Post by unafied on Mar 27, 2024 6:38:17 GMT -6
I'm sure most of you have seen the news by now that Birmingham-Southern College will be closing.
Can't say I know much about the place, other than the times when I was a kid that we drove by the campus when headed to games at Legion Field. I feel bad for the alums and current students, but it sounds like the administration really drove them into the ground. I know some are upset about the state not bailing them out. I'm not a state resident and it wouldn't have been my tax dollars, so I don't have too much of an opinion. But I can see the question being, would the state bail out the next private school? And the one after that? Unfortunately BSC probably won't be the last, either.
As it relates to UNA, I know a lot of regional schools have suffered declining enrollments in the last decade. COVID certainly didn't help. But, UNA has managed to continue to grow. I'm hoping that as the Huntsville metro continues to grow we benefit from that. I also think you have a lot of students who just prefer a smaller school. Some 20 years ago, Alabama had 20k, students, and now it's closer to 40k. I believe Auburn has had similar growth. I'm not sure I would have wanted to attend a school that big (and didn't).
Can't say I know much about the place, other than the times when I was a kid that we drove by the campus when headed to games at Legion Field. I feel bad for the alums and current students, but it sounds like the administration really drove them into the ground. I know some are upset about the state not bailing them out. I'm not a state resident and it wouldn't have been my tax dollars, so I don't have too much of an opinion. But I can see the question being, would the state bail out the next private school? And the one after that? Unfortunately BSC probably won't be the last, either.
As it relates to UNA, I know a lot of regional schools have suffered declining enrollments in the last decade. COVID certainly didn't help. But, UNA has managed to continue to grow. I'm hoping that as the Huntsville metro continues to grow we benefit from that. I also think you have a lot of students who just prefer a smaller school. Some 20 years ago, Alabama had 20k, students, and now it's closer to 40k. I believe Auburn has had similar growth. I'm not sure I would have wanted to attend a school that big (and didn't).
