Colleges merging with other colleges

[Maroon Eagle]

Since you are plugged into higher ed in MS, maybe you would know...
- Can JUCOs increase their tuition costs? It would cost an extra $300 or so per student to cover that athletics deficit.

I’m not 615 but here’s what I’m thinking:

Of course they can but it won’t happen because that goes against their affordability mission. Now with schools with lower enrollments and therefore a higher percentage of athletes, that might be examined further.

- Can JUCOs decide to drop a specific sport or is that some group decision by a state agency or whatever? If dropping football meant that $1MM was saved, then that athletics deficit would be significantly lower and when spread among all the teams and players, it could easily be seen as a very minor cost. This says EMCC spent $1.07MM on football in 2018(unsure of how much revenue it generated).
- Is it your view that colleges at all levels should only provide athletics and extra-curricular activities which are a net0 spend or better against the budget? If that isnt your view, is that your view for JUCO specifically?

Each JUCO has its own board of trustees and acts independently.

As I mentioned before, programs would be dropped already if there weren’t workarounds.

My theory is there are deficits and then there are “deficits” by that yeah, technically speaking athletics could be losing money but I’d wager that it’s being mostly made up someplace else whether it’s revenue generated in other areas, booster money, etc…

 

[FrontRangeDawg]

I've said this before and it's unpopular due to deeply-held tradition, but Mississippi would benefit from having a single university system. It makes no sense for a poor state that is the 35th most populated to have even three major universities, let alone all of the other schools. They have always diminished their power by competing for scarce resources.

Imagine a Mississippi university system that incorporated ag, engineering, law, medicine, business, education, applied sciences and all of the myriad programs that each university tries to differentiate on under one umbrella? And focused resources and private fundraising on them?

Then, imagine the quality of athletic competition against the SEC and beyond.

It will never happen, but it would be a huge boon for the state.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

There is a test going on in Pearl right now. You can go to Hinds in Pearl and get an associate degree in education, and Ole Miss is teaching the last two years there in Pearl. Its not a full Ole Miss campus like Tupelo or MSU-Meridian. Its just an education school in the Metro.

That’s been going on for years and the reason that it’s Ole Miss and not JSU doing it is that Ole Miss has a foothold in the area thanks to UMMC.

Mississippi’s IHLs generally cannot go further than approximately 50 miles from their campuses to provide instruction elsewhere…

 

[mstateglfr]

I've said this before and it's unpopular due to deeply-held tradition, but Mississippi would benefit from having a single university system. It makes no sense for a poor state that is the 35th most populated to have even three major universities, let alone all of the other schools. They have always diminished their power by competing for scarce resources.

Imagine a Mississippi university system that incorporated ag, engineering, law, medicine, business, education, applied sciences and all of the myriad programs that each university tries to differentiate on under one umbrella? And focused resources and private fundraising on them?

Then, imagine the quality of athletic competition against the SEC and beyond.

It will never happen, but it would be a huge boon for the state.

Its interesting to see what states have 2 major/flagship public universities that compete in major college sports(old P5, basically), and where they are geographically.

Virginia, South Carolina, Michigan, Florida, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma, California, Washington, Arizona, Oregon.
I think thats all of em.
7 in the South, 4 out West, 4 in the Central/Midwest.

 

[Duke Humphrey]

There is a test going on in Pearl right now. You can go to Hinds in Pearl and get an associate degree in education, and Ole Miss is teaching the last two years there in Pearl. Its not a full Ole Miss campus like Tupelo or MSU-Meridian. Its just an education school in the Metro.

MSU has been doing this on the Coast for the last 10-15 years in partnership with MGCCC at their Jackson County Campus. Industrial, Mechanical and Electrical are the three that are taught. Strong support from private industry, Ingalls, Chevron and MS Power specifically, helped start this and hire the graduates.

 

[L4Dawg]

This is going to start being a thing. The Birmingham Southern closure (and others) have small colleges looking for outs to avoid closure.

Gannon has taken over Dan Mullens Alma mater.

‘Change of Control’ approved in Gannon-Ursuline merger

The merger of Gannon University and Ursuline College reached a significant milestone this past weekend with the Higher Learning Commission’s approval of Change of Control, a crucial step toward creating the largest Catholic system of higher education along Lake Erie.

www.gannon.edu

There is no one that can legitimately look at the numbers and state that MUW or Valley should exist in any form. They are a drain on our state resources.

merging Valley with Delta State makes sense. MUW is worthless besides their nursing school, which could be recreated at MSU.

Delta state is failing fast.

 

[L4Dawg]

MUW has a very unique culinary arts dept. which is producing a lot chefs to a lot of high profile eating establishments nationwide. They also produce a lot of quality teachers. All that could be moved to MSU, but I seriously doubt the IHL will merge MUW with anybody. They have some serious high dollar alums with a lot of influence with the IHL and the Legislature.

The nursing program is all that is keeping the W afloat.

 

[L4Dawg]

At least give some facts that back these things up.

If you're talking about helping MSU, I certainly could see a case for some consolidation. But that might not be best for the state. However, I don't pretend to know academia, but I do know education needs to be viewed as an investment rather than a simple profit making equation. Obviously we should do that responsibly with wise investment choices.

DSU's troubles are well known and publicized.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Considering that MS is going to be body-slammed by the lack of in-state student college enrollment in the next 5 years, those complaining that "they should be closed but there's no political will to do the right thing" will largely take care of itself.

The enrollment cliff is going to reach beyond just Alcorn, DSU and Valley. It's going to hit every institution. It's why UM has been aggressively courting out of state students for the last decade. MS student population has been shrinking and continues to, so the national trend will be felt here (and in WV!) the hardest.

Educational consultants have been profiting off of the fear mongering related to the enrollment cliff for years. It's far more of a threat to smaller institutions than it is to larger ones. We may feel it, but not like Alcorn, Delta State and Valley. It will be interesting to see how State, as a land grant, fulfills its mission to serve the state as the enrollment profile may need to be reimagined to grow the out of state population.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Educational consultants have been profiting off of the fear mongering related to the enrollment cliff for years. It's far more of a threat to smaller institutions than it is to larger ones. We may feel it, but not like Alcorn, Delta State and Valley. It will be interesting to see how State, as a land grant, fulfills its mission to serve the state as the enrollment profile may need to be reimagined to grow the out of state population.

I’d like to see an emphasis on SREB Common Market recruiting

That’ll mostly be Ag and Broadcast Meterology as well as Poultry Science but there are places where we could recruit Architecture students (Kentucky)

 

[FrontRangeDawg]

Educational consultants have been profiting off of the fear mongering related to the enrollment cliff for years. It's far more of a threat to smaller institutions than it is to larger ones. We may feel it, but not like Alcorn, Delta State and Valley. It will be interesting to see how State, as a land grant, fulfills its mission to serve the state as the enrollment profile may need to be reimagined to grow the out of state population.

I don't think it's fear mongering when the number of Mississippi students has been in decline since 2019 (39,925 students/33,936 grads) through 2023 (35,791 students/31,998 grads). 2023 is most recent year of record-keeping, but number of students has declined by ~1,000 each year. That's 4,000 kids in 6 years, and 10.3% decline in student population.

Of course the smaller schools are being affected more by this. This is one reason that Alcorn, DSU and Valley are struggling. But this is going to affect larger institutions who support more programs. Universities are announcing major cuts to curriculum literally this afternoon in Indiana and other states.

 

[patdog]

As the poorest state in the nation we need to completely overhaul our post HS educational system.

But we won’t.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

I don't think it's fear mongering when the number of Mississippi students has been in decline since 2019 (39,925 students/33,936 grads) through 2023 (35,791 students/31,998 grads). 2023 is most recent year of record-keeping, but number of students has declined by ~1,000 each year. That's 4,000 kids in 6 years, and 10.3% decline in student population.

Of course the smaller schools are being affected more by this. This is one reason that Alcorn, DSU and Valley are struggling. But this is going to affect larger institutions who support more programs. Universities are announcing major cuts to curriculum literally this afternoon in Indiana and other states.

In spite of the declines, our undergraduate enrollment, our total enrollment, and our freshman enrollment have all remained very stable and even grown slightly. Maybe we are adding out of state students more now. I don't know those numbers.

Year	Undergrad	Total	FR
18-19	18,490	21,974	3,565
19-20	18,792	22,226	3,500
20-21	18,803	22,986	3,223
21-22	18,584	23,086	3,388
22-23	18,305	22,649	3,367
23-24	18,230	22,657	3,751
24-25	18,567	23,150	3,596