(02-14-2017 05:52 AM)KnightLight Wrote: (02-14-2017 01:28 AM)roundhouse74 Wrote: (02-13-2017 11:46 PM)geosnooker2000 Wrote: (02-13-2017 06:08 PM)NDTiger Wrote: I understand postponing the rec center, but I''m more concerned over redesigning it. To be frank, the current design was gorgeous and looked like a tier 1 University facility. Was really impressed with the direction we were headed. Why not raise the student fee for 2 more years and keep it as planned? Offer any class that contributed 4yrs of access even if it means after graduation. Would be a legit reason to come back to campus. $300/year or semester is extremely inexpensive when compared to an annual gym membership. I hope this stirs some action by SGA to keep the plan to date by rallying towards a solution.
Last I checked (Spring of '16), student activity fees were $600 + per semester. FWIW...
And a lot of students don't participate in the activities, so they're getting zero benefit.
Great experience for when they start paying tens of thousands of $$$ in taxes every year once they get their professional careers off the ground.
Memphis is still an incredible deal. I didn't pay a dime for my education at Memphis or Georgia Tech. Scholarships paid at Memphis, and my work covered Tech.
You have to understand. Kids want this stuff. You only have to look at enrollment numbers to understand this. We are in a higher education bubble, funded by cheap loans. But if you don't have the best facilitates to recruit students, the best students will go somewhere else.
Memphis's main issue with the rec center is the drop in enrollment, which occurred at every TBR school. Basically, if you view the outcome base formula for 2017-2018, you can look at historical data for the 2009-2012 school years. [1] Students Accumulating 30 hrs is a decent proxy for enrollment.
| Students Accumulating 30 hrs | UM | MTSU | ETSU |
|-------------------------------------+-------+-------+--------|
| 2009-2010 | 3,885 | 5,808 | 3,033 |
| 2010-2011 | 3,283 | 5,079 | 2,586 |
| 2011-2012 | 3,334 | 4,956 | 2,572 |
| 2012-2013 | 3,395 | 4,231 | 2,452 |
In this time, the University of Memphis went from 40% six year graduation rate to 51.1%. I imagine we went up on our standards a bit much. Because of Tennessee Promise, we have a lot of students choosing to attend community college before they attend Memphis.
We will build the rec center. Have faith and keep donating.
[1]-
http://tn.gov/assets/entities/thec/attac...email.xlsx