Would be coming from out of state so curious about campus life as I’ve heard it’s a commuter campus. Is there stuff to do on weekends or is it a ghost town?
Any feedback on the Film program?
Thanks!
D22 attends Fitchburg. It is a ghost town on the weekend and not much to do nearby. The film program is great from what I hear. D23 isn’t in film, but loves her professors, small class size, small campus and that she gets a lot of interaction and attention from professors, but I will say the campus is definitely something to consider if coming from OOS. She comes home EVERY weekend. In the beginning, she wanted to stay and there just wasn’t enough to keep her there. Plus, the dorms are pretty gross. She actually chose to commute next year (we live about 40 minutes away) rather than live in the dorms again.
3 Likes
Just to second. Yes, Fitchburg (and most of the other MA State Schools, with the exception of UMASS) are commuter heavy campuses. Kids generally go home weekends and/or a good % of the student body goes home every night.
1 Like
Another thing to note about Fitchburg is a high percentage of students are putting themselves through school, so they do not have as much time for a social life and may also take longer to finish. My student has enjoyed this aspect, as she feels it is the “real world”.
2 Likes
I used College Board to pull the percentage of first years in college housing and the residential/commuter classification (I think from Carnegie?). The table is sorted from highest percentage of first years in college housing to lowest.
| School | Classification (Primarily) | % of first years in college housing |
|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts Maritime | Residential | 100% |
| UMass-Amherst | Residential | 84% |
| Massachusetts College of Art and Design | Residential | 84% |
| Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts | Residential | 81% |
| Framingham State | Residential | 78% |
| Westfield State | Residential | 76% |
| UMass-Dartmouth | Commuter | 73% |
| Bridgewater State | Commuter | 71% |
| UMass-Lowell | Residential | 69% |
| Fitchburg State | Residential | 63% |
| Worcester State | Commuter | 54% |
| Salem State | Commuter | 54% |
| UMass-Boston | Commuter | 40% |
Looking at the data and combining with your own knowledge of what it’s actually like in the state, do you think that the residential schools with at least 75% of first years on-campus are primarily suitcase schools (with the exception of UMass-Amherst)? Or are there others that are not suitcase schools?
Also, tagging @MAmomto4, @TomSrOfBoston, @CA2MA, @Thorsmom66 as some additional folks with MA knowledge.
While I appreciate that the numbers above might seem “good”, need to couple it with the % of In-State and OOS. MA is a small state and at Fitchburg (90% in-state) all of those kids can be home in, at worst, a 2 hour drive.
I have first hand knowledge of Framingham, Bridgewater & Salem. Those campuses are DEAD on weekends. Difficult to think the other schools are any different.
I have to think many of the OOS students are coming from nearby neighboring states wanting to attend one of the schools because of a niche program.
There’s lots of good programs at these schools. I’m not knocking them, or the kids that go to them at all! But you’re not going to one of them for the “vibrant student experience”.
1 Like
I agree. The programs may be very good (no first hand knowledge), but I would say MANY students leave on the weekends (aside from UMass Amherst).
1 Like
I find some of those figures hard to believe. UMass Boston has 2000 beds total and those dorms only opened a few years ago.
I just went to College Navigator and pulled some of its admissions and enrollment statistics to see whether the numbers on the College Board’s site were credible (source).
| Applied | 20,918 |
|---|---|
| % Admitted | 83% |
| Admitted | 17362 |
| % Enrolled | 14% |
| Enrolled | 2431 |
| % 1st years in dorms | 40% |
| First Years in Dorms | 972 |
So 972 out of 2431 first-year students chose to live in the dorm. Is that still difficult to believe?
(Note: Since I was multiplying by percentages and always rounded to a whole person, my numbers might be very slightly off.)
I thought the same thing initially but then went and searched Fitchburg specifically and through a different source did find that they have dorm capacity for 1,700. Niche lists 57% of their 2,300 undergrads live on campus (1,300). Depending on the timing of the data and a new dormitory might be 400 students… plausible.
I personally commuted to Framingham (many many years ago). Although some kids did stay around weekends it was usually because they had a local job. I do think it’s a common dynamic as @vwlizard said, that a higher % of the kids that go to the lower tier (and substantially lower cost!) state schools are more often funding it themselves.
On a side note I often joke with my boss about how under-rated our state school system is. Our Finance group is littered - on up to our former CFO - with employees that went to many of the schools on the list above anywhere from the late 70’s to the 201X’s.
Massachusetts is the envy of most of the U.S., for both K-12 and higher ed!
Dorm capacity and kids living in the dorms are different numbers. D22 was in the dorms the last 2 years and they could not fill them. Her first year she really wanted a roommate, but they gave every student on her floor a double as a single, charged them all for the “deluxe double” and wouldn’t allow them to move. I’d say dorm capacity is at <70%. It’s been a big problem since Covid.
1 Like
Oh, for sure, completely get that they’re different numbers. Your experience support the 57% and under capacity. Not sure how much COVID related though… lots of schools out there can’t come close to housing all the kids that would choose dorms.
This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.