Enrollment - Step in Right Direction

[wgt]

The newly established Franciscan Health Care Program under the direction of Dr. Dombroski has added 13 students to the fall enrollment. These are individuals pursuing a dental or pharmacy career in collaboration with four graduate schools including George Washington University of Medicine & University of Buffalo. Their average SAT scores are 1435. Congrats to Sister Carney for increasing enrollment numbers by attracting highly qualified freshman to a program that I hope will grow in the future. Recent posts have cited viable ways to address the issue of increasing enrollment. Another suggestion, previously not mentioned, is to offer a secondary education major leading to certification especially in Math & Science. Presently students can only receive such certification at Bona by attending a 5th year & getting a Masters. With Bonas strong Ed programs this is an absolute no brainer. It was a plan 5 years ago but never became a reality. I know of one potential frosh (sis attending Bona) who loved Bona but selected La Moyne because of no secondary ed certification undergrad program. With shortage of Math & Science HS teachers everywhere, I’m puzzled with Bona not instituting such a program. Bonas effective collaborations with so many school districts makes it a natural.

[bonadad07]

In regards to increasing enrollment, while I understand that football etc are high profile suggestions, I think Bona's is addressing the real needs by improving Shay dorm and improving the dining facilities. Prospective students will be most interested in the facilities that directly effect them, like living and dining amenities. These are what directlyi nfluence incoming freshmen. After looking at schools for my kids, I saw what other schools offer for living and dining and Bona's was behind, These current improvements will help market the school much better.
That being said, varsity football will cause big Title IX issues, but would be fun but may not be feasible. It is a very complicated funding formula and would require Bona's to spend a comparable amount on the women's side. I am not sure the funding is there.

[DerekBrower]

wgt said:

The newly established Franciscan Health Care Program under the direction of Dr. Dombroski has added 13 students to the fall enrollment. These are individuals pursuing a dental or pharmacy career in collaboration with four graduate schools including George Washington University of Medicine & University of Buffalo. Their average SAT scores are 1435. Congrats to Sister Carney for increasing enrollment numbers by attracting highly qualified freshman to a program that I hope will grow in the future. Recent posts have cited viable ways to address the issue of increasing enrollment. Another suggestion, previously not mentioned, is to offer a secondary education major leading to certification especially in Math & Science. Presently students can only receive such certification at Bona by attending a 5th year & getting a Masters. With Bonas strong Ed programs this is an absolute no brainer. It was a plan 5 years ago but never became a reality. I know of one potential frosh (sis attending Bona) who loved Bona but selected La Moyne because of no secondary ed certification undergrad program. With shortage of Math & Science HS teachers everywhere, I’m puzzled with Bona not instituting such a program. Bonas effective collaborations with so many school districts makes it a natural.

You mean it's possible to increase enrollment without pouring money from the capital campaign into athletics? Wow....shocking.

[sneakers]

This is a step in the right direction! We need to attack the need to update the school to attract more new students on multiple fronts. New academic programs are a fantastic way to do it as this reaches out to prospective students who would otherwise not consider SBU. Upgrading the dorms and Hickey is much needed to keep us in the ballgame when competing for students. As we all know, a prospective students' tour of the school is an all-important factor in whether they come to the school or not. New sports programs would also provide tuition-paying students from a pool of prospective students who would otherwise not consider SBU. We need to get on the radar screen of these kids.

I hope those who steer the SBU ship have enough vision to revamp much of what the school has to offer and increase enrollment (thereby lessening the financial crunch). It will take serious leadership and the willingness to make some necessary changes on multiple fronts.

[clubber]

This is definitely a step in the right direction, every bit helps.We are down close to over 120 students the last 2 years, we need to do more.
Bonadad, Title IX is not the hurdle you think it is. 80% or more of colleges and universities are not in compliance. It doesn't require that equal $ be spent on men's and women's sports. The only provision that requires that the same amount of $ be spent(proportional to participation) is "scholarships". Football programs receive protection under Title IX as mandated by the Javits Amendment which allows increased expenditures based on "the nature of a sport". We have been talking about a Non-scholarship program. Title IX has not stopped over 75 schools since "93 from starting football programs, including 5 this fall.
What is shocking is nationally recognized and prestigious Georgetown University committing $50 million of their $150 million Capital Campaign to athletics. And they aren't the only ones doing it.

[bonadad07]

Clubber,
You are right, I was thinking of scholarship money. My mistake. Thanks for the clarification.

[sburizz]

I've always believed that the best way to effectively improve enrollment is the addition of academic programs. I also think that St. Bonaventure needs to offer scholarships similar to the way U of R does. U of R has the Bausch and Lomb Science achievement award and the Xerox Math achievment award. These awards are offered to many schools in NY and the recipient gets a $4,000 a year scholarship provided he or she is accepted. If St. Bonaventure could establish a Bear Stearns Business Scholarship, Dresser Rand Science achievement award, they would be very effective at recruiting top of the line students. Our academic programs are as good as any out there but our recruiting has been very poor. These scholarships would be a step in the right direction. I also think that the administration needs to focus on the quality of life for students, in recent years our retention rate has fallen and the administration needs to determine why. I have a good idea as do most recent grads but the admin needs to remedy these short comings. Funding athletics well will increase the quality of life and increase enrollment and retention as well. The university is headed in the right direction.

[wolfden]

Academics should be addressed if the university is serious about increasing enrollment. But as a middle-class parent of three children, with the oldest attending college next fall, one of the first questions we ask as parents is "how much is it going to cost us". The first step Bonas would have to take, if they're genuinely concerned about increasing enrollment, is to lower tuition. I know that sounds unrealistic but that is the bottom line for many families struggling to send their children to college. As parents, we don't want our children to leave college with over $80,000 in college debt, therefore, we look at the state schools or, in our situation, send our child to a local community college where he/she can get the first two years of their education at a much more affordable tuition before transferring to a four-year school such as Bonas. Another concern for the university should be the condition of the dorms. My sons have gone to basketball camp at Bonas for several years now and the state of the rooms are disgusting. I know, spoken like a mother, but hey, it's true.

[EddieBall]

Having two of my three kids recently graduate from SBU ('03 and '06) and my third beginning this Fall, we found that , in the area of financial aid, SBU does quite well (in comparison with the SUNY system)... within a couple thousand dollars. This, of course, is dependent upon available scholarships, need, high school grades, etc. Bonaventure was NOT a bad deal. I guess it depends on what you want. The dorms at Geneseo were in no way any more impressive than at SBU (at least the rooms we were shown)... work is being done this summer to improve several of the dormitories by the way. Loans, sadly, are a fact of life for today's prospective students, but, I can tell you this--my guys absolutely loved their time at Bonaventure (as did myself all those years ago)! For us, truly a Good Journey!!

[koab]

Our oldest of four will be attending in the fall.

We found that Bona was reasonably (after grant) in comparison to Mass University system.

The cost is within $6K of ULowell and I believe he will do better with a Bona degree.

We live in a town north of Boston where 90%+ of kids go on to college. To my knowledge no Bona reps visited his high school.

My son believes with some exposure, 3-4 of his senior class would be coming to Bona this year.

[wgt]

The SUNY colleges & state schools across the nation provide excellent educations at a fraction of the cost of private colleges. If finances are the critical issue the state schools provide a huge savings over 4 years. Bona continues to be listed as a “Best Buy” due to its low costs. Lets compare Bona to some private Catholic schools, rounding off costs of tuition, room/board & fees : Fordham – 45,000, Siena – 32,100, St Joe’s – 39,500, Manhattan – 32,000. Bona is 30,200 which is one of the most reasonable around. It’s peer schools have been raising tuition at a 5.5% annual average. In spite of financial belt tightening, Bona kept this year’s increase below that rate while pouring money into residence up-grades that look great. Putting a price tag on a Bona experience, priceless.

[sburizz]

while it is true that some SUNY schools provide an excellent education it is not true across the board. Binghamton, Buffalo, Geneseo, Albany and Stony Brook are all very good schools but the other ones aren't comparable. SBU is somewhat expensive but I just graduated with only $25,000 in debt because of the excellent financial aid. If I were to go to a SUNY school I would've accumulated the same amount of debt but without the financial aid. SBU cannot reduce their tuition, all colleges are expensive but it is the best investment one can ever make. Bonas needs to increase their recruiting and enrollment because then they can smooth their tuition increases to 3%-5% a year instead of 10%.

[2nddev]

I love SBU and always hoped that one on my three children would attend. Unfortunately, that will not be happening. Although she was offered a very significant scholarship to Bonas based on academic achievement, my youngest daughter chose Geneseo this year. Sadly, it came down to academics and the proven scholastic ability of the students she would be attending college with. To be blunt, she wanted a more competitive atmosphere. At Geneseo orientation, we were told that the incoming class had a high school grade averageof 93% in academic subects and average SATs of 1290. I think maybe the last straw for her was attending the Fordham game at Rose Hill and listening to the repeated "Safety School" chants. I tried hard to sell her on the fact that St. Bonaventure is a very special place, which I truly believe, but was not successful. I'm wishing it could be different, but that's the way it is.

[sburizz]

I don't mean this in a bad way but if your daughter is being swayed by chants of Safety school, then maybe she cares more about the image of the school than the academics. Geneseo is a very good school but if you look at the end result St. Bonaventure graduates get good jobs and do extremely well for themselves. What you are pointing out is powerful though, that SBU needs to improve its reputation as an academic institution but I believe with the new Science building we will dramatically increase our avg SAT score.

[2nddev]

No, I think that you misunderstood my post. All of the things mentioned before the "safety school" comment were far more important to her. The chants just drove home the facts that she very carefully and intelligently took into consideration.