As a University, I want your opinion....

[LifeTimeCajun]

_ There have been improvments, they paved the walkway between the two sides of the stadium. The athletic offices and lockerrooms which you don't see are amazing, I walked around a couple years ago and it looks like an NFL locker room. These practice facilities are gonna be awesome, and Tigue moore has added more seating and tailgating areas. There are also smaller improvements made by volunteers every summer (power washing stuff, repainting stadium hand rails red, etc.). The softball park has also seem some improvments and the lady cajuns just got a new basketball court. I sometimes try to see things on the side that has a lota light on it. IMHO _

i mean major improvements...i know about the lockerrooms

[bigguill]

I know that UL has been around the 15,000 for almost twenty years. What really surprised when I moved here to Huntsville to work at Sam Houston State was how big of a school this is. Its a Southland Conference school. When I hear Southland, I think of McNeese, Nicholls, etc. But in the Fall 2006 semester, SHSU's enrollment was 15,900. Another thing is, that the enrollment in the Fall of 2001 was 12,500. Thats an increase of 3,400 in 3 years!! They are talking about 17,000 next fall and they want 20,000 by 2010. If UL wants to grow in enrollment, we need to make more of an effort of recruiting students and putting our name out there and advertising our great academic programs.

[RaginFan2]

_ I know that UL has been around the 15,000 for almost twenty years. What really surprised when I moved here to Huntsville to work at Sam Houston State was how big of a school this is. Its a Southland Conference school. When I hear Southland, I think of McNeese, Nicholls, etc. But in the Fall 2006 semester, SHSU's enrollment was 15,900. Another thing is, that the enrollment in the Fall of 2001 was 12,500. Thats an increase of 3,400 in 3 years!! They are talking about 17,000 next fall and they want 20,000 by 2010. If UL wants to grow in enrollment, we need to make more of an effort of recruiting students and putting our name out there and advertising our great academic programs. _

UL has about 17,000 students (I think something like 16,800). They had been above 17K for a while prior to the implementation of increased admissions standards and the creation of the community college in Lafayette. That dropped UL down to about 15K, but that number has grown back to almost 17K. However, I do think the university needs to be more aggressive in recruiting all students. My son is a Sr.-to=be and has been getting mail from around the country. He has received multiple mailings from Ole Miss, Southern Miss, LA Tech, and even Centenary. But not one thing from UL! That despite the fact that both his mother & I graduated from there and his older brother has been going there for a while. Someone from Centenary even called him personally to invite him to come for a visit. UL needs to on the ball. Between the lack of sports marketing and the lack of academic marketing, it is a wonder that the school increases enrollment and sports attendance at all.

ps, Southeastern LA Univ. has been marketing like crazy in SE LA and their enrollment is now about 16,000. They should be passing us in enrollment in the next year or so.

[Turbine]

If UL wants to grow in enrollment, we need to make more of an effort of recruiting students and putting our name out there and advertising our great academic programs. _

I did a chart in 2003 looking back 100 years. Here is a link

The enrollment has been sort of stationary for about 20 years. I can't prove it but I think this has been in part from the abandonment of the strong agricultural base the school once had.

The transition to tech and research is not without costs.

jmo

[RaginFan2]

_ I did a chart in 2003 looking back 100 years. Here is a link

The enrollment has been sort of stationary for about 20 years. I can't prove it but I think this has been in part from the abandonment of the strong agricultural base the school once had.

The transition to tech and research is not without costs.

jmo _

That's a good point. I recall the Ag students being a much larger part of the student population when I first started at U(S)L some 35 years ago. We only had about 12,500 students back then. It really grew in the 70's, but started to stagnate in the mid-80's with the oil bust. When I got my BA in '82, we had increased to about 17K. There was talk about getting to 20,000 then.

[California Cajun]

_ I judge a schools growth by attendance both in the classroom and at sporting events. The number of fans that made the trip to College Station is a good indicator of how much this school has grown. _

I think academics and athletics are two different things, and growth has depended largely on external factors. There has been net growth because the people in charge have learned how to do more with less.

We had the oil boom, the oil bust, and the introduction of selective admissions, which is probably what has determined enrollment.

Our biggest successes in athletics has been due directly to the strength and personality of the coach. Other than for coaches salaries and scholarships, the spring sports coaches have had to raise their own money.

Funding has been abysmal in both. Athletics has been less successful than academics due to the self-imposed restrictions placed on fundraising by the Authement administration.

[ShowDog]

_ No problems bro, just have a different view, by the by Stanford is a tree, what the hell kind of mascot is that, and OSU has a buckeye, a nut, come on a friggin nut. Him and Ceyenne look like they could be making love under the Stanford Tree. _

When I lived in Columbus, OH, even the local protagonists called them "worthless nuts", ha..

[ulforlife]

If UL wants to grow in enrollment...

UL's focus is not to grow in enrollment; It is to hold a higher graduation percentage. They have made steps in this direction by raising the ACT required score to 23. Academic & athletic success will bring enrollment in the long run.

[rhineaux]

_ UL's focus is not to grow in enrollment; It is to hold a higher graduation percentage. They have made steps in this direction by raising the ACT required score to 23. Academic & athletic success will bring enrollment in the long run. _

I think all of this has a lot to do with perception as well. the original poster from yesterday that said something about not seeing as many improvements to the athletic side has a point. Of course we have done plenty of things, and stuff like locker rooms will be big for recruits, which will be big for the program. but, the regular guy passing on congress doesn't see this, and therefore still is of the perception that Ul doesn't care about a winner, as ignorant as it may be.

While increased marketing, contacting alum's for donations, sending mailouts/phone calls to high school seniors all around, will help to increase enrollment, it can only go so far. I think that if we want to be thought of as the best option, we have to act like it. We can be having all these yellow colors out there with peppers on fire, or ridiculously designed shirts, our logo's and such need to have more class. We need to take advantage of the simplicity of UL (even if it requires writing lafayette really small) and the symbolism of the Fleur De Lis. There also needs to be more traditions and stuff that need to be in place. Mostly, traditions are thigns that happen, not things that are planned. those of you in college station the other night who had several thousand swaying people all around you, that didn't happen by someone thinking it up and telling everyone to do it, it probably started when there were about 5000 people at a football game 75-100 years ago. a great tradition is the "Cajun Ball" shout at the basketball games, but when TD jumps in there and says 1-2-3, it donkeys it up. If the team wins, then it will be loud enough trust me. Another is that is ridiculous is dragging that state flag across the field before every game. if you want more people to get in the game, and want more to be in by kickoff, give them a reason to be there. "the largest LA state flag won't do it". But having a yell practice type event the night before, and organized chants and yells by the students when the other team is warming up to get in their head's early, would help out with bringing fans into the stadium an dbringing them in early.

[barry0]

Here is something that really grinds my gear. Last night when I was watching the Cajuns & A&M game they had a school advertisement for LSU. I understand that LSU paid for the advertisement, but dont you think that it would of been a great time/ idea to show ours. I know we have one that is out dated because i have seen it before. Every university worth a poo has one, so why on earth do we not pay for the ad and show it during times like these. It made me very mad when i saw that LSU was promoting there school during our game. I wanted to vomit. And thats what really grinds my gears!