We're not in River City, but we got trouble. And, I fear, our new President is making too much out of a symptom, ignoring other problems that are more serious, and not yet focusing on root causes that require us to change our approach. It didn't make this piece but I've been told by several people that we are becoming uncompetitive in recruiting talented low income students. Our scholarships are insufficient and our tuition is among the highest among our peers. A couple of years ago the Director of the Campus Honors Program informed the CHP faculty that we had for the first time lost an in state student to a Community College. I don't know if that is happening at scale for the Campus as a whole. It's hard to get reports on that sort of thing. But it wouldn't be surprising. Several of my son's High School classmates are attending the U of I but living at home, surely not a preference but a cost saver. I haven't heard the President yet talk about access. Even with State of Illinois funding waning, we remain a public university. We should not turn into a private in public's clothing. Will some faculty get cherry picked this way? They certainly will. That could spiral out of control or it could level out and then we could get on with our business. We need some leadership if we are to get onto a good and sustainable path.
Lanny, i am feel very great to have such a good post on the ratings. I also appreciate that you have mentioned the block of Julie "Drop in rankings gets UI's attention." It's always be a matter of reputation that depends on the rankings.
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