OT: D1

[iupgroundhog]

Well, since this is the D1 thread and it doesn't say which sport I will say this. (FS82) Edinboro had a really strong showing in the MAC Wrestling Championships completed today. Boro came in 3rd place out of 13 schools. Lock Haven won the team championship for the 3rd time out of the last 4 years. Clarion, which seemed to be on the rise a couple of years ago, finished in 12th place. Bloom finished 13th with their only points coming as the beneficiary of a forfeit. The Huskies did not win any individual matches on the mat. Hopefully, the revival starts next year.

[IUPNation]

Today's typical college experience is so lonely.

Your own room maybe grouped like an apartment. Sometimes your own bathroom.

Leave room, walk to class, usually with earbuds, looking down at phone. No talking, no noticing people along the way. Some of your classes are online, so you sit in your room watching the video and doing classwork through the online learning platform.

Meals are all ala cart but you prefer grab and go. Take your to go order and either eat while staring at your phone or laptop.

Studying back in your room or in the library with Air Pods in.

Advising and other appointments are over Zoom instead of walking three buildings over and meeting with a stranger. Submitting required forms is online.

You listen to music through your phone and never borrow or trade with friends. You watch movies by yourself instead of going to a rental store with friends. If the campus radio station is still around, there's nobody listening because they don't need to if they want to hear their favorite music.

Events are advertised on Instagram, not on flyers on bulletin boards in common spaces. Tickets to the big campus concert are sold online, no going to an office or waiting in line.

Dating? That's swiping left or right on apps. Anyone who walks up to you at a party or bar is a creep.

You don't receive mail, so you never bother to check your mailbox. Just packages from online orders or a birthday care package from grandma. You talk to mom several times a day via text instead of one quality phone call a week.

You learn about campus events through social media hot takes instead of the campus newspaper, which is probably online only anyway. No novelty to the campus TV station either so like the radio and newspaper it's basically just a simulation of commercial media.

Parties are more likely in an apartment than a house basement. You bring your own drinks with you rather than them providing cheap beer or jungle juice. Half your friends don't drink, they just popped a gummy before they left. Everyone is either sober or blacked out. You dont walk to parties, you Venmo $5 to a kid running a jitney service for extra money.

Living off campus is mostly in newer apartment complexes owned by big national conglomerates. Fully furnished with stainless steel appliances and stone countertops. You fill out the rental application online and pay your rent online. You only go to the rental office as a last resort. No more renting from locals in questionable but fun conditions. 3-5 bedroom apartments with 3-5 bathrooms.

Just about the only in person group experiences left are sports, concerts, parties, and screwing.

Ugh.

So I guess no 10pm-Midnight-2am frat parties anymore.

I can’t blame them wanting their own room though. I was much happier having my private room in Oakland Hall than sharing one on campus. If I wanted people to stop in and socialize I’d leave my door open but if I wanted to be left alone I kept the door shut.

Usually we all just sat in the hallway on the floor bull****ting…

[IUPNation]

I lived in Esch the only winter I lived on campus. It was not unusual to open your window to cool off your overheated room.

Oakland Hall wasn’t as bad but I lived on the ground floor so it wasn’t that hot in my room.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Thinking back, if it was hot in those rooms it never bothered me. We had probably only got AC 10 years before my college experience and back then you were often in environments that were not "climate-controlled."

I guess I focused on the great part and not the terrible. I loved the independence that I had after 18 years of living at my family's house. And there were no other expectations. It was just a college dorm and, at that time, that was a cool thing.

As far as the cafeteria food, that never bothered me, either. First, the caf was a social hub. You would see your friends. You would meet new ones. It was an escape from classes and studying. It was always there. You could eat whenever you wanted. You didn't have to prepare it yourself. It was mainly comfort food and back then I didn't really care about the healthiness of what I put in my body. Sugar, sodium and cholesterol were the furthest things from my mind. Yes, I agree, those were the good old days.

Dorm parties were my favorite. Great times.

With AC and stuff ... we didn't know any better.

[Fightingscot82]

Today's typical college experience is so lonely.

Your own room maybe grouped like an apartment. Sometimes your own bathroom.

Leave room, walk to class, usually with earbuds, looking down at phone. No talking, no noticing people along the way. Some of your classes are online, so you sit in your room watching the video and doing classwork through the online learning platform.

Meals are all ala cart but you prefer grab and go. Take your to go order and either eat while staring at your phone or laptop.

Studying back in your room or in the library with Air Pods in.

Advising and other appointments are over Zoom instead of walking three buildings over and meeting with a stranger. Submitting required forms is online.

You listen to music through your phone and never borrow or trade with friends. You watch movies by yourself instead of going to a rental store with friends. If the campus radio station is still around, there's nobody listening because they don't need to if they want to hear their favorite music.

Events are advertised on Instagram, not on flyers on bulletin boards in common spaces. Tickets to the big campus concert are sold online, no going to an office or waiting in line.

Dating? That's swiping left or right on apps. Anyone who walks up to you at a party or bar is a creep.

You don't receive mail, so you never bother to check your mailbox. Just packages from online orders or a birthday care package from grandma. You talk to mom several times a day via text instead of one quality phone call a week.

You learn about campus events through social media hot takes instead of the campus newspaper, which is probably online only anyway. No novelty to the campus TV station either so like the radio and newspaper it's basically just a simulation of commercial media.

Parties are more likely in an apartment than a house basement. You bring your own drinks with you rather than them providing cheap beer or jungle juice. Half your friends don't drink, they just popped a gummy before they left. Everyone is either sober or blacked out. You dont walk to parties, you Venmo $5 to a kid running a jitney service for extra money.

Living off campus is mostly in newer apartment complexes owned by big national conglomerates. Fully furnished with stainless steel appliances and stone countertops. You fill out the rental application online and pay your rent online. You only go to the rental office as a last resort. No more renting from locals in questionable but fun conditions. 3-5 bedroom apartments with 3-5 bathrooms.

Just about the only in person group experiences left are sports, concerts, parties, and screwing.

[iupgroundhog]

Some crazy stuff happened in those old cell block restrooms. Lol. The good old days.

Dorm life was just an experience. Great and terrible.

It would be 100 degrees in there in the Fall and Spring ... and what felt like 110 degrees all winter.

Thinking back, if it was hot in those rooms it never bothered me. We had probably only got AC 10 years before my college experience and back then you were often in environments that were not "climate-controlled."

I guess I focused on the great part and not the terrible. I loved the independence that I had after 18 years of living at my family's house. And there were no other expectations. It was just a college dorm and, at that time, that was a cool thing.

As far as the cafeteria food, that never bothered me, either. First, the caf was a social hub. You would see your friends. You would meet new ones. It was an escape from classes and studying. It was always there. You could eat whenever you wanted. You didn't have to prepare it yourself. It was mainly comfort food and back then I didn't really care about the healthiness of what I put in my body. Sugar, sodium and cholesterol were the furthest things from my mind. Yes, I agree, those were the good old days.

[nodnol]

By the time I was a student there was no court between Navy and Ben Franklin. I recall there still being one near Columbia. I don’t know if it’s still there.

I spent a lot of time on the court between Navy and Ben Franklin too. And it was nice when the tennis courts were on the lower campus. I graduated right before they really started building up the upper campus.

[TheBigCat2192]

Is that the outdoor court between Navy and Ben Franklin? I spent some time there. Centennial had a nice court during bad weather.

By the time I was a student there was no court between Navy and Ben Franklin. I recall there still being one near Columbia. I don’t know if it’s still there.

[Bart]

A lot of my older teachers made the PASSHE campuses sound like living in Section 8 housing with a school cafeteria and YMCA grafted onto it. Needless to say when I actually got to visit a few (between my time as a student and some HS activities I have been to BU, KU, and Ship) I quickly realized how outdated those teachers were. Well, the cafeteria food wasn’t necessarily better but the selection was much wider than I’d been lead to believe. You could still see some vestiges of the old in the laundry rooms at BU; and the outdoor basketball court that no one ever used since the rec has about 9 of ‘em.

Is that the outdoor court between Navy and Ben Franklin? I spent some time there. Centennial had a nice court during bad weather.

[TheBigCat2192]

Some crazy stuff happened in those old cell block restrooms. Lol. The good old days.

Dorm life was just an experience. Great and terrible.

It would be 100 degrees in there in the Fall and Spring ... and what felt like 110 degrees all winter.

A lot of my older teachers made the PASSHE campuses sound like living in Section 8 housing with a school cafeteria and YMCA grafted onto it. Needless to say when I actually got to visit a few (between my time as a student and some HS activities I have been to BU, KU, and Ship) I quickly realized how outdated those teachers were. Well, the cafeteria food wasn’t necessarily better but the selection was much wider than I’d been lead to believe. You could still see some vestiges of the old in the laundry rooms at BU; and the outdoor basketball court that no one ever used since the rec has about 9 of ‘em.

[Fightingscot82]

Ship has its share of modern dorms. And the region near Shippensburg is one of the fastest-growing in the state. Nothing is really assured as the wrecking ball in Washington seems to be insistent on screwing around with universities and education in general.

The challenge for Ship is that there isn't much they have that others don't. 20 years ago EVERYBODY built new suite-style dorms. Every campus is still building and renovating academic buildings. Ship is a good school at a great price. I'd argue that can be said for all of PASSHE, but that's the problem. Just like we've spoken about interest rates and cost of things like weddings, people complain about the cost but aren't stopping behavior. Penn State Harrisburg will continue to offer a Disney Store experience to State College's Magic Kingdom. Privates from our end of the spectrum (Elizabethtown, Messiah, Mount St Marys, McDaniel, etc) will continue to sell the small private school experience to working class people who are willing to pay more for the perceived prestige of private school they could never give their kids in K-12. Penn State branches on average cost $4k a year more than PASSHE. That's $16k more for the Penn State outlet store diploma. But the resume will say Penn State University.

There's not really any growth left in the state. There's still sprawl reducing the population density through new construction. So will some of that help? Yes. But there will still be fewer high school students to recruit within the same 2 hour radius that each school draws roughly 95% of their students from. PA is a population loser between our bad birth rate, lack of net growth through domestic relocation, and relatively weak immigration. Anything going forward that relies on future population (social security, schools, pensions, etc) are screwed.

[Ship69]

"Kids these days" don't want the old fashioned cell block dorms of our experience. They want their own bedroom and to share a bathroom with as few people as possible.

As long as Ship can continue to convince kids to come to Ship they'll be okay. But there's just not enough population around if that changes to survive off of commuters and adults.

Ship has its share of modern dorms. And the region near Shippensburg is one of the fastest-growing in the state. Nothing is really assured as the wrecking ball in Washington seems to be insistent on screwing around with universities and education in general.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

"Kids these days" don't want the old fashioned cell block dorms of our experience. They want their own bedroom and to share a bathroom with as few people as possible.

As long as Ship can continue to convince kids to come to Ship they'll be okay. But there's just not enough population around if that changes to survive off of commuters and adults.

Some crazy stuff happened in those old cell block restrooms. Lol. The good old days.

Dorm life was just an experience. Great and terrible.

It would be 100 degrees in there in the Fall and Spring ... and what felt like 110 degrees all winter.

[Fightingscot82]

Overly optimistic projections of enrollment years back resulted in a flurry of rental housing being built in Shippensburg, making it more difficult to keep the dorm rooms filled. While they have built new dorms, some of the older ones are not utilized much for undergraduate housing and my former dorm, which one housed 400 men, has been torn down. It's a huge difference from when I attended and you had to scramble as a senior to find suitable housing off-campus. That said, we have very competent leadership at Ship and, providing some level of support from the state (not always a guarantee these days), I feel reasonably confident about the future of the school.

"Kids these days" don't want the old fashioned cell block dorms of our experience. They want their own bedroom and to share a bathroom with as few people as possible.

As long as Ship can continue to convince kids to come to Ship they'll be okay. But there's just not enough population around if that changes to survive off of commuters and adults.

[Ship69]

Shippensburg in Fall 2024:

Total Beds/Capacity: 2,538

Total Students Living in University Housing: 2,061

Occupancy Rate: 81.2%

Source: PASSHE Advanced Data Analytics

Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education
Fall 2024 Housing Capacity Summary by University
University	Maximum Capacity	Number of Beds in Building Available at Census (as reported to IPEDS)	Number of students in Building	Occupancy Rate
Cheyney	780	772	556	72.0%
Commonwealth	5,159	5,066	4,340	85.7%
East Stroudsburg	2,682	2,682	2,574	96.0%
Indiana	3,752	3,632	2,832	78.0%
Kutztown	3,819	3,819	3,357	87.9%
Millersville	2,197	2,197	2,133	97.1%
Penn West	6,168	4,214	2,965	70.4%
Shippensburg	2,538	2,537	2,061	81.2%
Slippery Rock	2,759	2,995	2,835	94.7%
West Chester	5,402	5,304	5,285	99.6%
System Total	35,256	33,218	28,938	87.1%

Overly optimistic projections of enrollment years back resulted in a flurry of rental housing being built in Shippensburg, making it more difficult to keep the dorm rooms filled. While they have built new dorms, some of the older ones are not utilized much for undergraduate housing and my former dorm, which one housed 400 men, has been torn down. It's a huge difference from when I attended and you had to scramble as a senior to find suitable housing off-campus. That said, we have very competent leadership at Ship and, providing some level of support from the state (not always a guarantee these days), I feel reasonably confident about the future of the school.