Very.* Archived Message Posted by Warrin'_Illini on May 21, 2025, 11:26:59, in reply to "that’s depressing*" Previous Message Previous Message https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/america-s-college-towns-go-from-boom-to-bust/ar-AA1F1eaS Previous Message https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/college-towns-economy-macomb-illinois-aae84dcc Can't believe it's now down to 5500. Was like 12k in the 90s. If it can't hold on, the whole area is going to turn into southern Ohio. :-( Message Thread: | This response ↓ WSJ Article on WIU enrollment plummeting as part of larger trends. - LeatherneckIllini May 21, 2025, 8:00:20 It mentions it in the article, but I think the biggest issue is the Enrollment Cliff (link) - aimlessillini May 21, 2025, 11:28:44 Cliff Clavin > enrollment cliff > cliffmas* - bbonb May 21, 2025, 18:17:42 Yep, admins have been raising alarm bells for about a decade on this - Blazer May 21, 2025, 18:13:45 Speaking for a friend, while taking huge pay raises because they navigated COVID!* - Bill Clinton May 21, 2025, 18:58:48 (no subject) - bbonb May 21, 2025, 13:13:56 foreign students not wanting to come here will be a much bigger issue for B1G schools* - ECEIllinois May 21, 2025, 12:04:48 Same article without paywall - Jersey May 21, 2025, 10:41:59 Enrollment chart for all ILL public universities (freshman) - LWillhite May 21, 2025, 11:36:13 WTF are NEIU and Gov St?* - bbonb May 21, 2025, 12:50:03 WTF is nukes?* - LWillhite May 21, 2025, 12:54:37 WTF is a wizard? - IlliniSax05 May 21, 2025, 13:07:17 Man, WIU... very sad IMHO. - osklister May 21, 2025, 11:45:29 that’s depressing* - bbonb May 21, 2025, 11:23:17 Not to me - Stu May 21, 2025, 11:28:49 Very.* - Warrin'_Illini May 21, 2025, 11:26:59 Plus they have a Moline campus which apparetnly isn't doing all that well either - jfinsocal May 21, 2025, 10:40:08 LAMD. My dad attended WIU in the late 50s. He was a student coach for the football team - ibdoc May 21, 2025, 10:07:44 EIU / WIU / SIU are a collective looming problem for the state, which obviously has plenty* - cpsteine May 21, 2025, 9:59:14 Sidejack...one thing I don't understand is the high school athlete... - haighter May 21, 2025, 9:42:25 The reverse is using upper tier sports talent to get into top tier schools with D3 programs… - LeatherneckIllini May 21, 2025, 18:30:21 Is the name on the degree really that meaningful as far as career? - Taz May 21, 2025, 10:36:47 I can't speak to the facts on the ground - Sammich May 21, 2025, 11:12:40 I think it matters far more in the first 5 ish years of your career - Sounder May 21, 2025, 11:19:46 Probably. But as ISDH said below, even that is highly industry (and probably company) specific* - DocWalk20 May 21, 2025, 13:08:15 It’s not just that, it’s also a much different experience going to a major university. - OB25 May 21, 2025, 11:12:23 Maybe? Anecdotally, when I was hired my employer was only looking at engineering graduates of 2... - EffinIllini May 21, 2025, 10:45:40 It's a pretty significant personal "brand" for your first job at least, if not first ten years - longsnapper May 21, 2025, 10:45:36 Going to guess that's entirely industry dependent? - ISeeDeadHawkeyes May 21, 2025, 10:37:40 Sure law school. But not for a bachelor's* - Taz May 21, 2025, 10:41:21 I wildly disagree with this assertion - Sounder May 21, 2025, 10:44:25 You think an employer will care though when hiring someone? - Taz May 21, 2025, 10:46:28 1000%* - Sounder May 21, 2025, 11:03:45 Yes. But it can also work the other way, too. Especially for a young professional... - longsnapper May 21, 2025, 10:57:19 Yeah, we have a lot of friends who are dealing with this. - AintHatin May 21, 2025, 10:33:12 There is real value in being a former college athlete in the job market, at least for your first job - IlliniMen'sSoccer May 21, 2025, 10:17:06 Knew a guy who was interviewing at UIUC, asked about the company's softball team. :-) - osklister May 21, 2025, 13:16:19 Completely agree* - LWillhite May 21, 2025, 11:27:41 Play until you are no longer able. The chance only comes along once - bjl63 May 21, 2025, 10:13:47 So I'm with you...to an extent... - EffinIllini May 21, 2025, 9:59:21 vast majority of small private schools exist for the sole purpose of getting people to pay $30k/year - ijustkrushalot May 21, 2025, 9:56:28 Agreed. Basically all of my club soccer team went down that path and I went the other way.* - Carl Spackler May 21, 2025, 9:56:25 Undergrad degrees outside of engineering and a few other disciplines aren’t worth nearly - voiceofreason May 21, 2025, 9:53:51 So I totally agree, especially after your first job. I just struggle with someone... - haighter May 21, 2025, 10:24:28 It’s a terrible decision IMO* - Sounder May 21, 2025, 11:13:43 I also don't get it* - gvibes May 21, 2025, 9:50:18 I like the Penn State campus model. One gigantic flagship and 19 "commonwealth campuses" to serve - ATL May 21, 2025, 9:34:42 The flipside to that is there are already 10 regional universities in PA - Jersey May 21, 2025, 10:28:44 Yes. CalU, Edinboro (Hi CDP) and one other merged a few years ago. But I think they actually still - ATL May 21, 2025, 10:42:15 I've long said Illinois needs to "elevate" one of the other campuses - ijustkrushalot May 21, 2025, 9:42:39 Too paywall; DR. What are the reasons it’s failing? Radical liberals? Woke? DEI?* - bbonb May 21, 2025, 9:15:25 Paywalled, so I'll conjecture a few things: - ijustkrushalot May 21, 2025, 9:34:31 I agree with all of that - Jersey May 21, 2025, 10:08:45 My brother went to WIU - ISeeDeadHawkeyes May 21, 2025, 10:13:05 Definitely not a him thing. It blew my mind when I went to Western after living in Champaign - Taz May 21, 2025, 10:54:57 There was an apparel store that did fraternity / sorority apparel - Jersey May 21, 2025, 10:25:27 yet building a $100M performing arts center but i think the state is footing most of that bill* - lcubed May 21, 2025, 9:11:08 yow* - cpsteine May 21, 2025, 9:24:57 Youngest thought about WIU until we visited campus. It was haggard. - PapaDels May 21, 2025, 8:47:50 UIC is thriving, and I think SIU-E is too? - ISeeDeadHawkeyes May 21, 2025, 8:44:30 SIUE is doing ok—certainly better than EIU and WIU - Blazer May 21, 2025, 11:07:08 I always thought WIU was where you went to be a teacher or a cop.* - ibdoc May 21, 2025, 8:59:30 i always thought of isu as the teacher college but agree on the wiu = cop* - lcubed May 21, 2025, 9:10:04 I thought of NIU as teachers - TarheelIllini May 21, 2025, 9:40:52 ISU was established as a teacher's college. From Wiki... - EffinIllini May 21, 2025, 9:17:15 Sign out front saying "Welcome to Normal, IL" shoulda told ya.... - osklister May 21, 2025, 11:46:54 WIU was also founded and named Western Illinois State Normal School and changed to Teachers College - ibdoc May 21, 2025, 10:11:12 ISU is the oldest public school in the state, EIU/NIU/WIU were formed in the late 1800s - ijustkrushalot May 21, 2025, 9:46:25 TIL: the word "Normal" in education means a teacher's college but it is based on a French - ATL May 21, 2025, 9:39:24 Also need to have programs that differentiate themselves.* - SurfTheBoneyard May 21, 2025, 8:48:33 perhaps turn it into a trade school?* - bbonb May 21, 2025, 9:17:35 SEIU? You mean SIUE (Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville)? - EffinIllini May 21, 2025, 8:47:57 Lol, yes sorry. I am used to typing SEIU for other reasons* - ISeeDeadHawkeyes May 21, 2025, 9:49:56 ^^^union buster* - ATL May 21, 2025, 10:09:39 I ain't afraid of no ghos... wait, wrong movie. Never mind. - osklister May 21, 2025, 11:48:54 Opposite? - ISeeDeadHawkeyes May 21, 2025, 10:11:40 ISU has some programs that stand out… - SurfTheBoneyard May 21, 2025, 9:15:54 EIU, UIS, and WIU should be merged into a Spfld campus - jfinsocal May 21, 2025, 8:13:26 I grew up in C-U and have lived here most of my life - illini21 May 21, 2025, 8:05:59 You've been here this long and didn't know I'm a leatherneck?!* - Taz May 21, 2025, 18:33:46 I graduated from WIU (twice) - I grew up just outside of Macomb - Jersey May 21, 2025, 9:44:37 Nope. I never heard of anyone going therr* - Stu May 21, 2025, 8:51:16 My Dad graduated from WIU in 1968. A HS buddy & classmate graduated from WIU in 1996. - EffinIllini May 21, 2025, 8:45:47 My twin loved it there. I hated it, but my parents made me stay two years. - Kajagoogoo May 21, 2025, 9:05:22 My daughter graduated from ISU 12 days ago. She loved it. - EffinIllini May 21, 2025, 9:10:22 Nice. Congrats to her! And yeah, ISU is a great university/campus. Loved it there (over 30 yrs ago). - Kajagoogoo May 21, 2025, 11:42:40 My sister-in-law went for a year and hated it. transferred to UI. * - larue33 May 21, 2025, 8:12:30   Searching