Tulane enrollment statistics

[JDTulane]

Princeton Review just ranked Rice as a top 10 value education

[mbawavefan12]

Princeton Review just ranked Rice as a top 10 value education

Huge scholarships (endowment/student related) + engineering = huge value. Despite being ranked much higher, I got the same scholarship offer from Rice as I did from TU. That school is loaded!

[sader24]

Not sure what segregation has to do with Tulane pricing out locals in 2013. To put Tulane in the same class as Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Rice at this point in time is generous, very generous. It seems to me Tulane had a higher academic standing when it was more local. I'm not sure why that is, but it is. It seems to me Tulane is becoming a Liberal Arts College with 60% women right before your eyes. Tulane should be churning out graduates that settled in between New Orleans and Houston with all the high paying oil jobs in this region. How big of a player is Tulane going to be in the Medical Corridor that is planned? How big of a player would they have been back in the 80's?

[tpstulane]

Not sure what segregation has to do with Tulane pricing out locals in 2013. To put Tulane in the same class as Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Rice at this point in time is generous, very generous. It seems to me Tulane had a higher academic standing when it was more local. I'm not sure why that is, but it is. It seems to me Tulane is becoming a Liberal Arts College with 60% women right before your eyes. Tulane should be churning out graduates that settled in between New Orleans and Houston with all the high paying oil jobs in this region. How big of a player is Tulane going to be in the Medical Corridor that is planned? How big of a player would they have been back in the 80's?

+1
I grew up in an avg middle class family (far from being elite) was able to get a degree from Tulane then go on to get an MBA from Loyola. That education with some good luck in investing I was able to semi-retire in my 40's. But over the last 10 years or so I've lost the pride I once had in my Tulane degree. It doesn't seem to carry the weight today it once did IMO. I just wish Tulane could make it's education more affordable for qualified local kids like I had the opportunity to have. It just pains me to see all my nephews grow up only dreaming of attending Tulane but ending up at other state schools because of the expense. When only seven Jesuit students out of 255 go on to attend Tulane there's a major problem that needs immediate attention.

[JDTulane]

Hopefully I'll have influenced more than 7 for next year's class I did my damndest

[tpstulane]

Hopefully I'll have influenced more than 7 for next year's class I did my damndest

Influence is good, giving them a financial boost is better!

[JDTulane]

Hopefully I'll have influenced more than 7 for next year's class I did my damndest

Influence is good, giving them a financial boost is better!

Sorry can't help there. The JDTulane Memorial Scholarship Fund doesn't start till ~2070

[OUG]

We are what we are, and have been for DECADES. Embrace it. There's a lot of self-loathing on this board, but this is some of the worst. Sorry that kids from your high school don't want to go to your college. Talk about first world problems.

Uh, no. To embrace it is to embrace the end of Tulane University. Change is the only constant in life and higher education is undergoing a significant change that Tulane may not survive, thanks to the regime you continue to make excuses for. In fact, Cowen has made Tulane into a place that only super rich white kids would have any interest in attending, so that's the irony of your "first world problem" analogy.

Tulane has always been a school for the elite. You think it was any different in the 1950's? Take a real close look through those yearbooks pal.

Let's raise tuition to $75K so we can be more elite!

Our tuition is not some exclusivity formula man, any more than the cost of gas is determined by gas companies gouging people. The price is covering the cost of admission. We are more expensive than we were in 1980 because post graduate education is more expensive. At public schools this is being subsidized by the government. We are never going to be an affordable option for most people absent financial aid...

How do you think providing that financial aid is possible? It's because wealthier families are willing to pay the full 50k or whatever.

This isn't a Tulane problem. Public schools are thriving relative to privates in the US News Rankings as well.

BTW, can we move this to the non sports forum maybe?

[Fred Dowler]

This is why so many local kids think that Tulane University thinks they are better than them. It also doesn't help when you have pretty much every Tulane grad talking about how only stupid people go to LSU and how much superior Academically Tulane is to LSU and how LSU is a waste of time when pretty much the entire Catholic League is going there. LSU's local Alum base is growing drastically and has been for awhile in New Orleans. Whether you like it or not, if you want to increase Tulane's fanbase it's going to have to include a fair amount of LSU grads, or people with LSU grads in their family and when you constantly talk down about that school or the people that went you are leaving a very bad taste in their mouths. I know Tulane fans that didn't even graduate from college or attended UNO who talk down about people who graduated from LSU.

This is one thing that drives me nuts. So many of us talk about how superior we are and then turn around and ask why nobody likes us.

Amen. How I wish TU alumni/fans/friends would cease all trying to lord it (on account of academics) over not just LSU but also UL-L or UNO or anyone.

[sader24]

We are what we are, and have been for DECADES. Embrace it. There's a lot of self-loathing on this board, but this is some of the worst. Sorry that kids from your high school don't want to go to your college. Talk about first world problems.

Uh, no. To embrace it is to embrace the end of Tulane University. Change is the only constant in life and higher education is undergoing a significant change that Tulane may not survive, thanks to the regime you continue to make excuses for. In fact, Cowen has made Tulane into a place that only super rich white kids would have any interest in attending, so that's the irony of your "first world problem" analogy.

Tulane has always been a school for the elite. You think it was any different in the 1950's? Take a real close look through those yearbooks pal.

Let's raise tuition to $75K so we can be more elite!

Our tuition is not some exclusivity formula man, any more than the cost of gas is determined by gas companies gouging people. The price is covering the cost of admission. We are more expensive than we were in 1980 because post graduate education is more expensive. At public schools this is being subsidized by the government. We are never going to be an affordable option for most people absent financial aid...

How do you think providing that financial aid is possible? It's because wealthier families are willing to pay the full 50k or whatever.

This isn't a Tulane problem. Public schools are thriving relative to privates in the US News Rankings as well.

BTW, can we move this to the non sports forum maybe?

So what you are saying is unless you are a top 20 school Private Schools are facing a major upcoming crisis b/c in order to stay alive they have to charge exorbitant amounts and can't compete with cheaper public schools that are much more affordable options and provide you with just as many job oppurtunities thereby making them a better value? So if Tulane wants to survive or should I say thrive there needs to be some major changes or else it will continue to fall backwards in the rankings.

[Fred Dowler]

How about bringing back all of the engineering programs that got cut out in 2006 as one way to make TU attractive and important to more different people?

[jonathanjoseph]

Our tuition is not some exclusivity formula man, any more than the cost of gas is determined by gas companies gouging people. The price is covering the cost of admission. We are more expensive than we were in 1980 because post graduate education is more expensive.

Incorrect on both accounts. The cost of gas is determined, largely, by the balance of supply and demand in the crude oil markets. Further, Tulane is not more expensive due to the cost of education going up at all. In theory, the increased cost of post graduate inflation should stay constant with inflation and other indices like the consumer price index. The cost of higher education has gone up multiples of inflation, so your conclusion is wholly incorrect. The cost of living has not doubled since Cowen took over.

If Cowen were half the man he claims to be he might have done something to make Tulane more affordable, and thus a higher likelihood for local residents, rather than blaming it on the economy. At this point, there is no financial justification for attending Tulane outside of children of "the 1%" from the northeast who are trust fund kids who will never need to worry about money ever in their lives. And that's who you see Tulane targeting and why there is justifiable angst from the NOLA Catholic school alums.

[Jammer159]

I have to say this was an interesting read. I am a lifelong TU fan, son of an Irish Channel dad that was a ticket taker in the 50s. I am also the father of a incoming freshman from a catholic league school who is going to Tulane on a Legislative Scholarship. I can assure you he would not be at TU without the scholly. He did receive a partial academic scholly but not nearly enough for me to cover the difference. He wanted TU over all the other local schools his friends are attending. When I had the financial discussion he went out and solicited the legislative scholly from reps outside our district and struck GOLD!

What I did not see mentioned is that Jesuit (or any other Catholic League school for that matter) is not the institution it once was. How many of the 255 were in the highest track? These schools are fighting for survival by taking anyone that can pay the bill. The graduating class size is one indication.

I would love to see TU focus on NOLA students. The traditional feeder schools are accepting students of parents that couldn't afford TU with a 50% local discount. I know because I'm one of them.

[ajcalhoun]

What I did not see mentioned is that Jesuit (or any other Catholic League school for that matter) is not the institution it once was. How many of the 255 were in the highest track?

Please expound. I would like to know what made you form this opinion. I ask that in a respectful manner.

[tpstulane]

I have to say this was an interesting read. I am a lifelong TU fan, son of an Irish Channel dad that was a ticket taker in the 50s. I am also the father of a incoming freshman from a catholic league school who is going to Tulane on a Legislative Scholarship. I can assure you he would not be at TU without the scholly. He did receive a partial academic scholly but not nearly enough for me to cover the difference. He wanted TU over all the other local schools his friends are attending. When I had the financial discussion he went out and solicited the legislative scholly from reps outside our district and struck GOLD!

What I did not see mentioned is that Jesuit (or any other Catholic League school for that matter) is not the institution it once was. How many of the 255 were in the highest track? These schools are fighting for survival by taking anyone that can pay the bill. The graduating class size is one indication.

I would love to see TU focus on NOLA students. The traditional feeder schools are accepting students of parents that couldn't afford TU with a 50% local discount. I know because I'm one of them.

I'll challenge the statement "Jesuit is not the institution it once was" This class rec'd over $32,500,000 in scholarship money. That's over $127,450 per student. 63 in engineering, 38 in bio-sciences, 33 in business, 13 in Pre-med etc. Cornell, Dartmouth, Yale and Harvard all will have Blue Jays attending. Many other top schools as well.

[Jammer159]

First, Jesuit is an excellent school which produces students ready for college and life.

Jesuit and like institutions no longer have a monopoly on top tier elementary students. Competition has spread the talent around. Cost has put the other private schools within reach. Magnets schools have increased significantly since it was just Ben Franklin. Bottom line is Jesuit is accepting average (B/C ) students. They all are.

Scholarship money means little. The majority of the awards are attributed to the top 10% of the class. Using a 6K instate cost the 19 boys going to UNO attributed 456000 to the total. In state schollies account for close to 4 million of the awards.
While there will be blue jays in the Ivy League how many of the other 94 graduates selected a school comperable to to TU? I dont have the book. A NMF gets a sweeeeeet deal at Alabama!

[tpstulane]

Jammer like you said Jesuit does accept B/C elementary students and always has. I was one myself. But many of those kids end up being well educated after 4/5 years years of receiving a top college prep education. Having spoken to many alums the two main reasons these kids are no longer choosing Tulane are tuition and a lack of an Engineering degree program. Engineering was the overwhelming choice of the Jesuit 2013 Sr class. (63 out of 255 with scholarships are going into engineering) Scott Cowen dropped that program at Tulane. Now Tulane is nearly 60% women. Few women pursue engineering on avg. I'm sure more choose liberal arts instead.
Besides the Ivy league schools, here are some other colleges these grads are going to attend.
NYU, Fordham, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia, St Johns, Boston College, Georgetown, Emory, Villianova, St Louis Unv, Miami, Arz, TCU, Baylor, Texas, Howard, Rhodes College, Mars Hill etc and each Military school. When Jesuit puts a weblink I'll post it here. Many more besides those. Of the 133 going to LSU most are choosing engineering. Many going to LSU are going into Civil, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, programs Tulane no longer offers.
The seven students attending Tulane listed their major as follows:
1 biomedical engineering, 1 liberal arts, 2 choose biology, and the other 3 were undeclared including Tanner Lee.

[mbawavefan12]

Jammer like you said Jesuit does accept B/C elementary students and always has. I was one myself. But many of those kids end up being well educated after 4/5 years years of receiving a top college prep education. Having spoken to many alums the two main reasons these kids are no longer choosing Tulane are tuition and a lack of an Engineering degree program. Engineering was the overwhelming choice of the Jesuit 2013 Sr class. (63 out of 255 with scholarships are going into engineering) Scott Cowen dropped that program at Tulane. Now Tulane is nearly 60% women. Few women pursue engineering on avg. I'm sure more choose liberal arts instead.
Besides the Ivy league schools, here are some other colleges these grads are going to attend.
NYU, Fordham, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia, St Johns, Boston College, Georgetown, Emory, Villianova, St Louis Unv, Miami, Arz, TCU, Baylor, Texas, Howard, Rhodes College, Mars Hill etc and each Military school. When Jesuit puts a weblink I'll post it here. Many more besides those. Of the 133 going to LSU most are choosing engineering. Many going to LSU are going into Civil, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, programs Tulane no longer offers.
The seven students attending Tulane listed their major as follows:
1 biomedical engineering, 1 liberal arts, 2 choose biology, and the other 3 were undeclared including Tanner Lee.

That's an extremely impressive list, I might have to start saving up. I went to an upper tierish public school in Massachusetts (#1 public education state in the country for like 5 years running , sorry for the bragging) and we did not have a list anywhere near as impressive as the Jesuit list. Maybe that is also part of the problem of why TU doesn't get as many catholic school kids as all the other elite universities are national and the competition is just far more intense than it was 20-25 years ago. I was one of the kids who decided to study engineering at my state's public university (rather than go into debt elsewhere) and am relatively happy with my choice. Engineering is a little different than business as it does not really have that country club atmosphere and it is much more about post graduation performance and growth, IMO. Plus state schools have the volume of students to justify the higher expense associated with running a solid engineering program.

[tpstulane]

Jammer like you said Jesuit does accept B/C elementary students and always has. I was one myself. But many of those kids end up being well educated after 4/5 years years of receiving a top college prep education. Having spoken to many alums the two main reasons these kids are no longer choosing Tulane are tuition and a lack of an Engineering degree program. Engineering was the overwhelming choice of the Jesuit 2013 Sr class. (63 out of 255 with scholarships are going into engineering) Scott Cowen dropped that program at Tulane. Now Tulane is nearly 60% women. Few women pursue engineering on avg. I'm sure more choose liberal arts instead.
Besides the Ivy league schools, here are some other colleges these grads are going to attend.
NYU, Fordham, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Virginia, St Johns, Boston College, Georgetown, Emory, Villianova, St Louis Unv, Miami, Arz, TCU, Baylor, Texas, Howard, Rhodes College, Mars Hill etc and each Military school. When Jesuit puts a weblink I'll post it here. Many more besides those. Of the 133 going to LSU most are choosing engineering. Many going to LSU are going into Civil, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, programs Tulane no longer offers.
The seven students attending Tulane listed their major as follows:
1 biomedical engineering, 1 liberal arts, 2 choose biology, and the other 3 were undeclared including Tanner Lee.

That's an extremely impressive list, I might have to start saving up. I went to an upper tierish public school in Massachusetts (#1 public education state in the country for like 5 years running , sorry for the bragging) and we did not have a list anywhere near as impressive as the Jesuit list. Maybe that is also part of the problem of why TU doesn't get as many catholic school kids as all the other elite universities are national and the competition is just far more intense than it was 20-25 years ago. I was one of the kids who decided to study engineering at my state's public university (rather than go into debt elsewhere) and am relatively happy with my choice. Engineering is a little different than business as it does not really have that country club atmosphere and it is much more about post graduation performance and growth, IMO. Plus state schools have the volume of students to justify the higher expense associated with running a solid engineering program.

Over 10% of that class were National Merit Semifinalists (26).

[Bigschtick]

Princeton Review just ranked Rice as a top 10 value education

They have had this type of ranking, value education, for years. Great school!

[sader24]

From everything that I know I would beg to differ slightly on the Catholic League statement. While overall enrollment is down in the Catholic League not all of the schools are down academically. I will compare now to 2000. Jesuit has very similar enrollment to 2000, 255 is on par with where they were. They are still turning away a lot of people which means they are full and getting who they want. BM is down 25% enrollment wise, but hasn't fallen academically and is still clearly the #2 to Jesuit. I actually believe our test scores are noticeably higher than when I was there. Holy Cross is up enrollment about 40-50% but that is mostly bc they moved and they moved into a great facility. Their gains have come at the expense of St. Aug and Rummel. Academically they haven't really gone either way. Rummel which used to be #3 is having a terrible time and is taking anyone who applies and very few are applying. They are reportedly considering combining with Chappelle which would be a death sentence. I do believe they have an opportunity to recover but it includes a complete overhaul. Shaw has fallen apart for the most part, I wouldn't put them above any good public school and I do not see a comeback from them. St. Aug is on a slow march to death. Poor facilities and a shrinking recruiting pool plus they are losing most of what would be their top students to Jesuit, BM, and Holy Cross. As far back as 2000 we started getting kids whose parents felt they were living in the Stone Age. An all black Catholic School isn't nearly as necessary as it was decades ago and many of the SA alums that have succeeded would rather send their kids to the 3 schools I mentioned in that order. For them to survive or survive at a 4a-5a level they would need a new location, a new direction, and the a ability to draw in a diverse enrollment. I don't see this ever happening. In 10 years I see Jesuit and BM still where they are, Holy Cross the same, Rummel making a slight comeback, Shaw either closed or near death and St. Aug 2a.

[sader24]

Here are the official numbers for the Catholic League schools for grades 9-12 this year.

Jesuit = 1,123
Brother Martin = 930
Rummel = 668
Holy Cross = 520
Shaw = 462
St. Aug = 443

So Jesuit is right around the same area it's always been, BM is down close to 400 from its height, Rummel is down close to 500 from it's height, HC is on the rebound, Shaw and Aug are in trouble.

[tpstulane]

From everything that I know I would beg to differ slightly on the Catholic League statement. While overall enrollment is down in the Catholic League not all of the schools are down academically. I will compare now to 2000. Jesuit has very similar enrollment to 2000, 255 is on par with where they were. They are still turning away a lot of people which means they are full and getting who they want. BM is down 25% enrollment wise, but hasn't fallen academically and is still clearly the #2 to Jesuit. I actually believe our test scores are noticeably higher than when I was there. Holy Cross is up enrollment about 40-50% but that is mostly bc they moved and they moved into a great facility. Their gains have come at the expense of St. Aug and Rummel. Academically they haven't really gone either way. Rummel which used to be #3 is having a terrible time and is taking anyone who applies and very few are applying. They are reportedly considering combining with Chappelle which would be a death sentence. I do believe they have an opportunity to recover but it includes a complete overhaul. Shaw has fallen apart for the most part, I wouldn't put them above any good public school and I do not see a comeback from them. St. Aug is on a slow march to death. Poor facilities and a shrinking recruiting pool plus they are losing most of what would be their top students to Jesuit, BM, and Holy Cross. As far back as 2000 we started getting kids whose parents felt they were living in the Stone Age. An all black Catholic School isn't nearly as necessary as it was decades ago and many of the SA alums that have succeeded would rather send their kids to the 3 schools I mentioned in that order. For them to survive or survive at a 4a-5a level they would need a new location, a new direction, and the a ability to draw in a diverse enrollment. I don't see this ever happening. In 10 years I see Jesuit and BM still where they are, Holy Cross the same, Rummel making a slight comeback, Shaw either closed or near death and St. Aug 2a.

Rummel enrollment drops again. Now down to only 684 students.
http://www.nola.com/education/index.ssf ... rt_m-rpt-2

[Aberzombie1892]

In terms of recruiting locally, it is a double edged sword. Tulane, a "national" university, has a wide range of priorities, and I believe that all of us would say that they include including maximizing tuition revenue, research revenue, standardized test scores, enrollment, educational ranks, employment outcomes and educational endowment. As useful as having a strong contingent of local enrollees is, please note that factor is not included in the above list.

Why not?

On the front end, Louisiana high schools do not graduate a lot of students with high test scores or a lot of students that come from families with a significant amount of financial resources, while graduates from schools in NY/PA/NJ/TX/CA , relatively speaking, do. In terms of test scores, Tulane needs students with high scores to attend Tulane for the purposes of the education ranks, and, while Tulane's automatic entrance requirements (ACT/GPA) for Louisiana residents is actually lower than the average entering class profile (ACT/GPA), many "top" Louisiana graduates still cannot get admitted to Tulane even though they would be admitted with scholarship to lower profile public/private schools. In terms of families with money, Tulane needs applicants that have money so that Tulane does not have to offer scholarship money, as Tulane does not have the extraordinary resources as Rice, Vanderbilt, Duke, Emory, and so on that would allow Tulane to not have to worry about scholarships. In contrast, the schools in the Northeast, TX, and CA generate a lot of graduates that have high test scores and graduates that come from families with money. As such, focusing on recruiting from those geographic areas would generate more competitive candidates (on paper) and candidates that would not require scholarships in order to attend.

On the back end, many graduates, regardless of where they originate from, are likely to return to near where they grew up, and, because Louisiana is not known for competitive employment outcomes, locals are fairly unattractive. While the job market is tough nationally, Louisiana is a relative wasteland for decent employment outcomes, and everyone knows this. In contrast, that are a significant amount of jobs in the Northeast, TX, and CA, and, since there is a high probability that students from those regions will return to those regions to seek employment, it makes more sense to target those types of students since they are more likely to get jobs in their fields and/or higher pay.

Tulane's plan in this regard makes sense, given its goals. If Tulane changed its admissions policies to primarily reflect local candidates, it would push away the Northeast, TX, and CA candidates that help drive Tulane's rank and Tulane would begin to reflect that collapsing house of cards that is Loyola New Orleans (no offense). As bad as Tulane may or may not be right now, it's no where near tthhaatt bad.

[winwave]

A good while ago Loyola decided to do what Tulane has done and began going after mostly out of state students.