(01-19-2021 01:34 PM)DoubleRSU Wrote:  

(01-19-2021 02:24 AM)Todor Wrote:  It wasn't that long ago Chicago State was around 10,000 students. I think they'll settle back into a number nearer that in the future as well.

Some of the talk about them is overly dramatic. For example, small freshman classes. Those numbers may be true, but a school that is almost entirely composed of community college transfers, they are not entirely indicative of the complete picture.

Same for graduation rates. They are looking at who started there as a first time freshman and graduated within 6 years. Not a complete picture for a commuter school with lots of part time students who may take longer, anyone who transferred there from several large community colleges nearby, or for any graduate students, like in the Pharmacy School.

Come on now. Getting 10 times more students than they currently are, seems really far fetched. Chicago State would have to pretty much overhaul their entire recruiting process to even get towards 2,000. Without athletics, they would virtually have tens of incoming freshmen. Commuter school or not, that is not good.

I think if you account for all the info included here it's more like 5 times, not 10 times. Undergraduate enrollment in 2018 and 2019 was a bit over 2000, which makes sense given the numbers of JC transfers coming in. So freshman enrollment is not at all indicative of overall enrollment.

Still, growing back to 10k is a big step. It would take a drastic change to do that quickly, such as reorienting from being a commuter campus and making themselves more attractive to traditional students. And that requires a functional athletics program.