is going to be strong and here forever mindset, have brought Normal to point where they are heavily in debt with a declining sales tax base and looming State Farm layoff in the making. ISU’s enrollment will continue to drop and so will the money flowing into the town and area. What will replace the revenue? You certainly won’t see any manufactured cars from the pretend auto maker helping out with revenue. So whether you call it lying or conscious calculated omission of the facts, the leadership in Normal and the lapdog media are not being straight with people. And considering what is at stake, this is a crime of huge proportions.
My somewhat educated guess is there are more grad students because more are opting to live their lives in the protected academic bubble. As to hotels in Normal, I can see why they are struggling, I mean it is not exactly a “destination” except maybe a couple of times a year and hotels need warm bodies in the beds all year long to survive, especially big hotels.As to the salaries of ISU (and most colleges) they are often obscene. Add the costs of the forced professor written textbooks, “fees” for things many students will never use and tuition and it becomes more and more a hard choice to decide to go to college. I did it twice, ( A B.A. and a B.S. plus SOME work towards a Masters) and though I don’t 100% regret it, I think if I could do it all over I may not go at all. Some of he happiest and most financially comfortable (though not RICH RICH) people I know did not or if they did it was just a 2 year sort of thing or a trade school.
I hardly think my $58,500 salary is obscene. A master’s degree and 18 years in. And before you start with the pension, I don’t get one. I opted for the self-managed retirement option. That was a much smarter decision than the pension plan.
Smart guy!
The point of all this obscene spending, unending debt, and ridiculous building IS bankruptcy of course. That’s the “End” to their “Means.” There is NO financial responsibility in any of their plans. Going right over the fiscal cliff IS the plan. I mean, isn’t it obvious to everyone? This road DOES NOT lead to prosperity.
Prosperity for the local restaurants that Koos AND Renner eat at!
For the folks who LIVE here and want good streets,etc. and HAVE to maintain their OWN cars-NO!
OH! Maybe good for places that sell car parts too.
To BNIndy yes you were smart to opt for self managed retirement. But having taught at ISU how many hours do you exactly teach and how many days in 9 months?
I don’t teach, I’m an AP. 37.5 hours per week is full time, but I usually work 40-42 hours per week. I also have twelve month contract.