SUNY Growth

[ATL_DANE]

I'm not sure if you guys have been reading some of the same articles I have but SUNY is growing quickly. It's growing quickly but not evenly. New Paltz is growing so fast they just purchased more land to support the growth. Binghamton's undergraduate numbers appear to be the fastest of the university centers. Oswego's expanded to serve Syracuse. UB plans to nearly double in size by 2020. UAlbany's undergraduate numbers are flat. I looked at the last 5 years of undergraduate growth. There were a few dips and rises but the net result is basically flat. Thoughts? Is this a result of the lack of a president for so long? Are we focusing on research at the expense of undergraduates? Sure we have some huge positives like Nano but that barely affects the undergraduate population. A linear growth rate would have Bingo's undergraduate numbers ahead of Albany in a matter of years. Same holds true for some of the colleges.

 

Many of you are tied into Albany and state governement more than I am. Just wondering what you thought.

 

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?...74969&rfi=6

 

http://www.syracuse.com/articles/news/inde....xml&coll=1

 

http://spectrum.buffalo.edu/article.php?id=34324

[danefan]

I think the president situation really hurts. I also think the lack of "college feel" is hurting UAlbany. There is no real college community on campus. Its very apparent even from the naked eye of a high school senior.

[Dane96]

I think the president situation really hurts. I also think the lack of "college feel" is hurting UAlbany. There is no real college community on campus. Its very apparent even from the naked eye of a high school senior.

 

More importantly, I also think THE QUALITY of students we are taking is much better. In this realm, I think we are limiting ourselves with students. I am happy if a kid chooses New Paltz over Albany because quite frankly, if he/she isnt looking for a particular program (e.g. Arts at New Paltz) then we are probably not missing out on a top student.

 

Arguably, the situation is different if we are losing kids to SBU, UB, and BU, however losing a student to Geneseo does not really bother me because that school is more akin to a public version of a Lehigh or Colgate opposed to the BIG FOUR (UB, UA, SBU, and BU).

[danefan]

I think the president situation really hurts. I also think the lack of "college feel" is hurting UAlbany. There is no real college community on campus. Its very apparent even from the naked eye of a high school senior.

 

More importantly, I also think THE QUALITY of students we are taking is much better. In this realm, I think we are limiting ourselves with students. I am happy if a kid chooses New Paltz over Albany because quite frankly, if he/she isnt looking for a particular program (e.g. Arts at New Paltz) then we are probably not missing out on a top student.

 

Arguably, the situation is different if we are losing kids to SBU, UB, and BU, however losing a student to Geneseo does not really bother me because that school is more akin to a public version of a Lehigh or Colgate opposed to the BIG FOUR (UB, UA, SBU, and BU).

 

Agreed. Just out of curiosity, what schools is the "Honor's College" supposed to be competing with?

[UAlbany09]

I think the president situation really hurts. I also think the lack of "college feel" is hurting UAlbany. There is no real college community on campus. Its very apparent even from the naked eye of a high school senior.

 

What do you mean there's no real college community on campus?

[danefan]

I think the president situation really hurts. I also think the lack of "college feel" is hurting UAlbany. There is no real college community on campus. Its very apparent even from the naked eye of a high school senior.

 

What do you mean there's no real college community on campus?

 

There's no sense of ownership in the university by the students. That is what I call a college community. The majority of kids that go to UA go there, make a limited number of friends (usually based on sports or freshman room assignments) and stay within that group for the four (or five) years they are there. After that they leave with no further attachment to the school. There is nothing on campus to bring students together.

[GODANESGO]

I think the president situation really hurts. I also think the lack of "college feel" is hurting UAlbany. There is no real college community on campus. Its very apparent even from the naked eye of a high school senior.

 

What do you mean there's no real college community on campus?

 

There's no sense of ownership in the university by the students. That is what I call a college community. The majority of kids that go to UA go there, make a limited number of friends (usually based on sports or freshman room assignments) and stay within that group for the four (or five) years they are there. After that they leave with no further attachment to the school. There is nothing on campus to bring students together.

 

Exactly how long has it been since you were a student here?

[DanesRGood]

I think the president situation really hurts. I also think the lack of "college feel" is hurting UAlbany. There is no real college community on campus. Its very apparent even from the naked eye of a high school senior.

 

What do you mean there's no real college community on campus?

 

There's no sense of ownership in the university by the students. That is what I call a college community. The majority of kids that go to UA go there, make a limited number of friends (usually based on sports or freshman room assignments) and stay within that group for the four (or five) years they are there. After that they leave with no further attachment to the school. There is nothing on campus to bring students together.

 

I graduated in 96 and have been back many times. When I was there I felt a sense of community and to this day still feel a great attachment to the school and the area.

[UAlbany09]

I think the president situation really hurts. I also think the lack of "college feel" is hurting UAlbany. There is no real college community on campus. Its very apparent even from the naked eye of a high school senior.

 

What do you mean there's no real college community on campus?

 

There's no sense of ownership in the university by the students. That is what I call a college community. The majority of kids that go to UA go there, make a limited number of friends (usually based on sports or freshman room assignments) and stay within that group for the four (or five) years they are there. After that they leave with no further attachment to the school. There is nothing on campus to bring students together.

 

I think you find that at most SUNY schools. I don't think it explains the lack of growth at UAlbany even if it does exist. I was under the impression that the University has been receiving record numbers of applications over the past few years. Isn't the University keeping the number of students it takes in every year constant, preferring to accept higher quality students over the quantity of students.

[ATL_DANE]

If I recall, UA did jump about 2,000 applications this year and only accepted about 200 more students. That's a definate strategy to move towards quality. I think it's great.

 

UA should continue to grow though. I'd like to see us move up to about 25k, which is closer to our peer group. The best way to do that would be through an aquisition strategy. Does NYS need all these independent SUNY X schools? SUNY Central should put a few as satelite campuses under university center flags e.g. UA. Keep the campus but cut the overhead of running them all as little kingdoms.

[danefan]

I think the president situation really hurts. I also think the lack of "college feel" is hurting UAlbany. There is no real college community on campus. Its very apparent even from the naked eye of a high school senior.

 

What do you mean there's no real college community on campus?

 

There's no sense of ownership in the university by the students. That is what I call a college community. The majority of kids that go to UA go there, make a limited number of friends (usually based on sports or freshman room assignments) and stay within that group for the four (or five) years they are there. After that they leave with no further attachment to the school. There is nothing on campus to bring students together.

 

Exactly how long has it been since you were a student here?

 

 

 

I graduated in 2004. Obviously if you post on here you clearly have a connection to UA. I'm not saying everyone, I'm saying the majority. There are thousands of graduates that leave UA every year and never go back, and never donate money and never care one ayota about what happens when they leave. For a university our size we have pretty poor alumni support in my opinion (with an obvious exception being people on this board).

 

Maybe its not a UA thing, but a SUNY thing, or maybe its just a large-school thing. Who knows.

[UAlbany09]

I think the president situation really hurts. I also think the lack of "college feel" is hurting UAlbany. There is no real college community on campus. Its very apparent even from the naked eye of a high school senior.

 

What do you mean there's no real college community on campus?

 

There's no sense of ownership in the university by the students. That is what I call a college community. The majority of kids that go to UA go there, make a limited number of friends (usually based on sports or freshman room assignments) and stay within that group for the four (or five) years they are there. After that they leave with no further attachment to the school. There is nothing on campus to bring students together.

 

Exactly how long has it been since you were a student here?

 

 

 

I graduated in 2004. Obviously if you post on here you clearly have a connection to UA. I'm not saying everyone, I'm saying the majority. There are thousands of graduates that leave UA every year and never go back, and never donate money and never care one ayota about what happens when they leave. For a university our size we have pretty poor alumni support in my opinion (with an obvious exception being people on this board).

 

Maybe its not a UA thing, but a SUNY thing, or maybe its just a large-school thing. Who knows.

 

Do you know where you can find out how much money UAlbany gets from alumni and how it compares to other schools?

[ATL_DANE]

It's not a large school thing. It's a New York thing. Talk to anyone from Gator nation and they'll show you pride. U of Florida alumni are amazing! That's true to some extent of all the big state schools. When I visited my brother in Western Michigan, I noticed there was a store in the mall that was entirely devoted to Michigan and Michigan State: apparel, glasses, flags, license plates, bottle openers, and so on and so on. It's a New York thing. Even UConn and Penn State are representing.

 

UA pride and sense of community is improving. We might be the best in SUNY... but pride in SUNY has a long way to go. There is no reason for kids not to feel lucky and show pride in UA. It's a great school. My two suite mates and I have a JD, MBA and PhD between us. How bad can the school be with results like that? Our athletics are on the rise. Maybe the incoming kids just need to be told how lucky they are, they'll tell you that point blank at Alabama (Roll Tide!).

[madDOG]

I graduated in 2004. Obviously if you post on here you clearly have a connection to UA. I'm not saying everyone, I'm saying the majority. There are thousands of graduates that leave UA every year and never go back, and never donate money and never care one ayota about what happens when they leave. For a university our size we have pretty poor alumni support in my opinion (with an obvious exception being people on this board).

 

Maybe its not a UA thing, but a SUNY thing, or maybe its just a large-school thing. Who knows.

 

I think that's one of the great intangible benefits of a good athletic program that you rarely hear anything about. It connects the student body, makes them take pride in their university and keeps them connected for years after they graduate. I've heard a number of quotes from university officials talking about how Alumni support jumped after our NCAA appearances. When we continue to do the great things we are doing- it will come naturally.

 

In terms of growth- I'd much rather see the quality of the students rise than the quantity. 25k honor students would be great, but the question is, where would we put them all? The university would have to significantly increase physical space to accommodate 25k students- especially dormitories....and the podium is only so big.

[danefan]

138,000 living alumni and last year was about $3mm in donations.

 

That's $21.74 per alumn. Pretty poor if you ask me.