ISU offering returning upperclassmen $1000 to leave dorms

[CyFan61]

Ahh, I wasn't sure what was wrong with them.

Some genius built them with concrete that could not adapt to extreme changes in temperature. It was not aging well in the constant cycles of Iowa summers and winters. The other two apparently did not have this issue, for some reason.

 

[ISUboi12]

As the dad of an incoming Frosh, I have mixed feelings about the increase in students. I suspect that they are accepting more students than they probably should below the RAI index. Iowa State's Common Data Set shows that about 10% of enrolled Frosh had a high school GPA below 3.0. The CDS doesn't provide enough detail to parse out how many were admitted below the RAI. Obviously, there is also the worry over class availability. I also love the idea of a campus where most students live on campus for 2 years. Research clearly shows that is ppositive factor in GPA and grad rate and leads to more student involvement in campus clubs and orgs.

I also understand the need to maintain revenue. I just hope they can balance it out and not lose some of the things that make ISU such a great place...namely, a great sense of community often generated through a very good res hall system.

Just to play devil's advocate. Is it really a justifiable fear if those students admitted below RAI index demonstrate less involvement in campus clubs and organizations compared to those above it?

ISU is not Harvard. IMO it is smart business sense to accept anyone that wants to *try* to be a productive contributor of the ISU community.

 

[Frak]

If I were them, I'd be looking at building two new suite style dorms where the two Towers were demolished. With CyRide running all the time, the distance just isn't as big an issue as it used to be. And it would probably help Campustown.

 

[ISUCyclones2015]

I don't think we need more Suite Style Dorms. But make it a really nice new dense building. Every single one is quads and two quads share a bathroom. (With 2 showers if you wanted to).

I'll have to see if I can find it. But I my dad showed me an Ames Tribune and a Daily article about the 30 and 50 year plans from for ISU from 1970.

The basic idea was to have the towers and JTS be the south corners of campus instead of Linden and State Gym/old stadium. The MU would be in the direct center of campus and there would be new classrooms directly across Lincoln Way from it. There would also be a new south quad/central campus with a new union building over there. Then a Mortensen Court Residence Hall area. Also, we wouldn't have crossed the tracks. That would've been the other edge of campus.

They were projecting 60-70k students in 2020. 55k in 2000. This was when the Vietnam war was happening and it was the last major spike in students going to college.

I did a mockup of what campus would've looked like.

 

[cyclone87]

To specify, Iowa State has to accept all students over a certain RAI score, but there is a lower RAI score that they can accept students with but they do not have too. I was told they started accepting more, if not all students with the lower RAI score.

I don't think its much more than it was in the past, 300 out of the several thousand people they enroll every year isn't much (last year they enrolled 5,366 freshmen and 1,841 transfers). I believe much of the increase can be attributed to growth in the engineering and ag programs, These are some of the best programs at ISU and right now is a time when more and more people are finding it desirable to go into these fields. Plus I think ISU has done a good job recruiting as well, enrollment has grown by roughly 1,000 students both this year and last year.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20120713/NEWS/707139941/1689

I believe the college of Engineering is actually the largest college at ISU now

http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_5eb9b144-aea0-11e2-8856-001a4bcf887a.html

Given the college of engineering’s recent enrollment growth, which has made it Iowa State’s largest undergraduate college, accommodations to match this growth are necessary.

 

[ojoe2317]

I believe much of the increase can be attributed to growth in the engineering and ag programs, These are some of the best programs at ISU and right now is a time when more and more people are finding it desirable to go into these fields. Plus I think ISU has done a good job recruiting as well, enrollment has grown by roughly 1,000 students both this year and last year.

I was also thinking that the economic downturn has caused more people to rethink smaller private colleges and has lead to an increase in enrollment at ISU and Iowa. (Not sure how this didn't work out for UNI).

 

[jsb]

I stayed in the dorms for 3 years. Mainly because our dorm floor was basically like a sorority. There was a group of 11 of us who hung out together all of the time. It was easier to do if we were all in Friley together.

But...moving in that 3rd year, it was pretty obvious we were too old for the dorms It was still a good year, but the next year we moved out together to Hawthorne/Freddy.

 

[sleestakCy]

I think that ISU will be reluctant to add new res halls although I think they should. They can't afford to have them sit empty. Here are ISU's undergraduate enrollment projections for the next 9 years... both Iowa and ISU are thinking that the international/IL/MN gravy train of students is going to start drying up. I believe that U Iowa may already be seeing that this year.UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 25,689 25,698 25,569 25,375 25,264 25,216 25,198 25,192 25,190 25,190

 

[Al_4_State]

2 years in the dorms. I wanted to go off campus after year 1 but the guys I was going to live with were all suckling from the parental teat and were forced to stay in the dorms for year 2 or be cut off.

It was a blessing in disguise. The second year was a freakin' blast. Better than the first. Our floor (4th Larch) was mostly sophomore guys and freshmen girls. You do the math. I met some other guys who were sophomores and had moved onto that floor, and they're still some of my best friends to this day. A bunch of us moved off campus together the year after that and got neighboring apartments.

 

[cyclone87]

I think that ISU will be reluctant to add new res halls although I think they should. They can't afford to have them sit empty. Here are ISU's undergraduate enrollment projections for the next 9 years... both Iowa and ISU are thinking that the international/IL/MN gravy train of students is going to start drying up. I believe that U Iowa may already be seeing that this year.UNDERGRADUATE TOTAL 25,689 25,698 25,569 25,375 25,264 25,216 25,198 25,192 25,190 25,190

We will see, a few years ago they were saying enrollment wouldn't go over 30,000 at ISU. I do think you are right in that the uncertainty of future growth is keeping them from building more residence halls at this time, if growth continues I could see them considering it though. I thought I read a quote from Leath last year that said ISU can't handle much more than 35,000 students with campus the way it is currently, although I know in the long-term plans they are looking to expand campus to the west across Sheldon to allow for growth in engineering and design.

 

[cdnlngld]

It all makes me wonder if investing in some rental property wouldn't be a good idea...

 

[cyclone87]

They are building enough housing for 720 people, they need to be building enough housing for a few thousand. And freshmen dorms should be built, not just on campus apartments.

Interesting quotes from the DOR in today's Daily on building a new residence hall:

The DOR is looking into building a residence hall in order to accommodate the growing student population.
“Our goal is certainly to serve every student who wants to live on campus,” Englin said. “But if we were to do a residence hall kind of build, you’re minimally looking at a two-year process to do that. It’s a much more expensive process; it takes longer to build; it’s a long-term commitment in order to operate it. And so what you’re also trying to gauge is: How long will the demand for on-campus housing exist?”
Englin said, he expects a decision on whether or not to build additional residence hall space to be made within the next year.
“The planning that we’re currently looking at is: Should we add residence hall space, and if we did, what would it look like? And then, how do you best pay for it so it’s still of good value to students?” Englin said. “So that’s what we’re in the process of now is looking at potentially adding some residence hall spaces.”
The Inter-Residence Hall Association will be based on some of the student input the DOR receives on the matter.
“We want to get their thinking on some of this too,” Englin said. “Our desire is always to things with students, not to them.”

http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/article_38258f2a-0d5b-11e3-baf2-0019bb2963f4.html