Tuition

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

My impression is that Marquette has really upped their scholarships over the last few years. I hope they can continue in this direction.

That's good for Marquette...as long as they are meeting their net tuition budget goals. It's a real competitive environment out there and a lot of schools are dipping below that figure to get volume.

[dgies9156]

The SEC was handing out cash big time to Midwest / East coast kids.  A lot of Chicago kids (and some Milwaukee) went to Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn, South Carolina for a great deal.  This was all in the last 5-10 years.  Now they've somewhat normalized kids from here going there so that well is drying.  They've successfully made their student bodies much ore georgraphically diverse so the need to buy kids is a lot less.  My friends and I joke maybe the Big 12 will recruit our kids.  Imagine being able to say your son or daughter goes to UCF, BYU or Houston?  How could I remain humble?

Here's the deal. First, you take bright young men and women from upper middle class suburbs and offer them free or substantially reduced rides to much improved state universities. Second, you ensure your campus is in a college town with a campus that's beautiful and attractive surroundings. Third, the student falls in love with the region. Finally, the student elects to stay, marries a native and improves the skills and abilities of those living in the state.

[JWags85]

Here's the deal. First, you take bright young men and women from upper middle class suburbs and offer them free or substantially reduced rides to much improved state universities. Second, you ensure your campus is in a college town with a campus that's beautiful and attractive surroundings. Third, the student falls in love with the region. Finally, the student elects to stay, marries a native and improves the skills and abilities of those living in the state.

That was/is OSU's model for trying to put a fence around Ohio.  When I entered college in the early 2000s, OSU was the safety school for most of my friends from Ohio and their other intelligent peers from nicer suburbs.  In the mid to late 2000s, the state started pouring scholarship money to do exactly what you mention.  If you were a National Merit semi-finalist or some other similar higher achievement, chances are you'd get a full ride or pretty close.  By the early 2010s, it was no longer a safety school and became a target/a lot of people that had it as a safety when I mentioned could no longer get in easily.

I dated an OSU alum who graduated in 2013.  Her final 4 schools were Kenyon, OSU, Case, and U of I.  Hardly a collection of safety schools and OSU's big financial aid package was the key driver in her going there.

[Disco Hippie]

Thats a wild move.  Private city school in major East Coast city to state schools in the literal desert Southwest?

I've heard some not great stuff about Fordham lately, including from a pair of Fordham alums from the 90s/early 2000s who wouldn't encourage their kids to go there.  Rose Hill Campus isn't bad, but its dated and the area surrounding isn't doing great.  I think its suffering a bit the opposite of Marquette which is doing a great job revitalizing the campus.  I think Fordham's focus has been more on the Lincoln Center campus to the detriment of the core campus.

Also, for complaints about the surrounding area for Marquette, you're super close to downtown, Water Street, Third Ward, etc...  Fordham is on an island 60 blocks north of Manhattan/40 blocks north of another campus like Columbia (which is more situated to Manhattan like Marquette/downtown IMO) and a decent hike to get out of the Bronx.  Its not some pearl clutching city scare, its just reality.

Fordham's Rose Hill campus is beautiful but it's a fortress from a security standpoint and the surrounding area has always been one of NYC's most blighted ghettos.  I wouldn't say the surrounding area has gotten worse.   It just hasn't gotten better and has been more or less the same for 40 years.  I live about 40 min away and go to little Italy in the Bronx (NYC's real little Italy) all the time which is right across from campus on the other side of Fordham Road and my old man is a Fordham alum.  The Rose Hill campus has double the number of students (6K vs 3K undergrads) and is much more of a traditional college experience than going to the Lincoln Center campus which is really just a building or two.  Going to FULC is like going to NYU which is about as far from a traditional college experience as it gets.  Plus it's a pain to get to Manhattan from Rose Hill and the ram van takes at least half hour in no traffic.

Totally agree that MU has the best of both worlds in that it's basically in downtown MKE (or just adjacent to it) but still has an interior campus that looks like a college campus (Like Columbia) but once you cross the bridge over I-94 you're downtown.  My son is a Jr. in high school and we're just starting to take tours.  We looked at Drexel and St. Joseph's in Phila last weekend and he didn't like Drexel at all because it has no campus feel whatsoever and is just a collection of high rises. 

Taking him out to see MU and some other midwest schools over the summer.

[Herman Cain]

Fordham's Rose Hill campus is beautiful but it's a fortress from a security standpoint and the surrounding area has always been one of NYC's most blighted ghettos.  I wouldn't say the surrounding area has gotten worse.   It just hasn't gotten better and has been more or less the same for 40 years.  I live about 40 min away and go to little Italy in the Bronx (NYC's real little Italy) all the time which is right across from campus on the other side of Fordham Road and my old man is a Fordham alum.  The Rose Hill campus has double the number of students (6K vs 3K undergrads) and is much more of a traditional college experience than going to the Lincoln Center campus which is really just a building or two.  Going to FULC is like going to NYU which is about as far from a traditional college experience as it gets.  Plus it's a pain to get to Manhattan from Rose Hill and the ram van takes at least half hour in no traffic.

Totally agree that MU has the best of both worlds in that it's basically in downtown MKE (or just adjacent to it) but still has an interior campus that looks like a college campus (Like Columbia) but once you cross the bridge over I-94 you're downtown.  My son is a Jr. in high school and we're just starting to take tours.  We looked at Drexel and St. Joseph's in Phila last weekend and he didn't like Drexel at all because it has no campus feel whatsoever and is just a collection of high rises. 

Taking him out to see MU and some other midwest schools over the summer.

Neighborhood around Fordham will never change as you point out. School has a good enough reputation to fill out a class every year , with kids who want easy access on Metro North to Grand Central. Many go home to Westchester and CT on weekends.