Program cuts

[Neckfansince71]

Leatherface,
The university hears you loud and clear! Take a look at this year's Admissions Viewbook and you will find the signature programs or the "niche" degrees that WIU has chosen to be "remarkable" for! Increased financial aid for higher achieving students and higher standards will only make WIU stronger. Rumor has it that NIU has lowered their acceptance standards to attract more freshmen students. So you are dead on and things are moving in the right direction. Admissions has really upped their game and I really think the results are just around the corner. But once again, the job is far from over.

The CPA and the 110 freeway can only help attracting more people, more students, and more businesses to the Macomb area. Got my fingers crossed, all my fingers!

I think what bothers me the most is the fact that of all the fraternity brothers that I went to school with, and of all the sorority sisters that my wife went to school with, only a chosen few of their children chose WIU as their "university destination!" The comment, "it was great for me/us but I/we want my/our kid to go to Iowa, Miami of Ohio, Missouri, UofI or some other exotic sounding school because it just sounds better. I get the UofI, although I have never found teachers from there to be any better than from other state schools including WIU. Oh, Illinois State, it's closer.......But WIU's marketing and admissions are changing this perception. By the way, our younger daughter graduated from WIU's highly respected speech path school in 2009!

The party school/beer drinking comment....I have had the chance to experience college parties at WIU, Wisconsin, Illinois, NIU, Minnesota, and UWWhitewater and Wisconsin beats them all by far! WIU has not shown up in any rankings of this type for years and I have never seen any evidence that WIU made any such rankings but yet the reputation seems to not want to go away. Badger nation almost seems to embrace it...

I know this is long! Enough said! jc

[ST_Lawson]

I guess I did not know that Quad Cities had amtrak train service?

The track is being built/set up right now. The line that goes out to Galesburg (then splits and heads down to Macomb or further out West) will split off around Princeton and head over to the Quad Cities. The plan, I think, was to head across Iowa south of I-80, hit Iowa City, Des Moines, and maybe eventually over to Omaha, but the Iowa government turned down the funding for it, so it'll stop at the QC for now.

The party school/beer drinking comment....I have had the chance to experience college parties at WIU, Wisconsin, Illinois, NIU, Minnesota, and UWWhitewater and Wisconsin beats them all by far! WIU has not shown up in any rankings of this type for years and I have never seen any evidence that WIU made any such rankings but yet the reputation seems to not want to go away. Badger nation almost seems to embrace it...

If I remember correctly, every year, Playboy magazine runs (or used to run) a top 10 party schools list. Back in the late '70s or maybe early '80s, Western made the list...once. For years, people have been bringing that up (and in some cases, using it as a point of pride), even though that atmosphere has long since gone away for the most part.

In it's current state, I'd be perfectly happy if my kids went to Western. I don't know how things will be in 12 years when my oldest is actually old enough to go to college, but for now, some of our programs are very good and are very competitive with other programs at similar institutions.

[WIU0812]

Looks like school has to cut or make up for 16.5 million due to the new budget.

http://wiu.edu/news/newsrelease.php?release_id=12339

[wiu712]

This was the lead story on the KHQA-TV-7 10PM News.

KHQA reported that in 2006, 10,766 students were enrolled. In 2014, that number dropped to 8,340, a loss of 2,426 students. That's a 22.5% loss over those 8 years.

Here is the whole story as reported by Jack Pluta. He is a 2014 Western grad.
http://www.connecttristates.com/news/st ... Ov4lGc5Bjo

[Neckfansince71]

The $16.5 million was only a suggested starting point in Rauner's suggested budget plan not an absolute! jc

[Neckfansince71]

Just watched video! Andy Borst and company are working hard to turn corner. It's a shame they didn't let him talk about what's happening positively on campus! Seems like a two part report would better represent what is happening. jc

[sealhall74]

I think I saw JC Fuller in that video. One of the biggest changes from my yesteryear to today is the amount of college-related debt that graduates are saddled with as they enter the workforce. IMO, four years is way too long to incur that debt. It can approach $100K for some students. We need to be a front-runner in giving incoming students faster and cheaper methods for learning the basic core curriculum stuff. That could mean a lot of online stuff which can be done at home and at their own (hopefully very fast) pace. On-campus time should be devoted to the real meat and potatoes job-related learning and I think most programs could be completed in two years or less if course content is layed out properly.

[VoiceOfReasonFan]

Just a few thoughts of my own on this.

One, the enrollment thing is a bit surprising to me. I always hear it's not that bad, but that 8 year decline sorta speaks for itself.

Two, I'd like everyone to form their own opinions on this, but do some research on Nicholas Stewart/Western Courier/WIU admin handling of that fight outside the Union in December. Very interesting. If it really appears how I see and interpret it, I'm not sure I'd want my kids going near a college run by Jack Thomas or Gary Biller.

The 'engineering' program in the Quad Cities right now is a joke. It may not be some day, but right now it is. No disciplines, minimum math/science requirements; basically churning out engineering techs with ABET accreditation. Which just impacts your other programs like actual engineering technology and 3-2/engineering physics programs, but oh well... WIU's screwed up enough things, they might as well cannibalize themselves too.

Last point, and maybe this is a political point, if so, I'll apologize in advance. This country tries to give too many people 4-year college degrees. There are a lot of great WIU students, future incredible contributors to the worldwide economy. But there are also more than a few that absolutely have NO business being in college except for the fact their tuition checks are clearing. It's legalized robbery and it happens all over the country, including WIU. I hope the top dogs at WIU really roll up their sleeves and get something out of these program cuts. I'd challenge them to consider whether a sustainable WIU looks like a 5k-6k student body with half the faculty and staff. The tweaks aren't working, gentlemen, maybe it's time to tear it down and start anew?

[WIU0812]

Just a few thoughts of my own on this.

One, the enrollment thing is a bit surprising to me. I always hear it's not that bad, but that 8 year decline sorta speaks for itself.

Two, I'd like everyone to form their own opinions on this, but do some research on Nicholas Stewart/Western Courier/WIU admin handling of that fight outside the Union in December. Very interesting. If it really appears how I see and interpret it, I'm not sure I'd want my kids going near a college run by Jack Thomas or Gary Biller.

The 'engineering' program in the Quad Cities right now is a joke. It may not be some day, but right now it is. No disciplines, minimum math/science requirements; basically churning out engineering techs with ABET accreditation. Which just impacts your other programs like actual engineering technology and 3-2/engineering physics programs, but oh well... WIU's screwed up enough things, they might as well cannibalize themselves too.

Last point, and maybe this is a political point, if so, I'll apologize in advance. This country tries to give too many people 4-year college degrees. There are a lot of great WIU students, future incredible contributors to the worldwide economy. But there are also more than a few that absolutely have NO business being in college except for the fact their tuition checks are clearing. It's legalized robbery and it happens all over the country, including WIU. I hope the top dogs at WIU really roll up their sleeves and get something out of these program cuts. I'd challenge them to consider whether a sustainable WIU looks like a 5k-6k student body with half the faculty and staff. The tweaks aren't working, gentlemen, maybe it's time to tear it down and start anew?

^^^ This guy gets it, though I know they are shooting for a 10,000 person sustainable WIU-Macomb. Higher requirements to get in to WIU equals higher caliber students which in turn means less drop outs and less wasteful spending on pointless programs and higher recognition of the school for graduating better employees. I need some proof of hard work, extreme desire to learn or above average intelligence to make me think that a person should go after a 4 year degree (many who do not have these go for the partying), leave the rest to go to the local community college or do trade work not that anything is wrong with that, I went to a CC for a while.

Building a good engineering program would do WIU wonders, I know that the Construction Management program has taken off somewhat and has been gaining recognition which is a plus.

As for the Courier item I think both sides made mistakes, the courier suspended his services which should most likely not of been done, but he called this a riot instead of a fight and basically provided false journalism which in turn brings down the view of the school. Also, he made a profit off of this which also is a negative since using riot probably sold the video for a higher price.

[WIU0812]

You could also say that higher caliber students turn into higher earning employees which tend to give back and appreciate their alma mater more which equals more donations and support for the school. No one walks into a CEO's office and sees a degree on that wall and says that school must suck. Most would say I should send my kids there as it equals success.