Quincy4

A lot of major public U's are getting higher yeilds; I know MSU is too. I know UM is building a new dorm on Central Campus -- a living-learning center -- which should be a plus; but will this be motivation to increase size? Hope not. Alexandre, are you saying for certain UM's dropping back to 5,300 freshman classes? Central Campus is very tight, esp w/ the huge Life Sciences building constructed between the Hill and the Diag. I'm just wondering where they're going to put these students.

nobodyknows

It says your in Dubai, but it sounds like you know your local stuff... how do you think the current race for governor between Dick Devos and Jennifer Grandholm will affect UMICH it's ranking admission statistics applicants etc.

Alexandre

Quincy, nobody knows for sure whether or not Michigan will expend in the years to come. What I do know is that the sharp spike in Michigan's freshman class sizes in 2003-2005 were a direct and unintentional result of an unsuspected high yield. Michigan has been aiming for class sizes of 5,000-5,500 since the mid 90s. I do not think Michigan is intent on having larger classes anytime soon, but like I said, I am not certain.

Nobodyknows, I live in Dubai. I actually grew up in the United Arab Emirates and lived 17 of my 33 years in this country. As for the effects of the gubernatorial elections on the University, I really can't say. I know very little about the inner workings of regional US politics.

Quincy4

Alexandre, you may live in Dubai, but you sure know more a ton about UM than most state-siders, even Michiganians.

Anyway, my comments were prompted by the overall rather extreme growth by Big 10 schools in recent years -- Illinois, PSU and Wisconsin crossed 40K, and Michigan probably has by now. Even little Iowa is now over 30K. MSU went over 45K and OSU shot back well over 53K again. I'm wondering what's going on. I know there have been severe budget cuts for public higher ed in many states, particularly Michigan, Ohio and other "rust belt" states, even though schools like MSU, OSU and Wisconsin have $billion-dollar endowments; UM, $5billion... Are these budget cuts forcing Big 10 schools to put more bodies in seats for tuition $$?

Just for the record, UMaryland cut their enrollment in the early 90s to 32K (down from
around 39K) which drove up admissions standards considerably—and has boosted UMd’s rep considerably; it’s crept up to around 35K (25K undergrad, 10K grad) but has held there for a number of years.

Alexandre

Yeah, the University of Michigan, I know!

I agree with you Quincy. State schools in the Big 10, most of which have experienced serious budget cuts from their respective states, have mysteriously beein growing when they should in fact be shrinking...SIGNIFICANTLY. Yes, schools like Michigan, OSU, Wisconsin etc... have large endowments, but not nearly large enough to maintain high standards given their student populations. And the worst part of it is that no state in the Midwest has had an expanding population. They have all had roughly 0% growth over the last 2 decades. I have always said that the University of Michigan, given the budget it receives from the state and the size of its financial resources, should reduce its undergraduate population from 24,000 to 16,000, and all 8,000 of those cuts should be in-state students. Instead of having Michigan residents make up 65% of the undergraduate student population, I say Michigan residents should make up roughly 50% of the University's total undergraduate populations. It is quite easy to accomplish too. Instead of aiming for a class of 5,500 each year, Michigan should aim for a class of 4,000.

shyanne

Quincy, don't you think that one reason the Michigan Universities are growing is because many kids, like my own, have the Michigan Education Trust (which pays tuition) and now the Governor has decided kids can only get the Michigan Merit Award money if they stay instate?

shyanne

What I am saying is that the Michigan Education Trust was started 18 to 20 years ago and all the parents who bought it for their babies now have kids that are college age. You can't leave Michigan kids out of Michigan colleges! The big political thing is right now to keep Michigan kids in the state.

Alexandre

Syanne, if the students are qualified (among the top students in the applicant pool) and as long as they allow the University of Michigan to remain a competitive institution, I agree with you. But at the end of the day, if Michigan wants to remain a top 100 university (to say nothing of remaining a top 10 or 15 university), Michigan has to be able to afford the state of the art facilities and faculty to support a large student body and the University should keep its student population diverse enough (at least a third of the undergraduate student body should remain OOS and 5% should be international) for all students to have enough exposure to various cultures and mindsets. As it stands, Michigan is struggling to do so with 25,000 undergrads and it cannot simply fill the entire class with in-staters because at that point, we would lose the ability to expose students to the benefits of diversity.

shyanne

I wouldn't want to see the entire class be in state but I also don't think it should lower it to very few in state students either. From what I've heard, all the Michigan public colleges are expecting a larger number of applicants this year.

Alexandre

I agree that the largest contigent should be from Michigan. I think 45%-50% of the total undergraduate student body should be from Michigan. No more and no less. Less would not be fair to the state of Michigan, more would not be fair to the students at Michigan, who will lose out from having too homogenious a student population.

shyanne

Especially since Umich is a public university paid for by Michigan taxpayers! It would be different if it were a private university.

dilksy

shyanne

I think it should definitely be higher than 50%. What good is a public university if most of the public that pays for it can not qualify to go to it?

shyanne

Wow, if it became a private university then most Michigan residents would not be able to afford or have the qualifications to go to it. That would be sad.

nobodyknows

roughly 56% of UMICH comes from michigan other 34% come elsewhere...its on the website