No. Instead, capitalism wins again. Here's an interesting AEI study: Learning with Their Feet: Student Enrollment Trends in Postsecondary Education by College Quality

In summary,

Quote:

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Specifically, the worst fifth of colleges as measured by student outcomes experienced a 47 percent drop in undergraduate enrollment between 2010 and 2023. Almost all the decline in college enrollment since 2010 is attributable to institutions in the bottom two quintiles of college quality. High-quality colleges saw enrollment increase by 8 percent over the same period. Many state flagship institutions in the top echelon of quality increased their enrollments by 20 percent or more.

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And guess which high-quality school leads the pack!



It drives me crazy to see every now and then these threads where posters whine about enrollment. It's not a diploma mill - it's getting people good jobs; people I call taxpayers. The state has increased enrollment in 13 years by 45%. Even with this increase organizations like the American Enterprise Institute rate A&M as high-quality because a higher percentage of students graduate and earnings after graduation are higher. We need more enrollment.

We need the resources to properly educate that 45% increase.

I have one daughter that graduated in December and one that is a fish now. The size is crazy and we need to hold on any further growth, and it is easy for a student that is not prepared to fall through the cracks. THAT SAID, the quality of the teaching my oldest received was very solid, and the other side of that "wow, it's big and you can get lost" coin is that these kids learn to stand up on their own and be responsible for their education. No one is going to hold your hand. You have to do it. Some see that as bad, I see it as life preparation. Standing up on your own, owning your path.

A&M provides a huge number of good degrees that lead to well paying jobs.

Its a diploma mill for worthless degrees that should not even be offered. All they do is churn out the next generation of social justice warriors who are saddled with massive debt and no chance to get a good paying job with their degree. Instead they turn into antifa and wait for the next Democrat to pay off their loans.

Just from one look through the list of current degrees. No problem with some of these topics have a few classes on the subject as college is about learning new things, but A&M shouldn't be having them as majors. None of the "Studies" should be taught at all.

Anthropology
Classics
Dance Science
General Studies
Journalism (so as long as it is basically MSDNC level)
Modern Languages (French, German, or Russian) (a minor, sure, but not a major)
Music Performance
Performance & Visual Studies
Philosophy
Spanish (Again, minor sure, but not a major)
Theatre
University Studies - Global Arts, Planning, Design & Construction (Plenty of similar degrees offered.)
University Studies - Oceans & One Health
University Studies - Race, Gender, & Ethnicity
University Studies - Society, Ethics, & Law
University Studies - Tourism & Coastal Community Development
Women's & Gender Studies

In terms of just infrastructure like classrooms are we experiencing capacity issues with that much growth?

That didn't seem to be evident with my daughter. She was consistently able to get the classes she needed when she needed and nothing was over-flowing. She was an Allied Health major and is now in grad school to be an OT. I'm sure there are challenges but it didn't surface with her

I wish we would quit growing so quickly. We need some exclusivity. The state population has not grown 50% since 2010.

I remember thinking 40,000+ students in ~2000 was too many kids. I can't imagine having double that.

The state population has increased dramatically over time. State schools should increase proportionally. Last I checked we were doing just that.

I was surprised on a recent visit to campus around lunchtime seeing so many students sitting on the floor/outside the MSC as there wasn't enough seating during mealtime.

It used to be you had to join the Corps for guaranteed on-campus housing. I guess now you also have to join the Corps for a guaranteed seat while you eat an on-campus meal.

CampSkunk said:

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We need more enrollment.

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No, we ****ing don't.

Why? Why do we need more people that stresses the infrastructure of both the school and surrounding area. Money? The majority here will never see a cent of it. More graduates with jobs? I love my alma mater but it is dumb to think you can't get a good degree elsewhere and end up just as fine. We should not be proud of how "big" our school is. That's just dumb.

We honestly need to just go ahead and elevate another school to flagship status here in Texas IMO.

Again, capitalism. Most of those majors have smaller enrollment, and who is to say that someone graduating in Dance can't get a good job? I know two - one is actually a professional dancer, and the other owns a dance studio, and judging from the tuition I pay for my grands to learn ballet, I would judge she is doing just fine. And a lot of the diploma mill complainers were talking about the 25,000 engineering students thing. If engineering graduates can't get good jobs, then my guess is that we'll see fewer degrees awarded. But that's not what's happening.

Quote:

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Music Performance

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This is literally the first semester this major has existed at A&M. It's about damn time, too. A&M has the resources to have one of the top music programs in the State, so it's a wonder it took this long. If A&M offered music performance before now, I would have gone back to A&M instead of going to a different school. The trombone prof at A&M is world class.

ETA: Being a music performance major is a vastly more difficult and demanding program than you probably think it is.

You are ignoring the data - AEI rates A&M as high quality in part because graduates are receiving high salaries on average. And I keep hearing about this infrastructure thing but as far as I can tell the lights are still on and all the kids have a place to sleep.

1939 said:

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I wish we would quit growing so quickly. We need some exclusivity. The state population has not grown 50% since 2010.

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Who else will educate all the Indians and Chinese coming into the US????

We need to 10X the size of A&M in the next decade.

What defines a diploma mill?
Id say: Easy passable classes that dont actually create a skill or improve the intellectual abilities of the students.

A&M has plenty of that. The writing standards are low. The reading standards are low. I remember my diffeq class anyone who got a 50 got a C on the test.

Can great students still get great things out of the opportunity. Absolutely yes. But that is largely individual driven.

Wildmen03 said:

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I remember thinking 40,000+ students in ~2000 was too many kids. I can't imagine having double that.

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It is certainly not an improvement in education.

Rapier108 said:

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Anthropology
* good degree for those individuals who want to continue in the museum and or collections professions.
Classics
* good degree for those individuals who want to continue in the museum and or collections professions
Dance Science
* agree not at TAMU, best to continue this at an institution such as Juilliard.
General Studies
* agree make up your mind on a major or let some in who does know what they want take your place.
Journalism (so as long as it is basically MSDNC level)
* agree not at TAMU
Modern Languages (French, German, or Russian) (a minor, sure, but not a major)
* good degree for those individuals who want to continue in international professions (e.g. translators)
Music Performance
* see Julliard
Performance & Visual Studies
*see Julliard
Philosophy
* Pre-law
Spanish (Again, minor sure, but not a major)
* see above
Theatre
*see Julliard
University Studies - Global Arts, Planning, Design & Construction (Plenty of similar degrees offered.)
* replace with construction engineering
University Studies - Oceans & One Health
* replace with oceanography
University Studies - Race, Gender, & Ethnicity
* waste of resources
University Studies - Society, Ethics, & Law
* Pre-law. replace with criminal sciences.
University Studies - Tourism & Coastal Community Development
* not needed
Women's & Gender Studies
* waste of resources

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There are over 200 colleges/universities in Texas, with everyone fighting to get into maybe 5 of them.

Texas needs more of its universities to become great. We don't need to keep expanding A&M until College Station can accommodate hundreds of thousands of students.

Ryan the Temp said:

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Quote:

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Music Performance

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This is literally the first semester this major has existed at A&M. It's about damn time, too. A&M has the resources to have one of the top music programs in the State, so it's a wonder it took this long. If A&M offered music performance before now, I would have gone back to A&M instead of going to a different school. The trombone prof at A&M is world class.

ETA: Being a music performance major is a vastly more difficult and demanding program than you probably think it is.

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It's a ****ing waste. Leave that **** to UNT and let A&M focus on degrees that matter.

Teslag said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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Quote:

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Music Performance

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This is literally the first semester this major has existed at A&M. It's about damn time, too. A&M has the resources to have one of the top music programs in the State, so it's a wonder it took this long. If A&M offered music performance before now, I would have gone back to A&M instead of going to a different school. The trombone prof at A&M is world class.

ETA: Being a music performance major is a vastly more difficult and demanding program than you probably think it is.

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It's a ****ing waste. Leave that **** to UNT and let A&M focus on degrees that matter.

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Nah it's backed up by salaries and job demand. Most arts majors are trash.

CampSkunk said:

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You are ignoring the data - AEI rates A&M as high quality in part because graduates are receiving high salaries on average. And I keep hearing about this infrastructure thing but as far as I can tell the lights are still on and all the kids have a place to sleep.

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Yeah, I peeked at the data and instantly confirmed what I suspected. The main source of comparison he is using as the "worst" category of 20 colleges are all online only or two year community colleges. The only three that even offer bachelors are online or one international. One metric he uses is completion rate, while I know for sure that transfer rates account for a significant portion of the non completions. I trust data. I don't trust those that prepare the data.

When was the last time you attended class on main campus?

You realize A&Ms anthropology department houses several of the best preservation labs for archeology in the world...right? Thats an interesting desire to knock out of our university

Teslag said:

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Nah it's backed up by salaries and job demand. Most arts majors are trash.

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I'll think of you when I'm cashing my royalty checks.

Teslag said:

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Nah it's backed up by salaries and job demand. Most arts majors are trash.

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Just because its much harder to become a successful musician than a successful engineer doesn't make the major trash.

Flower Child said:

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There are over 200 colleges/universities in Texas, with everyone fighting to get into maybe 5 of them.

Texas needs more of its universities to become great. We don't need to keep expanding A&M until College Station can accommodate hundreds of thousands of students.

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The name "TAMU - College Station" has cache. Respect. Impact.
It is not the same if you say you are from TAMU - Galveston.

Just a couple of days ago, I dissuaded my friend from picking TAMU Galveston and Kingsville for his daughter on the CommonApp. I said go to A&M CS or go elsewhere. That is how it is.

Penn State is a diploma mill!

I sometimes wonder how so many Aggies can be so clueless about professions that don't have a specific degree plan attached to them.

Lots of people work in great jobs that have nothing to do with their degree. It's probably more common that the other path, actually.

That medical sales rep might have a comms degree. And the guy who manages your office space might have been a history major. And your claims adjuster could have graduated in sports management.

Not everyone can be an engineer. And if you're an engineer, why would you want them to be?

Ag_of_08 said:

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You realize A&Ms anthropology department houses several of the best preservation labs for archeology in the world...right? Thats an interesting desire to knock out of our university

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The mentality of many on this board is seemingly that if it's an extremely competitive field then A&M shouldn't offer it as a major.

I think a better solution is certain majors should be flagged as "high risk" and have much more limited availability for things like student loans, and other incentives.

Wow, Penn state has like 22k more undergrads than A&M. It's hard to conceive that scale because A&M seems bursting as the seams.

CampSkunk said:

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No. Instead, capitalism wins again. Here's an interesting AEI study: Learning with Their Feet: Student Enrollment Trends in Postsecondary Education by College Quality

In summary,

Quote:

---

Specifically, the worst fifth of colleges as measured by student outcomes experienced a 47 percent drop in undergraduate enrollment between 2010 and 2023. Almost all the decline in college enrollment since 2010 is attributable to institutions in the bottom two quintiles of college quality. High-quality colleges saw enrollment increase by 8 percent over the same period. Many state flagship institutions in the top echelon of quality increased their enrollments by 20 percent or more.

---

And guess which high-quality school leads the pack!



It drives me crazy to see every now and then these threads where posters whine about enrollment. It's not a diploma mill - it's getting people good jobs; people I call taxpayers. The state has increased enrollment in 13 years by 45%. Even with this increase organizations like the American Enterprise Institute rate A&M as high-quality because a higher percentage of students graduate and earnings after graduation are higher. We need more enrollment.

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No we have enough enrollment. It has already increased in response to the factors you correctly described. There is only so much infrastructure. Current enrollment already exceeds Tamu infrastructure capacity

infinity ag said:

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Flower Child said:

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There are over 200 colleges/universities in Texas, with everyone fighting to get into maybe 5 of them.

Texas needs more of its universities to become great. We don't need to keep expanding A&M until College Station can accommodate hundreds of thousands of students.

---

The name "TAMU - College Station" has cache. Respect. Impact.
It is not the same if you say you are from TAMU - Galveston.

Just a couple of days ago, I dissuaded my friend from picking TAMU Galveston and Kingsville for his daughter on the CommonApp. I said go to A&M CS or go elsewhere. That is how it is.

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And yet the degree will say, Texas A&M. Period. The only ones who give grief over the satellite schools are CS attendees. It's one of the dumber dick measuring contests out there.

Looking back in hindsight, I actually think I would have liked starting in Galveston over CS then transfer over.

Quote:

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Not everyone can be an engineer.

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Damn skippy.

Quote:

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And if you're an engineer, why would you want them to be?

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Oh hell no. It still unsettles my mind if I think about some of the morons in my classes who got an engineering degree......somehow.

Ag_of_08 said:

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You realize A&Ms anthropology department houses several of the best preservation labs for archeology in the world...right? Thats an interesting desire to knock out of our university

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The disdain for this (and tromboning) is the mission. Just because something may be a noble pursuit doesn't mean it's a good fit. A&M at its chartered heart is about practical advancement. STEM that makes young Texans more capable of physically reshaping the landscape for betterment of us all.

Music is a massively important part of life. Archeology is very beneficial in shaping our understanding which can lead to improved decision making. But an organization cannot focus on everything all at once, so A&M would be wise to maintain strong focus on technical strong ROI disciplines.