Thanks for the good discussion on this topic. I will also agree that people will tend to post about a particular school in a more general forum, even if that school has a dedicated discussion area. Sometimes, they are not even aware that a forum for that school exists. If I wanted to ask a question about Valparaiso University, for instance, one look at the lack of activity in that school’s forum would likely deter me from posting there. I would probably post in the College Admissions or College Search sections instead, but the high traffic in those forums could quickly push my inquiry down the list and on to the second page if none of the users cares or has knowledge of Valparaiso. I think one of the main motivations for the school sub-forums, therefore, is to keep questions from getting lost in the monsoon of more general questions. Of course, if members can’t find these sub-forums, or don’t even know they exist, the value is lost.
We do tend to get a few requests for school forums every week. I don’t know if those are motivated more by school pride than perceived usefulness to the entire community, however 