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What do you think this means for college sports? And for ODU?

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/26/due-to-c...years.html

Think Covid had a huge impact. While traveling this past summer out west. Ran into a few groups of college age kids, most taking a year off. One group of four girls were from UVa all planning to return. Think I read ODU enrollment was up last year.

(10-26-2021 08:43 AM)ODBlue Wrote:  What do you think this means for college sports? And for ODU?

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/26/due-to-c...years.html

In the short term, it will mostly affect those programs that rely heavily on student fees to fund athletics.

If the trend continues, then over time it will affect every program as overall alumni numbers decrease. Much, if not most of the ongoing support for college athletics is alumni related, either directly or indirectly.

(10-26-2021 08:43 AM)ODBlue Wrote:  What do you think this means for college sports? And for ODU?

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/26/due-to-c...years.html

Thread title edited for clarification. Didn't want folks assuming it was strictly about ODU enrollment.

Agree, the last 2 years is likely all a Covid blip. If I or my kids were college age last year would have been a year off at least and perhaps this year as well.

That said, there is reason for concern. It is questionable if college is even worth the investment anymore depending on the individual's long-term plan. Probably not worth it for the average student that has no idea what s/he wants to do for a living... and certainly not worth it without the experience factor, which was taken away. Whether the impact has longer cascading effects depends on how inflation, worker shortages, and supply chain crisis play out. If the skilled blue collar and white collar income gap shrinks much more, I wouldn't be shocked if the higher ed bubble pops for real, even if Covid were to disappear.

(10-26-2021 08:52 AM)DaBigBlue Wrote:  Think Covid had a huge impact. While traveling this past summer out west. Ran into a few groups of college age kids, most taking a year off. One group of four girls were from UVa all planning to return. Think I read ODU enrollment was up last year.

ODU enrollment was up last year but it was mostly online.

I feel bad for my nephew. He graduated during covid and is now a freshman at NC State. He missed out on the things that make senior year great and due to concerns about whether they’d have to go online only before the semester started, he decided to opt out of room and board and is attending remotely. So now he’s missing out on those things that make college great.

Would imagine a lot of kids decided to just opt out completely or go to community college until it’s clear any and all shutdowns are behind us.

When my 26 year old ODU drop out nephew works half a day making 5k to 8k profit on an HVAC install I question myself why didn't I take votech serious.

ODU is doing well with job type degrees and adding new hot programs. Things like Maritime and Supply Chain Management major BSBA, that was recently added. Think that isn't hot right now. How about the new push into growing Health Services, with the new building going up. Most ODU degrees get jobs. Nothing wrong with VoTech either, good direction for many.

Yes, ODU is a good jobs school. Physical Therapy, Dental Hygiene, Engineering, and Business come to mind. CNU as probably passed us in reputation, but they have a ton of people graduating with worthless degrees. Those worthless programs at average schools are going to be tough to fill when you can make more money as an automobile mechanic. Not intentionally picking on CNU, but they came to mind as a school that might start to struggle.

(10-26-2021 02:17 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  Yes, ODU is a good jobs school. Physical Therapy, Dental Hygiene, Engineering, and Business come to mind. CNU as probably passed us in reputation, but they have a ton of people graduating with worthless degrees. Those worthless programs at average schools are going to be tough to fill when you can make more money as an automobile mechanic. Not intentionally picking on CNU, but they came to mind as a school that might start to struggle.

CNU's enrollment this Fall is down 6%.

(10-26-2021 08:56 AM)ODUalum78 Wrote:  

(10-26-2021 08:43 AM)ODBlue Wrote:  What do you think this means for college sports? And for ODU?

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/26/due-to-c...years.html

In the short term, it will mostly affect those programs that rely heavily on student fees to fund athletics.

If the trend continues, then over time it will affect every program as overall alumni numbers decrease. Much, if not most of the ongoing support for college athletics is alumni related, either directly or indirectly.

That is my thought. It is hard to form a connection if we don't have the students. But this appears to be a national problem, not just at ODU. Another thing that will hurt future alumni giving is online learning. Maybe I'm just an old fogey, but I don't think you get the same connection from an online class compared to being on campus.