Another big drop in UM-Missoula enrollment-7.6%

[BozoneCat]

I'd be interested to see what the 4-year campus freshman class numbers look like.

Stay tuned at https://mus.edu/data/dashboards/first-time-freshmen.asp for updated dat.

MSU had over 3,300 new freshmen this year making it the second biggest class in MSU's history.

These are really amazing numbers and truly sad for the western neighbors. I wonder when or even if this will affect their recruiting. Guessing most aren't even aware of the decline or even care???

It's pathetic and should be embarrassing for anyone who has any affiliation to UM. Heads should be rolling over there. Instead, they'll deflect and blame a hundred other things, then show you more pictures of the football stadium and "Champions" Center.

Unless you are an athlete, why would anyone go to um? They are cutting funding from programs, and eliminating staff and faculty positions from every part of the university....except they never touch athletics.

Outside of playing in a really cool stadium and having a fancy locker room, I don't even know why athletes choose to go to UM. Assuming, of course, that they want to be gainfully employed once they are done playing sports. As a graduate of the university, I am extremely concerned with the downward spiral that the entire academic institution is on, and the horrific leadership from the top of the university. If you want a very clear picture of the priorities at UM, look no further than their marketing and the rehiring of Bobby Hauck.

[Bobcat4Ever]

BozoneCat, how long do you think will Bodner last (or stay) with numbers like this?

[John K]

I'd be interested to see what the 4-year campus freshman class numbers look like.

Stay tuned at https://mus.edu/data/dashboards/first-time-freshmen.asp for updated dat.

MSU had over 3,300 new freshmen this year making it the second biggest class in MSU's history.

That's great graph. They don't have the 2018 data up yet (MSU is up and UM is down), but even the 2017 freshman class data is staggering.

Total Freshman enrollment: MSU: 3108, UM: 1292
In-state Freshmen: MSU: 1542, UM: 767
Out-of-State Freshmen: MSU: 1566, UM: 525

Those freshmen numbers are shocking. We enrolled approximately 2.5 times more freshmen than them this fall. If that trend continues, the gap in enrollment will continue widening at an increasing pace going forward.

[BozoneCat]

BozoneCat, how long do you think will Bodner last (or stay) with numbers like this?

Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t keep any connection to the school. I’m proud of my degree, but right now embarrassed to have gone there. Athletic affiliations have zero to do with this. I think it’s a culture problem, it was there when I was in grad school (2003-2006), but it has gotten worse. I would imagine Bodnar will get at least 3-4 years to start turning things around, but I can’t say I’m impressed with his hire or what he has done so far. We’ll see. It certainly makes it 100x clearer how lucky MSU is to have someone like President Cruzado leading the way, she is amazing and one of the most dynamic leaders I have ever met.

[Bobcat4Ever]

BozoneCat, how long do you think will Bodner last (or stay) with numbers like this?

Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t keep any connection to the school. I’m proud of my degree, but right now embarrassed to have gone there. Athletic affiliations have zero to do with this. I think it’s a culture problem, it was there when I was in grad school (2003-2006), but it has gotten worse. I would imagine Bodnar will get at least 3-4 years to start turning things around, but I can’t say I’m impressed with his hire or what he has done so far. We’ll see. It certainly makes it 100x clearer how lucky MSU is to have someone like President Cruzado leading the way, she is amazing and one of the most dynamic leaders I have ever met.

Thanks! That's interesting what you say about a culture problem. It's amazing to me how a large institution made up of thousands of individual people (both staff and students) over many years can seemingly start to lose its way, and then just keep on going. It's like a big ship, headed the wrong way, but with lots of inertia to resist course corrections.

[MTCowpoke22]

My wife showed me a friend's facebook post that was a plea for help from the UM music department. The lack of funds is finally forcing them to start cutting programs and it seems music is first on the chopping block. You can't fault the head of the department from trying to save her job, but when you don't have the students or resources, difficult decisions have to be made.

[Rich K]

My wife showed me a friend's facebook post that was a plea for help from the UM music department. The lack of funds is finally forcing them to start cutting programs and it seems music is first on the chopping block. You can't fault the head of the department from trying to save her job, but when you don't have the students or resources, difficult decisions have to be made.

Not a problem. Time for a bake sale!
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=42087&p=610268&hil ... me#p610268

[BozoneCat]

BozoneCat, how long do you think will Bodner last (or stay) with numbers like this?

Honestly, I have no idea. I don’t keep any connection to the school. I’m proud of my degree, but right now embarrassed to have gone there. Athletic affiliations have zero to do with this. I think it’s a culture problem, it was there when I was in grad school (2003-2006), but it has gotten worse. I would imagine Bodnar will get at least 3-4 years to start turning things around, but I can’t say I’m impressed with his hire or what he has done so far. We’ll see. It certainly makes it 100x clearer how lucky MSU is to have someone like President Cruzado leading the way, she is amazing and one of the most dynamic leaders I have ever met.

Thanks! That's interesting what you say about a culture problem. It's amazing to me how a large institution made up of thousands of individual people (both staff and students) over many years can seemingly start to lose its way, and then just keep on going. It's like a big ship, headed the wrong way, but with lots of inertia to resist course corrections.

Inertia is a good word. Tough to stop a train dead in its tracks. One of the problems over there (that I saw anyways) was that the people with influence and money put a lot of that into athletics and kind of hold the university hostage in a way. MSU has many benefactors that don't seem to place as high of a priority on athletics as they do academics - and although all of us would love a shiny new state-of-the-art sports complex, I would say that MSU's priorities are definitely in the right place, in the grand scheme of life. Now, I personally believe that athletics and academics can be mutually beneficial to both parties, and in fact the sum can be greater than the parts - but that's when it's done in the right way with the right leadership. MSU has that, UM does not.

[WeedKillinCat]

More cuts in zootown.

https://billingsgazette.com/news/state- ... the-latest

[BozoneCat]

More cuts in zootown.

https://billingsgazette.com/news/state- ... the-latest

Oddly, I see no cuts within the athletic department.

[RickRund]

More cuts in zootown.

https://billingsgazette.com/news/state- ... the-latest

Oddly, I see no cuts within the athletic department.

Surely just increases!!!

[Hawks86]

[RickRund]

And the news just keeps getting better for "our neigbors" to the west...

[HelenaCat]

And the news just keeps getting better for "our neigbors" to the west...

But hey, the football team is 4-1, so who cares about this kind of stuff?

[RickRund]

And the news just keeps getting better for "our neigbors" to the west...

But hey, the football team is 4-1, so who cares about this kind of stuff?

As I brag to people, to uofm fans, it is a university that has a football team where you can also attend a few classes. Really sad!!!

[Bobcat4Ever]

A quote from the article: "...campus officials said the flagship has an incentive to be a leader in safety...".

Two places in the article the term flagship was used. I am having a hard time generating much sympathy until they get over themselves.

[John K]

A quote from the article: "...campus officials said the flagship has an incentive to be a leader in safety...".

Two places in the article the term flagship was used. I am having a hard time generating much sympathy until they get over themselves.

Is it any wonder that MSU alums hate everything about UM? They are so frickin' arrogant over there, it's almost beyond belief. Their enrollment is barely more than half of MSU's now, and yet somehow they're still supposed to be considered the "flagship"?

[BozoneCat]

A quote from the article: "...campus officials said the flagship has an incentive to be a leader in safety...".

Two places in the article the term flagship was used. I am having a hard time generating much sympathy until they get over themselves.

Is it any wonder that MSU alums hate everything about UM? They are so frickin' arrogant over there, it's almost beyond belief. Their enrollment is barely more than half of MSU's now, and yet somehow they're still supposed to be considered the "flagship"?

[John K]

A quote from the article: "...campus officials said the flagship has an incentive to be a leader in safety...".

Two places in the article the term flagship was used. I am having a hard time generating much sympathy until they get over themselves.

Is it any wonder that MSU alums hate everything about UM? They are so frickin' arrogant over there, it's almost beyond belief. Their enrollment is barely more than half of MSU's now, and yet somehow they're still supposed to be considered the "flagship"?

Think about it like this. Their enrollment is now about halfway between MSU-Billings and MSU-Bozeman. Counting the COT's at all three schools, MSU's enrollment is about 6,000 more than UM, and MSU-B's is about 6,000 less. If you back out the COT numbers for all three, we have about 7,000 more students than UM, while they have about 6,000 more than MSU-B.

[Silenoz]

I'd be interested to see what the 4-year campus freshman class numbers look like.

Stay tuned at https://mus.edu/data/dashboards/first-time-freshmen.asp for updated dat.

MSU had over 3,300 new freshmen this year making it the second biggest class in MSU's history.

These are really amazing numbers and truly sad for the western neighbors. I wonder when or even if this will affect their recruiting. Guessing most aren't even aware of the decline or even care???

It's pathetic and should be embarrassing for anyone who has any affiliation to UM. Heads should be rolling over there. Instead, they'll deflect and blame a hundred other things, then show you more pictures of the football stadium and "Champions" Center.

https://egriz.com/grizboard/search.php? ... mit=Search

Aren't heads rolling? How many people have been fired over this? And I'm not sure what deflection you're referring to, but if the tables were turned and a ton of idiot Griz trolls were on here displaying the same sort of schadenfreude as many Cat fans have about something as serious as this, how good-mannered about taking it would you be?

And I don't know that anyone is acting overly "arrogant" about this situation in any way. Hell, I've been in Bozeman for 12 years and have always felt there was an ironic sort of supreme arrogance in this town over the "hippies" out West. Which always struck me as odd considering how similar the two towns are in relation to the rest of the state.

No one has to cry for us - we made our own bed here. But a lot of these sentiments seem misplaced.