grizpack said:
tnt said:
Heres the problem. Enrollment is only one number. Graduation is the one that counts. MSU was in deep dooh just a few years ago at only 26%. They have that number headed in right direction. U of M is having record graduations both in number an percentage more importantly as an impact in Montana the number Employed in Montana: College of Technology 93% Bachelors 57% Masters 62% Doctoral (including Law) 66%. Total graduation was very close to 50% and continues up.
Sadly these results matter as much as "enrollment" as an impact to the state and return on investment matter as much if not more than enrollment numbers. We could have 20,000 students but if they don't graduate, why bother? Not that it would matter to the Engstrom haters.
One of the things MSU has done is offered more majors for their students who flunk out of the engineering programs to drop down to. Not a bad strategy except with their lack of Liberal arts options, they may produce degrees but they are not producing critical thinkers in fields where they are necessary. (business being one of them) The enrollment problem must stop at U of M or the Liberal arts that are so necessary to so many of the key programs at U of M will start to be hurt.............. But for now both schools are headed the right direction and the taxpayers are getting a lot more bang for the buck.
Maybe it is also because many of the liberal arts degrees produce "critical thinkers" instead of employable graduates. As demonstrated by the professor from UM's letter to the editor a couple of months back. She basically stated that the purpose of college is to expand your thinking, not to make you employable.
I am pretty sure that most of the parents (including this one) who are paying for a college education or two would disagree.....
MSU and Montana Tech show commercials of their graduates applying their skills at high paying jobs. UM shows commercials of people walking in the woods, looking at owls, reading and dancing.
Could be, here's the funny thing. Critical thinkers (Liberal arts - BA vs BS) have higher life time earnings and greater career advancement. (there are a few exceptions: early childhood education, elementary education, home economics, and social work.) While and engineer (especially petroleum) may have a higher starting salary, it stays pretty much the same throughout his career and he ends up working for the Liberal arts based guy whos next step is a graduate program MBA, JD, along with a lot of industry/professional designations etc. The Petroleum Guy spends his career reading core samples, occasionally moves up might even become a "senior Geologist" Expanding thinker/critical thinkers in the meantime are the ones who make things happen. If they haven't got the ability to "think" it doesn't matter WHAT their degree is in
Heres a bunch of charts and Graphs and stuff: http://www.hamiltonproject.org/papers/major_decisions_what_graduates_earn_over_their_lifetimes/