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We're Got a Lot to Fix

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As the South Florida Business Journal points out, FAU's results are pretty bleak compared to other state universities.

Basically it shows that we're ridiculously unambitious when it comes to our admittance numbers, only 19% graduate in four years and worse is that we're the second most expensive school in Florida… so you're paying a lot of money and you're doing it for at least five years if not six or seven.

The other things are not that big of a deal.

Yes, there were budget cuts and whatnot but we must be doing something fundamentally wrong if students are paying so much money and only 19% graduate in four years. There are other schools at our level that attract approximately the same demographics as we do (for instance, do you really believe FAU attracts more older students that are doing school part-time than, say, USF? I don't… but I'll look into it) that are just running their schools more effectively than we are.

I don't know where the bottleneck is… do we not have enough classrooms, can we not afford faculty because we're too top heavy with administrators, are we being too lenient on people who are not taking the full course loads… it's probably a mixture of a lot of different things.

I know it took me a longer time to graduate because I took some classes for fun, I repeated some classes I had a C in to get a better grade, and I double majored. But I don't think that's the average student.

Or maybe it's on the other end, as the media and the ranking guys just aren't recognizing the dynamic change in the average student body at universities today? As cost of living and tuition and loan interest rates inflate but salaries stay stagnant, maybe people are just taking it 9-10 credits at a time because that's what they can afford in the current economic climate.

I don't know. But it irritates the s*** out of me to see results like this showing how poorly we stack up. We need to stop promoting status quo people from inside up to provost positions they apparently don't really want and put someone in there with ambition and grit.
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Re: We're Got a Lot to Fix

Does the numbers take out transfers or are they kept in the average. I know when I was a student they whole take 2 years at FAU to get into UF of FSU was common. If those numbers are averaged then it will always be bleak.
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Re: We're Got a Lot to Fix

It's part of the big push with federal dollars, that's why FAU is promoting taking 15 hours a semester. Funding is going to be tied to retention & graduation rates of those who attend.

If you're an undergraduate and are working part time you should be able to graduate in 5 years, and not miss out on college experiences but they are also grouping in those students who are older and working full-time and going for their degree.

No one should be Tommy Boy.

TO DARE IS TO DO
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Re: We're Got a Lot to Fix

This is quite concerning and also annoying because I constantly have to defend FAU for stuff like this.Yet people still come to FAU and our Freshman classes the past few years have been larger than ever. Look at instagram and twitter and search #FAU, you'll see so many people excited about coming to FAU. At what point does FAU lose its luster and people begin to leave? I like that we are promoting taking 15 credits and working to improve our retention/graduation rates. No one ever told me to take 15 credits a semester. In fact, I NEVER took more than 13 credits but I still graduated in 5 years. I don't know, maybe I was just more competent than other students?

However, I do think that the mindset for every office at FAU needs to be, "How can we be better?" I can tell you that we have enough people apply to FAU and we even have enough people attend FAU their first year. Something is happening after that 1st year that's making them leave. What is it? I think there should be a forum, a sit down, a suggestion box. SOMETHING for students to sit down with the leadership of the university to address concerns. From advising, class offerings to financial and the Registrar. What problems do students most commonly have and how can we fix those issues? Because again, the interest is there, it's just up to the faculty and staff to help students. Education is a customer service industry, most offices do not treat it as such.
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Re: We're Got a Lot to Fix

Well lets take a look at where most of these schools are located. Except the Palm Beach County area, alot of these college campus are located near areas of entertainment and fun. Not that the Palm Beach County area has areas of entertain and fun, which it does. But with towns like Gainsville, Tallahassee, Tampa Bay, Orlando and Miami generally carter to the younger crowd or areas to go with families. FAU is located in a city where old money still generally run rampant and retirees would not like to see college students running around possibly ruining the image of the town or thats what they say according to them. Now UF, FSU, and other universities generally have a larger enthusatic alumni base willing to donate money to help out schools, plus yes having successful athletic teams also helps as well. When the economy tank FAU, and unversities felt the pinch worst than the schools like UF and such. Plus they also offered things to do on campus for the students that make it feel like a more traditional university and also modernize their facilities etc.

Now what FAU does need to do to change this? For one, FAU is basically approaching the limits of what it can do on campus building wise, and they have to expand outward or possibly buy properties withing the city of Boca Raton. Now FAU and Boca are working to bring business and night industries to the city to help cater to the college, but like I said families, and old money still play a big influnence on the area. Now engaging the alumni as well as finding possible coporate donors to help renovate and modernize the buildings on campus. Some of the buildings on campus remind me of the Eastern Bloc of the USSR. Now Owl2Doc, and other members have said bring franteries and sorieties housing to campus will help, also bringing a possible on campus night club and other amenties to help the students stay at the campus. these are just several ideas that could be brought up.

For FAUfasho, I think our best option is email the new student body president, along with members of the administration to see if this type of meeting is possible to hold on campus or are they willing to do it. .
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Re: We're Got a Lot to Fix

USMCOWL said

Well lets take a look at where most of these schools are located. Except the Palm Beach County area, alot of these college campus are located near areas of entertainment and fun. Not that the Palm Beach County area has areas of entertain and fun, which it does. But with towns like Gainsville, Tallahassee, Tampa Bay, Orlando and Miami generally carter to the younger crowd or areas to go with families. FAU is located in a city where old money still generally run rampant and retirees would not like to see college students running around possibly ruining the image of the town or thats what they say according to them. Now UF, FSU, and other universities generally have a larger enthusatic alumni base willing to donate money to help out schools, plus yes having successful athletic teams also helps as well. When the economy tank FAU, and unversities felt the pinch worst than the schools like UF and such. Plus they also offered things to do on campus for the students that make it feel like a more traditional university and also modernize their facilities etc.

Now what FAU does need to do to change this? For one, FAU is basically approaching the limits of what it can do on campus building wise, and they have to expand outward or possibly buy properties withing the city of Boca Raton. Now FAU and Boca are working to bring business and night industries to the city to help cater to the college, but like I said families, and old money still play a big influnence on the area. Now engaging the alumni as well as finding possible coporate donors to help renovate and modernize the buildings on campus. Some of the buildings on campus remind me of the Eastern Bloc of the USSR. Now Owl2Doc, and other members have said bring franteries and sorieties housing to campus will help, also bringing a possible on campus night club and other amenties to help the students stay at the campus. these are just several ideas that could be brought up.

For FAUfasho, I think our best option is email the new student body president, along with members of the administration to see if this type of meeting is possible to hold on campus or are they willing to do it. .
Ok first FAU is doing a good job of changing this it has only been a few years since we stared getting these huge freshmen classes give some time the numbers will change. We don't need a meeting or anything FAU has it handled.
Also there never will be a night club on campus that's not a good idea.
Also as a Greek I can tell you will never see Greek housing because fraternity's and sororities numbers change too much always getting in trouble money issues etc.  if you pick up a school news paper some Greek organization is getting kicked off for drugs hazing etc .The last thing schools want is to build a house so Greeks have place on campus to bring bad press. A lot of big schools are in the slow process of getting rid of Greek life. Greek housing is just too much of a liability.
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Re: We're Got a Lot to Fix

We're Got a Lot to Fix

owlcountry40 said

Ok first FAU is doing a good job of changing this it has only been a few years since we stared getting these huge freshmen classes give some time the numbers will change. We don't need a meeting or anything FAU has it handled.

The only thing I think students can do is for SGA to write a resolution letting the BOT know that they want an overhaul of the customer service offered in Advising and Financial Aid, then the SGA Prez needs to read it again in front of the BOT. Those are the two biggest stressors as the people who work there either give conflicting advice or are outright rude. This needs to be addressed quickly.

Housing used to have a similar problem but it's been amended primarily because they have such a great social media presence.


owlcountry40 said

Also there never will be a night club on campus that's not a good idea.

Dr. Brown told me the same. Basically said it would be very hard to regulate it and it would attract a lot of "riff-raff"… which is probably true considering how many questionables show up on campus for our Foam Party.

owlcountry40 said

Also as a Greek I can tell you will never see Greek housing because fraternity's and sororities numbers change too much always getting in trouble money issues etc.  if you pick up a school news paper some Greek organization is getting kicked off for drugs hazing etc .The last thing schools want is to build a house so Greeks have place on campus to bring bad press.

Well, technically Greeks have already started finding places off-campus and when they get in trouble it still comes back to FAU anyway. Consider that incident where the kid got punched somewhere off-campus and the story talked about it being an FAU  fraternity incident. You hear about those things but people like Scott Travis (and even our own UP) glaze over all the good things that the Greeks do, especially for charities. It's criminally underreported.

owlcountry40 said

A lot of big schools are in the slow process of getting rid of Greek life.

Really? Like where?
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Re: We're Got a Lot to Fix

Owl2Doc said

owlcountry40 said

Ok first FAU is doing a good job of changing this it has only been a few years since we stared getting these huge freshmen classes give some time the numbers will change. We don't need a meeting or anything FAU has it handled.

The only thing I think students can do is for SGA to write a resolution letting the BOT know that they want an overhaul of the customer service offered in Advising and Financial Aid, then the SGA Prez needs to read it again in front of the BOT. Those are the two biggest stressors as the people who work there either give conflicting advice or are outright rude. This needs to be addressed quickly.

Housing used to have a similar problem but it's been amended primarily because they have such a great social media presence.


owlcountry40 said

Also there never will be a night club on campus that's not a good idea.

Dr. Brown told me the same. Basically said it would be very hard to regulate it and it would attract a lot of "riff-raff"… which is probably true considering how many questionables show up on campus for our Foam Party.

owlcountry40 said

Also as a Greek I can tell you will never see Greek housing because fraternity's and sororities numbers change too much always getting in trouble money issues etc.  if you pick up a school news paper some Greek organization is getting kicked off for drugs hazing etc .The last thing schools want is to build a house so Greeks have place on campus to bring bad press.

Well, technically Greeks have already started finding places off-campus and when they get in trouble it still comes back to FAU anyway. Consider that incident where the kid got punched somewhere off-campus and the story talked about it being an FAU  fraternity incident. You hear about those things but people like Scott Travis (and even our own UP) glaze over all the good things that the Greeks do, especially for charities. It's criminally underreported.

owlcountry40 said

A lot of big schools are in the slow process of getting rid of Greek life.

Really? Like where?
 Yea Greeks do a lot of good I can't tell you how much we have raised since I have been at FAU. But the truth is Greeks do the things regular college kids do but when we fuck up it makes the paper. Schools like Texas A&M Clemson have all had to shut down temporarily shut dow all Greek activities due to problems. Yea the Greeks cause problems off campus but on campus would be worse.
At MTSU three of the houses on campus have non Greeks liven in them because the chapter lost his charter.
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Re: We're Got a Lot to Fix

Here's a great example of what OC just mentioned. Brand new, $5mm fraternity house and it didn't take the chapter long to get booted. This is an interesting move by the university though, in the past, they rent the vacated houses out to other chapters, this is a new direction.

The head of Sig Ep commented about this and basically said (since the fraternity gets the house back in a few years) that this is exactly who they want living there and what he feels the future of fraternity life should be. The landscape is evolving and the days back in the 50s where hazing, fights, parties were met with "aw shucks, those crazy kids" instead of news crews, police and lawyers are gone, fraternities will have to evolve if they want to stay relevant.

Ex-Sigma Phi Epsilon house to be home for innovation | WJLA.com
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Re: We're Got a Lot to Fix

TeamBeer said

Here's a great example of what OC just mentioned. Brand new, $5mm fraternity house and it didn't take the chapter long to get booted. This is an interesting move by the university though, in the past, they rent the vacated houses out to other chapters, this is a new direction.

The head of Sig Ep commented about this and basically said (since the fraternity gets the house back in a few years) that this is exactly who they want living there and what he feels the future of fraternity life should be. The landscape is evolving and the days back in the 50s where hazing, fights, parties were met with "aw shucks, those crazy kids" instead of news crews, police and lawyers are gone, fraternities will have to evolve if they want to stay relevant.

Ex-Sigma Phi Epsilon house to be home for innovation | WJLA.com
It is sad to say a a Greek but schools out there are starting to feel Greeks are
More trouble them we are worth. I tell kids IT IS GOOD FAU DOES NOT HAVE GREEk HOUSEING! Why? Well if FAU builds houseing they will own the property givin them full power over the houses thus mean Campus PD can walk trough the house when ever they want. Could you imagine what they would see if they walked through on a Friday night. 90 percent of Fraternity's would be done.
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