A&M Fall Enrollment Numbers

2,740 Views | 22 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by AgCPA
Captn_Ag05
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AG
https://theeagle.com/news/a_m/texas-a-m-university-enrollment-grows-despite-pandemic/article_d6f335fa-f9ba-11ea-9e8a-9f1692f2cf75.html#tracking-source=home-breaking
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Texas A&M University's fall enrollment is 71,109 a 1,644 student, or 2.4%, increase from last year's total of 69,465 students.

The figure includes undergraduate, master's and doctoral-level students in College Station, the Health Science Center and campuses in Galveston and Doha, Qatar.

The flagship campus saw the largest increase, with an additional 1,501 students. Its enrollment at this time last year was 65,684.
Any indication on what percentage of the CS students are actually in town?
Eliminatus
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Captn_Ag05 said:

https://theeagle.com/news/a_m/texas-a-m-university-enrollment-grows-despite-pandemic/article_d6f335fa-f9ba-11ea-9e8a-9f1692f2cf75.html#tracking-source=home-breaking
Quote:

Texas A&M University's fall enrollment is 71,109 a 1,644 student, or 2.4%, increase from last year's total of 69,465 students.

The figure includes undergraduate, master's and doctoral-level students in College Station, the Health Science Center and campuses in Galveston and Doha, Qatar.

The flagship campus saw the largest increase, with an additional 1,501 students. Its enrollment at this time last year was 65,684.
Any indication on what percentage of the CS students are actually in town?
I know something like a ballpark figure of ~75% was given by the school of being here in person. From the beginning of the semester. Real time numbers are fluctuating to at least some degree though. I personally know more than one person who started the semester here and then just went full online voluntarily and went back to their homes since the start.
bobinator
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I don't know how they'd even come up with a reliable number. I know a lot of students are basically only going in-person for labs.
Sweet Kitten Feet
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S
Pretty sure that 75% number was referring to the number of students that have at least one in-person class vs 100% online class. BUT, those in-person classes I believe the students can also attend virtually. It doesn't mean that HAVE to be there in person. Just based on traffic around town I think the student population is much less than that 75%.
bobinator
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It's hard to say because there isn't the usual traffic surges at certain parts of the day and there aren't like major events like football games to build to so you don't see surges at the grocery stores or whatever.

Certainly a lot more people around town than there were a couple of months ago though.

I manage a group of about 40 student workers and all of them but one is in town, but that's hardly a representative sample.
bushytailed
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Faculty and instructors cannot require that students attend in-person classes, even if the class isn't online. As each week passes, fewer and fewer students are showing up in-person.
doubledog
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bushytailed said:

Faculty and instructors cannot require that students attend in-person classes, even if the class isn't online. As each week passes, fewer and fewer students are showing up in-person.
One can give a quiz every class period, if you want attendance.
bobinator
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bushytailed said:

even if the class isn't online.
That's the thing, every class has the option to attend remotely as far as I'm aware with just a handful of exceptions.

Will be interesting to see if some students that have been using the online option but not really paying attention start coming back to class if they struggle with the first round of exams.
montegobay
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At both A & M and Blinn, the ftf classes are also on Zoom. At the beginning at Blinn, we had quite a few students who were coming every day. Now, almost no one comes. Everyone is attending online. The student parking lot at Blinn is like a ghost town.
AggieAdvisor16
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All classes at A&M can be taken via Zoom, even ones listed as in person. I polled my students at the beginning of the semester and close to 80% said they would be in College Station. The number actually attending class in person? More like 15%.
Eliminatus
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Yup. Same at TAMU. I am one of them myself. Half my classes are online only so no option period. The other half are staggered so I only have one every day. Driving to campus is no big deal obviously if you have multiple classes thoughout the day, but one 50 minute death by PowerPoint? I live 20 mins from campus too. So drive 40 mins total, park, and walk to attend a 50 min class that is also streamed live (and actually works pretty well) or just stay at home and do the same thing in my undies.

Convenience is winning out for me these days. As it is for most students I bet. The extra key plusses of socializing and studying together in groups has also taken a hit due to restrictions. Hell, even most student services are online now too. The days of popping into to see your advisor are over. Online appointment online. Even health services are online.

I have four labs this semester and every one has heavy restrictions on it. The biggest being our labs are split into two groups for each lab period due to physical space limitations. Only 8 people in the room at a time. So group A goes first, then group B an hour and a half later. Which means you only get half the time for your labs if you go in person. Definite pro for the online side when you can utilize the full time.

I can appreciate that TAMU is doing the best it can within the state limitations and the ones that they set upon themselves. Still sucks though and for me, personally, I'd rather just do my work home at home at this point when I weight out everything. If on-campus was 100% normal it wouldn't even be a discussion as I would be there full time. But as it is now .... Meh
Eliminatus
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Sweet Kitten Feet said:

Pretty sure that 75% number was referring to the number of students that have at least one in-person class vs 100% online class. BUT, those in-person classes I believe the students can also attend virtually. It doesn't mean that HAVE to be there in person. Just based on traffic around town I think the student population is much less than that 75%.


The 75% was garnered from a mandatory poll before classes even commenced of whether you would be going to your FTF classes, if you have the option of doing so. So 3/4 of the students rogered up that they would be attending FTF for those classes that had it. But now that we are several weeks in and the full reality of our new educational system is being experienced....see my above post.
EMY92
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I'm tempted to enroll for one in person class just so I can experience what it's like to easily park on campus.
tb9665
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Almost would be private education if no else shows up in your classes.
isitjustme
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I would bet only about 40% of undergrads are still here. It was higher earlier in the semester but has dropped off quite a bit. They are attending classes online, and a lot of them in their home town. Might as well be like SNHU or Univ of Phoenix. We can get away with this for !/2 of last semester and all of this. But if TAMU continues to allow this, the degrees won't be worth much. Spring 21 has to include all resident instruction with online classes being the exception.
techno-ag
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agrab86 said:

I would bet only about 40% of undergrads are still here. It was higher earlier in the semester but has dropped off quite a bit. They are attending classes online, and a lot of them in their home town. Might as well be like SNHU or Univ of Phoenix. We can get away with this for !/2 of last semester and all of this. But if TAMU continues to allow this, the degrees won't be worth much. Spring 21 has to include all resident instruction with online classes being the exception.
But ... if everybody stays online then it won't matter as much. Heck even Harvard is doing more online these days.
isitjustme
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techno-ag said:

agrab86 said:

I would bet only about 40% of undergrads are still here. It was higher earlier in the semester but has dropped off quite a bit. They are attending classes online, and a lot of them in their home town. Might as well be like SNHU or Univ of Phoenix. We can get away with this for !/2 of last semester and all of this. But if TAMU continues to allow this, the degrees won't be worth much. Spring 21 has to include all resident instruction with online classes being the exception.
But ... if everybody stays online then it won't matter as much. Heck even Harvard is doing more online these days.
You are correct. A&M degree holders will not be at a disadvantage to other U.S. university degree holders if everyone stays online. But in this case, all U.S. degrees will be worth less than they used to be. So the U.S. workforce will be at a disadvantage compared to countries that require resident, in-person instruction. It's not someplace we want to head because while our factory labor may have priced themselves out of global competitiveness, we could always count on our degreed workforce to outperform others across the world. We don't want to cede that position. The best solution is a return to resident instruction.
FlyRod
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Are there actual data to suggest that the March-now online college experience has damaged the U.S. workforce relative to that of other countries?

If the value of a TAMU degree has plummeted, we likely wouldn't have seen an enrollment surge (which of course actually began in the summer when we were fully online.
isitjustme
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FlyRod said:

Are there actual data to suggest that the March-now online college experience has damaged the U.S. workforce relative to that of other countries?

If the value of a TAMU degree has plummeted, we likely wouldn't have seen an enrollment surge (which of course actually began in the summer when we were fully online.

Likely no data yet to compare. My point is that we can withstand a brief period of online classes as the norm so long as we get back to in-person ASAP. Online degrees are less valuable than in-person degrees as in-person provides the interaction, dare I say collegiality, upon which university education is based, and it is also better at protecting against cheating. So far, the value of the degree is no different than last year. But online coursework makes it easier to work towards a degree for most students, hence the increase in enrollment, they just don't learn as much. If we have years of students graduating with predominantly online coursework, the value of a TAMU degree will decrease as it would for our competitors if they also were to be primarily online.
lost my dog
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agrab86 said:

FlyRod said:

Are there actual data to suggest that the March-now online college experience has damaged the U.S. workforce relative to that of other countries?

If the value of a TAMU degree has plummeted, we likely wouldn't have seen an enrollment surge (which of course actually began in the summer when we were fully online.

Likely no data yet to compare. My point is that we can withstand a brief period of online classes as the norm so long as we get back to in-person ASAP. Online degrees are less valuable than in-person degrees as in-person provides the interaction, dare I say collegiality, upon which university education is based, and it is also better at protecting against cheating. So far, the value of the degree is no different than last year. But online coursework makes it easier to work towards a degree for most students, hence the increase in enrollment, they just don't learn as much. If we have years of students graduating with predominantly online coursework, the value of a TAMU degree will decrease as it would for our competitors if they also were to be primarily online.
Agreed. If this is a one year issue, we can fix it for the affected students. If this is a 4 year issue, we will have a seriously damaged cohort.
jeffk
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That's pretty much the problem everyone in the US across all levels of education is looking at right now. How can you replicate with fidelity an in-person educational experience when you aren't meeting face to face? Easy answer is you can't, but everyone's trying to get it as close as they can.
cavscout96
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jeffk said:

That's pretty much the problem everyone in the US across all levels of education is looking at right now. How can you replicate with fidelity an in-person educational experience when you aren't meeting face to face? Easy the answer is you can't, but everyone's trying to get it as close as they can.
cavscout96
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FlyRod said:

Are there actual data to suggest that the March-now online college experience has damaged the U.S. workforce relative to that of other countries?

If the value of a TAMU degree has plummeted, we likely wouldn't have seen an enrollment surge (which of course actually began in the summer when we were fully online.

I didn't realize that the primary goal of university education was workforce training. What a revelation!

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It prepares students to assume roles in leadership, responsibility, and service to society. Texas A&M assumes as its historic trust the maintenance of freedom of inquiry and an intellectual environment nurturing the human mind and spirit.
AgCPA
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Campus looks like christmas day during class change. At best perhaps 20% of the students come to campus each day.
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