I'm afraid that the direction OU is going is to continue watering down admissions requirements even more than they already have. I agree that is problematic, but that is what they are going to do to address the enrollment decline.

The plus side of OU right now is the professional schools, which continue to do well...Russ Engineering, Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, Heritage Medical School, and others. Is OU planning to leverage their reputation on these schools and tolerate the ranking decline that comes from watering down undergraduate admissions standards?

It's a tough situation made many times worse by COVID.

It seems odd that the author bemoaned Ohio lowering its admission standards but then suggested automatic admission for anyone in the top 25% of their high school class. He doesn't say what percentage of current students graduated outside the top 25%, so we don't know what effect this might have on admissions. Class rank is only one of five criteria for freshman admissions and the average is stated as "top 12-38% of high school graduating class", whatever that means. Still, 25% w/o an application seems like a low threshold if you're trying to improve the quality of students.

Making it easier for more students to be accepted is needed, but the school is still competing with others for students so improvement in quality (or at least perceived quality) of programs is needed. Ohio was really my only choice because it had one of the best broadcasting programs in the nation and it was the closest to home. From the article, it sounds like Ohio is being run a lot like a lot of major corporations -- throw more money into management and less into the product line. If that's the case, this should change.

Like most universities, Ohio has largely thrived through out-of-state tuition, which is about $10,000 a year a more per student than in-state tuition. A big chunk of that comes from foreign students, who by and large haven't been on campus for more than a year, and might not be for another year or so until the covid situation improves overseas. And until the U.S. travel warnings are lifted for Asians, all U.S. colleges are likely to see fewer Asian students on campus (even post-covid), which means fewer dollars for the university and the Athens community. Plus, there will be more competition for those foreign students who do come into the U.S. Ohio needs to give out-of-state and foreign students more reason to come here than to go somewhere else.

That 49% is virtually meaningless without knowing from what schools those kids graduated. Top 25% at Granville or Bexley is one thing. Top 25% of the 600th ranked high school in Ohio not so much.

The main reason OU has dropped in the USWNR rankings is they've allowed many more schools to be eligible for the national rankings.

The SAT/ACT requirement was waived this year to the OP liking. Will it help to attract more students I don't know.

Decision makers at OU pushed enrollment as far as it could go as it was incentivized by state funding, first by a funding model which was tied to square footage on campus and then one incentivizing in-state student degrees completed.

Smaller schools in Ohio would envy what OU has been able to do with its campus improvements and STEM transformation. Like them OU has a ceiling. Universities don't have the cost model to afford more distinguished faculty.

I don't agree with everything in the article. For one thing, these percent rules seem to only work with big AAU flagships like Texas and the University of California system (which has been doing it for far longer than Texas), and I don't know if it would translate for Ohio. Not saying it wouldn't, but I'd need to see it really fleshed out more.[/quote]

You're infinitely more knowledgable on this than I. I wish I could provide said flesh.



Shamelessly stolen from you.



It feels like a death spiral.



Masters programs are a different beast and I set those aside in my piece. Russ falls into the "good, not great" category. Not sure how much burnishing that does. OUCOM is good in terms of Osteopathy, but a DO does not command the respect of a MD, right or wrong.



I didn't want to get granular with the numbers purposely. 25% is just a round number that is easy to understand. If you want to move that to like 20% or something, that's fine. Given that range, five bucks says the majority are closer to 38 than 12.



Depends on what you mean. We've got to stop punishing kids for circumstances beyond their control. In raw academic achievement, yes, the top 25% from Granville is going to best the top 25% from Vinton, but it doesn't make them a better caliber of student. They were equal in achievement given the opportunities offered.



I did not know that, thank you.



So far as I know, that's a temporary decision given the pandemic. It should be made permanent.



We're not going to be AAU any time soon. Would the best (or positive) strategy be to identify young talent and develop them in-house? Many would leave, but some would stay.

[quote]Honestly with students paying so much the better amenities might be the way to go to be more competitive with Miami and the private colleges than an average state school product. If they want OSU with its city school environment and can't get in they'll look at UC or Akron. One aspect that helps OU is that its so different from what OSU offers that it can attract a different market segment.

Good read.

My favorite line:

Wildly accurate. The bloated bureaucracy at Ohio University is EASILY the biggest problem. The vast majority of these losers jobs could be automated.

I disagree with you, philosophically, that the aim of Ohio University should be post-secondary success. In my opinion, the goal of college should be to educate students for success in the rest of their life. I do not necessarily mean professional success, I mean life success.

The spending on coaches is now in line with expectations for competing in a Top 10 Division 1 conference. Its not on the level of P5 but its a significant step up from lower tier conferences (which is the entire point of doing it).

I see this sentiment a lot here. It may be right -- I'm not really in a position to know. But what I never see are any specifics. I see a general belief that there's a bloated, overpaid administration. But it's hard to take action on this without specific examples of specific departments and roles that are unnecessary or underperforming.

Ohio University's annual operating budget approaches a billion dollars. That necessitate administration (lower case a). What jobs can actually be automated and add nothing to the 'bottom line'?

I'll grant you that when I look at the salary guide the most egregious issue is that our two highest paid employees (and 4 of our top 20 highest paid employees) are in the athletic department. We lose money on athletics. What are the other areas?

Edit: to add some further data, if I look at the top 100 highest paid employees at OU, I count 11 administrators and four in athletics. The administrators are in roles like VP of Legal Affairs, Facilities Management, Director of Investment, CIO, VP of Marketing, COO, Chief of Staff, Real Estate lead. Unless I'm missing something, academics make up the vast majority of our highest paid employees and the administrators at the top of the list seem to be in pretty critical functions for a billion dollar operation.



Salary guide for reference: (https://projects.thepostathens.com/SpecialProjects/ohio-u... / the most egregiously out of place

I worry all the Glidden construction projects are a millstone on the budget.

Solution to me seems to aim for a lower target enrollment and attract students by having a lower student to faculty ratio. Raise the sticker price to the level of Miami and invest more in the student experience. Set the target for undergraduate 13,500 with allowances for bigger classes from time to time.