(02-28-2019 03:42 PM)johnbragg Wrote:  

(02-28-2019 03:14 PM)quo vadis Wrote:  

(02-28-2019 10:38 AM)johnbragg Wrote:  There's the problem right there, isn't it. You've heard of Iowa State and Mizzou and Kansas and Nebraska and Alabama, schools at the exact same ranking as UIC that Illinois students are enrolling in. So have the students.

It's a problem? I've heard of those other schools because they are state flagships, and everyone hears of state flagships pretty much.

But is UIC struggling in any way? Endowment? Enrollment? Etc.?

I'm not sure if *UIC* is struggling. But the consensus of opinion in the state of Illinois (reported by Frank the Tank) is that The Powers That Be in the state are concerned with the flow of college students out of Illinois (they're No 2 to New Jersey in students-leaving-state-for-college), and have been kicking around more-or-less harebrained schemes to try to create a second in-state public option after or as a complement to UIUC.

My brainstorm is, after doing wikipedia dives on various things college-sports-and-realignment-related over the last 10 years, University of Illinois-Chicago could be that 2nd option. It's already "pretty good" (#129, 40 spots ahead of Illinois State, the other "medium-quality school" in Illinois), and it's in a world-class city, which gives it a differentiation from other colleges competing for the same students--you could be 20 in a typical Big Ten/SEC/MAC school in a small city where the city revolves around the college, or you could be 20 years old in *Chicago*.

So what's stopping that from happening naturally? One factor is, I think, the name and the brand confusion. UIC is in the shadow of the flagship UIUC, *and* in the shadow of the University of Chicago.

What else is different between UIC and the other midwestern public schools tied with them at #129? The others (mostly flagships) have prominent athletic programs, and UIC does not. I think that's more important in the Chicago area, where college football is culturally relevant, than it would be on the east coast or west coast...

I did some digging ... UIC enrollment is apparently breaking records:

https://today.uic.edu/uic-continues-reco...3-students


I think private schools are instructive about big-time athletics. They face real market forces, and you see precious few of them doing what most G5 public schools are doing.