Originally Posted by
CajunFun
Are you looking at enrollment, or attendance?
We want to be careful to keep things in context, and look at the big picture. In the past couple of decades:
1. We built a community college system in the region, which pulled down our enrollment.
2. We implemented increasingly higher enrollment standards, which pulled down our enrollment.
3. College tuitions have increased more than an order of magnitude, which pulled down our enrollment.
And yet:
1. Our enrollment is still growing... to the point that we can't handle more freshmen (we had to rent some hotels, remember?)
2. The quality of our students is climbing steadily.
3. Our governmental support is skyrocketing.
4. We made R1.
5. Our research funding is growing faster than almost anyone else in the country, and we are now the research leader among Louisiana public universities (yes, including LSU).
6. Our graduate programs are growing quickly, and we're closing in on SREB Doctoral 1.
7. Our campus, including our athletics facilities, is expanding and improving constantly.
8. Our athletics programs reach the top 25 more and more frequently.
9. And somehow, out of the blue, our conference jumped from the dregs of Division 1, to the top of the midmajors.
There are only 2 public universities in the state that are in a solid financial situation: Louisiana, and LSU.
Again, keep things in context. We have been building this University for over 125 years. And as I have noted before, we have slowly outpaced all the schools that were once our peers, and rivals. We did all of that with vision, hard work, and patience.
And we ain't through, yet.