(03-26-2020 05:25 PM)RamDawg Wrote: (03-24-2020 08:33 PM)HMK Wrote: https://schev.edu/docs/default-source/tu...ht2018.pdf
According to SCHEV, the total cost of attending JMU is $22,500 while the average for the Virginia state's public universities is $24,000.
It would seem to me the article should have been written about why the total cost at UVA is over $5,000 more than JMU. UVA has a 3 Billion dollar endowment and being a P5 sports school their sports program is nearly self supporting. Why is their total cost so high?
Just a thought: Maybe UVA pays professors more than JMU, attracting a higher level of talent. Maybe smaller size classes? I don't have anything to back up my thought but there's a reason UVA has the reputation, academically that it does. Is a degree from UVA worth an extra $20K compared to the JMU's of the state? (heck if I know)
Answers to your questions:
Yes, UVA pays more on average (but salary averages are skewed by professional and graduate programs with research focuses).
No, the talent level isn’t higher, but the focus on professional and graduate level-research places a premium on research publication/outcomes vs. undergraduate teaching. JMU’s faculty as a group takes a back seat to no other school, but JMU’s rep would benefit from cherry-picking some hired academic guns aka Nobel/Pritzer/Field Medal/Pulitzer-type stars ala the way Stony Brook or even George Mason has polished their institutional academic reps.
Class sizes can (at first-take) be compared apples to apples, but the number requires a closer look. JMU boasts a faculty to student ratio of 16-1, which is quite good. More importantly, at JMU the vast majority of classes (approaching 90%) are taught by full-time faculty. UVA’s faculty to student ratio (whatever UVA claims it to be) has to be processed through the lens that many undergraduate classes are going to be taught by graduate students, not the stud full-time faculty...the stud full-time faculty are teaching the graduate students. UVA faculty also have much lower teaching loads, mostly calculated as 2-2 loads (meaning 2 courses per semester) vs. JMU’s 4-4 or 3-3 loads.
Not taking anything away from UVA’s rep or it’s faculty, after all that’s their institution’s role. UVA enjoys a 100 year head start on JMU, has built the giant endowment (in part funded by the alums from its professional and graduate programs in law and medicine), and those are distinct advantages in attracting and enrolling top applicants. It’s a well oiled machine now.
Lastly, you ask is a UVA degree worth more, in dollars and cents, cachet, and/or both? At the undergraduate level my feeling is no, however, the grad heavy rep and historical, institutional standing of UVA in American Higher Ed gives it that snooty-ass air. JMU’s rep is already outstanding ...better than many of the biggest boosters on this board may realize. JMU is still very young, and is just now beginning to realize it’s true potential. Time, money, and continued wise stewardship will tell the tale if JMU is to take the next step.