remus
Sophomore Member
$3k for a phone bill is awful expensive
Posts: 233
|
Post by remus on May 18, 2006 18:42:05 GMT -5
Oh my. Now I've been reading the Bandwagon for years (on its various sites) and anytime Barrons put the University in a good light everyone rejoiced. Now that the luster is gone, all of the sudden it isn't a reputable publication. Granted, its methodology is flawed, but the college ranking edition is highly sought by high school parents and prospective students.
Also you people show your ignorance of the SUNY system. While I agree that the notion of SBU becoming a state school is ludicrous, some (not all) of the state schools are equivalent to SBU and some are better.
Don't forget that besides the scandal, the school's academic integrity was under fire with grade changes etc.
|
|
|
Post by ceharv on May 18, 2006 20:03:59 GMT -5
A few years ago I started suggesting to anyone at the school who would listen (many did, but no one has ever done anything) that the school needs to market itself in western Pa and eastern Ohio. The Pgh area has a larger number of catholics than the DC area. When my daughter started at Bonas in 98, and I'd tell people she was going there, most people had heard of the school. I started an informal, unscientific survey of asking those who knew of it where it was located. The great majority of answers were - around NYC or way upstate in NY "in the boonies" - most thought it was 8+ hour drive from here. I'd explain it was @3 and a half hours - 4 lane highway all the way. I suggested to several people in the admin that with all the catholic HSs around here, they need to let people know that Bonas is far enough away to be away, but close enough to get to and back easily. Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea - but nothing ever happened. I even volunteered to help in the effort. My kids went to a public school north of the city - a AAA sized school - there was not even a Bona admission pamphlet in the library - there was one for Alfred - not Bonas! College is a competitive business when it comes to attracting students - Duquesne in Pgh has produced a beautiful ad that is being broadcast on local TV - we have a beautiful campus - we just need to get kids to visit! We need to let people who aren't from NY know where we are. Bona's gets maybe 3-4 kids a year from an area full of Catholics, who think nothing about sending their kids to philly - 6 hours away - but who think bonas is too far to go. My guess is that the same thing is true about the Cleveland area. We don't have to be national, but being regional means more than NY state. Look at our numbers from Pa and Ohio - those areas are largely ignored and are potential gold mines.
|
|
|
Post by sburizz on May 18, 2006 20:28:22 GMT -5
Remus-- you are absolutely right that people get too happy and rejoice when Barrons says anything good about us and up in arms when it doesn't. I also agree with you that the SUNY system is good and there are schools that are better but to suggest that Bonaventure will revert to a SUNY school is crazy. SUNY schools are good but very different, almost none of them have the bond that Bonas does. The school definitly needs to build its reputation back up.
Ceharv-- I have always thought that Bonaventure does not target potential students from other regions as well. They should have pamphlets in ALL the high schools in the northeast they especially need to target students in the Pgh area, the mid-hudson valley and New Jersey/Philly. I also think that with the new science center going up St. Bonaventure should start a St. Bonaventure medal. Other colleges do this, they give an award to students that apply are qualified. The award gives them a scholarship to St. Bonaventure. Many schools do this including Clarkson, Rochester and Marist. This helps to create the awareness of St. Bonaventure to top notch students.
|
|
|
Post by sneakers on May 18, 2006 20:56:07 GMT -5
A few years ago I started suggesting to anyone at the school who would listen (many did, but no one has ever done anything) that the school needs to market itself in western Pa and eastern Ohio. The Pgh area has a larger number of catholics than the DC area. When my daughter started at Bonas in 98, and I'd tell people she was going there, most people had heard of the school. I started an informal, unscientific survey of asking those who knew of it where it was located. The great majority of answers were - around NYC or way upstate in NY "in the boonies" - most thought it was 8+ hour drive from here. I'd explain it was @3 and a half hours - 4 lane highway all the way. I suggested to several people in the admin that with all the catholic HSs around here, they need to let people know that Bonas is far enough away to be away, but close enough to get to and back easily. Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea - but nothing ever happened. I even volunteered to help in the effort. My kids went to a public school north of the city - a AAA sized school - there was not even a Bona admission pamphlet in the library - there was one for Alfred - not Bonas! College is a competitive business when it comes to attracting students - Duquesne in Pgh has produced a beautiful ad that is being broadcast on local TV - we have a beautiful campus - we just need to get kids to visit! We need to let people who aren't from NY know where we are. Bona's gets maybe 3-4 kids a year from an area full of Catholics, who think nothing about sending their kids to philly - 6 hours away - but who think bonas is too far to go. My guess is that the same thing is true about the Cleveland area. We don't have to be national, but being regional means more than NY state. Look at our numbers from Pa and Ohio - those areas are largely ignored and are potential gold mines. Excellent points! I agree 100%. Other colleges are more aggressively marketing to kids that fit their profile than we are. SBU needs to increase its geographic scope to look at kids from other regions. Western Penn and Northern Ohio are obvious areas where we should be marketing to students.
|
|
|
Post by bonnievet on May 18, 2006 22:34:14 GMT -5
The 95% acceptance rate of applicants has been happening since the late 80's and early 90's when the schools attendance dropped and the school almost closed it doors. Since then we have been admitting anybody that we could in order to generate income to keep the doors open. We have the lowest endownment in the A-10 so we are are tuition dependent school. Not enough freshman or transfer mean deficits in the operating budget. Give more to the school to build up the endownment. The bigger the endownment means we can be more selective and less tuition dependent.
|
|
|
Post by magnusbu on May 18, 2006 23:13:12 GMT -5
Yeah the acceptance rate was in the 95% range in the 80's and early 90's. Enrollment figures were also low during that time. That is when we were having a lot of financial problems and the BBall program was terrible. Things started to get turned around in the mid 90's with the financial picture getting better along with the BBall program. Enrollment started to increase each year and I'm guessing that after a few years of increased enrollment that 95% figure started to decrease as we reached peak enrollment figures. Then the scandal happened and really hurt the whole university. Not just the Basketball program. Now we are back to lower enrollment and having to accept 95% of the applicants. Thinks will get better again once we start improving the campus and as the BBall program gets better. Yes they both have an impact on enrollment.
|
|
remus
Sophomore Member
$3k for a phone bill is awful expensive
Posts: 233
|
Post by remus on May 18, 2006 23:32:26 GMT -5
We have the lowest endownment in the A-10 so we are are tuition dependent school. I'm sorry but what effect does the ATHLETIC CONFERENCE in which we play have on the ACADEMIC STANDARDS of the university? Here I thought SBU was a educational university that also offered Division I athletics. In your mind we are a Division I athletic school that is part of the Atlantic 10 Conference, that also offers educational courses. Please don't respond with how much money the basketball program brings to the university. The university could survive without a basketball program. To do so, it would just have to divert its resources into academics and not so much in failing basketball program. Then again, if the so-called big donors were to shell out more money perhaps the school could have a top notch educational platform and an athletic budget that could compete within its own conference. Actually when you look at it, the more successful athletic programs are the ones that get less money. Plus these programs also have fewer run-ins with the police.
|
|
|
Post by bonafide on May 19, 2006 6:00:30 GMT -5
1.) Go to the MAAC.
2.) Put the basketball program in the proper perspective and retarget funds to academics.
3.) Give till it hurts for the capital campaign.
4.) Look long and hard at SBU student recruiting. With a 95% acceptance rate something's very wrong.
|
|
|
Post by bonafide on May 19, 2006 6:04:38 GMT -5
Plus, I'm really pissed that my SBU degree has declined in value as SBU has declined as a university.
|
|
|
Post by jh on May 19, 2006 6:24:31 GMT -5
And your degree will fall even further if your school 'falls' into the maac from the A10 !!!!
|
|
|
Post by DemBonnies on May 19, 2006 7:07:22 GMT -5
And your degree will fall even further if your school 'falls' into the maac from the A10 !!!! Heals....I know you like to beat this No MAAC drum and I respect your position, but we both have to be kidding ourselves if we think that SBU is going to be an upper echelon team in the Atlantic-10 I may be mistaken but to the best of my recollection we have been in two Atlantic-10 Championship games since we joined the league, 1984 and 2000. I think we'll both agree that 2000 was the apex of the last 37 years and in that Championship game we scored a meager 44 points and were thoroughly routed by Temple by a 21 point margin. Heals...that was lightening in a bottle...the Allegany River will flood the RC floor before that happens again...in other words it's a high water mark. Three NCAA appearances in 37 years is the rich, storied basketball power from the East we call St. Bonaventure but that everyone else calls St. Who. I'm gonna guess that there's maybe a handful of NIT appearances in that time frame with only one resulting in a second round game. Take into account that that when I rolled into Bonas, three years removed from their Final Four appearance there were but 90 Division 1 schools...now there are over 320 and still climbing. We are safely entrenched in the bottom third of that enormous pack. You will not get an argument from me that the MAAC is a step down from the Atlantic-10, but we can agree to disagree that Bonaventure is more closely aligned and identified with MAAC schools in size, $$$ spent on the program and that many of the programs there have rich basketball traditions on whom the sun has also set. You're for beating your head against the brick wall in vain hopes that it falls down, I am not convinced that it ever will. Whatever the decision the longer we wait and the longer we remain the whipping boys in the Atlantic-10 the less desirable we become to any conference, even the MAAC.
|
|
|
Post by bonnievet on May 19, 2006 7:57:39 GMT -5
All of the problems that we have in athletics and enrollment are all related to one factor. Money. If we had a larger endownment, we would not be so tuition dependent and our budgets would not be so tied to yearly enrollment figures. $35-40M endownment is nothing these days. The school is living hand to mouth. After the scandal, the annual fund which supports the yearly operating budget fell by 30% and it is still not meeting it goals. That was why there were layoffs and cutbacks. The time to really give is when things are going bad. That is when the rubber meets the road. You want to be good in academics and athletics, double you gift to the university. If you don't give, start giving. The capital campaign needs to be a $300M campaign and not the $100M it is. It was suppose to be $150M and has been cut back because the school did not think it could hit that number. That is a reflection on all of us. If we have one problem as a school is that we talk alot but do not give alot.
|
|
jim62
Junior Member
Posts: 377
|
Post by jim62 on May 19, 2006 8:52:58 GMT -5
Ceharv:
I am in complete agreement with you regarding Western PA. and Pgh.
When I was at Bonas (from Mt. Lebanon) there were only 4 or 5 of us from Pgh on the entire campus.
I wouldn't have known about Bonas except my Dad worked for Pittsburgh Corning and I used to go with him at times when he went to Port Allegheny on business and we came over to the Castle for a great dinner.
The whole area around Pgh is fertile ground for some recruiting of students.
I have never understood why our Admissions folks are missing a lot of prospects there.
"Build it and they will come" doesn't always happen. You have to put in some effort.
|
|
|
Post by bonnieball on May 19, 2006 8:53:05 GMT -5
Going to the MAAC = Giving up on Div I sports.
Case Closed.
|
|
|
Post by DemBonnies on May 19, 2006 9:01:13 GMT -5
Going to the MAAC = Giving up on Div I sports. Case Closed. Bonnieball----St. Bonaventure hasn't been competitive in D1 basketball but probably 6 times in the last 35+ years...sure we've had some close games and some upsets but really giving up on D1 sports = MAAC. We suck in the A-10 and no one gives a d**n about us in the league, we're a laughingstock in the nation too. You're looking at us as though we're some sort of basketball royalty....that ship sailed long ago.
|
|