UAH News

[gsp4ever]

Originally Posted by Charles

All freshman and sophomores must live on campus. There are an awful lot who live at home who now must shell out the bucks to live on campus.

This is hard to believe. Did I miss something?

One of the problems at UAH is that they have so many commuters. It's been considered a suitcase college and it gets a bad rap for being non-traditional with a lack of student life and fun things to do. Thus they have retention problems.

To have a requirement for freshman to live on campus is quite common at many universities. Sophomores, maybe not so much, but I think the program is worth a try. I also think that the university will make many exceptions for local students who want to appeal to live at home.

[Charles]

Still, amazing. When I started college in 1979 at Cal State Northridge, I lived at home, tuition was about $250/semester, books $100/semester, parking and other fees were another $150 so for $500/semester (starting out...it climbed a little each year) I earned an engineering degree. My dad did charge me $300/month to live at home for room and board though. Still that was pretty cheap.

[MadHaus]

Not that it will do any good, other than permit me to vent my spleen on the issue, but I'll be sending a letter informing the admin. that our support for UAH has just been brought to an end. No doubt my alumni children will do the same when they hear about this absurd decision. My elder child had a horrible experience in a then-new UAH dorm, and moved out as quickly as possible. There's no doubt that living in the dorm had a negative impact on both health and studies. The younger one opted to live off campus from the start. Both graduated with honors. Had this rule been in effect back then, the elder one would have transferred to another university and the younger would have also gone elsewhere.

[julilg]

Originally Posted by FCEddie

what's the story on the hockey team changing conferences?

Their league is folding and the CCHA, which they applied to, declined to admit them. Looks like the Chargers will have to play as an independant until they can find a league which will admit them. They hope one that that they can afford. Most leagues would cause their travel to become even more ridiculously expensive than it already is.

[deesonic]

Maybe it's time to switch to football?

[Southlander]

I hope not!
UAH's hockey team has a rich history...it's something unique in this area, and at the same time hockey is a sport that's being discovered by the SEUS, thanks to plenty of transplants and more ice rinks.

I would hope UAH would adopt liberal live-out policies...else they will lose many in their freshman and sophomore classes. But I can see requiring live-in as a way to improve campus life. But I know a lot of students, and many go to UAH because they can't afford to go off to a school such as Alabama or Auburn.

I think my tuition at Alabama was $350 a semester...30 years later, the daughter's was, with various fees, more like $3,500.

[cornutt]

Originally Posted by Southlander

I hope not!
But I can see requiring live-in as a way to improve campus life.

I can sort of understand that, but I have a problem in general with UAH trying to be a traditional university. It was never a traditional university; that was not its purpose. As an undergrad, I first lived in the old university housing and then in an off-campus apartment. It wasn't that there was nothing happening on campus, but I was never that rah-rah to have a "traditional" university experience, and anyway I was working my way through school and I didn't have a lot of time for campus activities. One of the things I always appreciated about UAH was that it didn't try to baby-sit its students.

Something I did value was the experience of taking classes from people who worked in Research Park during the day and provided a good counterpoint to the full-time academics. I understand that that aspect has more or less disapperared.

As for the hockey team: The thing everyone worries about most next year is whether or not they will be able to schedule games during the conference-play months of January and February, as the sole independent team in Division I. However, at least for the short term, it might work out because the CCHA's decision leaves them with 11 teams, which means that during the conference play months, one team each week will have a conference bye and will also be looking for someone to schedule. North Dakota has already scheduled a weekend series with UAH for next year (and they're coming here, no less). Another consideration is under what terms UAH might become eligible for the NCAA playoffs, since they will have no conference title to play for.

[Reactionary]

gsp4ever - "One of the problems at UAH is that they have so many commuters."

IMO that was a feature, not a bug. I think that offering an education to non-traditional students has been good for HSV and the local economy. Retention? Back in the day, UAH touted their non-traditional student body as more serious, more studious, etc...

I don't like the new policy of requiring freshman and sophomores to live on campus - it restricts the accessibility of higher education in HSV. What's next - an 'Extension School' for non-traditional students?

BTW, I've taken 'Extension' classes at traditional universities, but the programs seemed to be set up to make it very difficult to earn a degree.

[gsp4ever]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

gsp4ever - "One of the problems at UAH is that they have so many commuters."

IMO that was a feature, not a bug. I think that offering an education to non-traditional students has been good for HSV and the local economy. Retention? Back in the day, UAH touted their non-traditional student body as more serious, more studious, etc...

I don't like the new policy of requiring freshman and sophomores to live on campus - it restricts the accessibility of higher education in HSV. What's next - an 'Extension School' for non-traditional students?

Higher education is big "business" these days for a variety of reasons, like it or not. That could be the subject of a whole other thread.

There is only a limited percentage of local Huntsville area (traditional high school age) students who will even consider going to school there. It's not called "University at Home" for nothing. The most academically talented students generally go to other universities where they can have a more complete college experience. Certainly, children of transplants whose parents are educated (usually elsewhere) and value higher education and are not attached to Huntsville will not necessarily push their kids to UAH. Good guidance/college counselors encourage students to look at other options as well. Thus many kids begin to view UAH as a fallback school or a last option if nothing else works out. Can you imagine, then, how difficult it becomes to recruit out of state students (or even students from areas like Birmingham or Mobile where commuting is not an option) when there is limited student life on campus and everyone goes home for the weekend and the student morale is low because they are attending a school that they believed was they only option?

Retention is very important, BTW. If students transfer away, then they don't graduate from UAH. That impacts the graduation rates and the school's funding. If students feel as if they *must* stay at the university against their ultimate wishes, then the alumni giving rate is very low. Add that to the poor retention/graduation rates and very quickly universities will find themselves with lower overall enrollment and no financial resources to support the students they do have. That, in turn, makes it difficult to attract new students. It's a downward spiral from there. These issues can also impact a schools accreditation, research funding and hiring of faculty along with a variety of other things that are important to a universsity. This is getting lengthy so I'll stop typing.

UAH wants/needs to grow like many other schools and I applaud their efforts to do this over the last 15 years or so.