THE IUP Football Thread

[DeepBallEnjoyer]

If you can have as much as you can eat once you are in the door what is the difference. You go when it’s so busy, you scrape it in into the container below the table and put it in your backpack!!

:-)

That’s what we did as of 2 years ago.

[IUPNation]

I think I've finally realized the definition of "student-centeredness" and it is Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks.

So much for college campuses being bastions of liberal indoctrination if they are all eating homophobic Hate Fil A and helping the company fund those anti LGBT terror organizations.

[iupgroundhog]

I think I've finally realized the definition of "student-centeredness" and it is Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks.

But what do the kids eat on Sunday?

[iupgroundhog]

I think I've finally realized the definition of "student-centeredness" and it is Chick-Fil-A and Starbucks.

[Ship69]

Bloom has ChickFilA, Qdoba, Dunkin, Starbucks, and Subway on campus. On campus. Not in town.

Most of the amenities at regional schools are done because their students are the most cost sensitive. The 2000s students were willing to borrow stupid amounts of money to finance the college experience they wanted. Then the recessions happened and repayment began and suddenly $40k for a career that doesn't even have starting salaries in the $40s gives you something to ponder. The only remaining arms race is in the flagships for newer and bigger research facilities and the southern FBS schools looking to attract big money kids. There are 15-20 colleges with indoor or outdoor lazy rivers. There's a small college in Florida with one of those surfing simulators. High Point in North Carolina has 5 tiers of room and board to cater to the rich. The highest tier pays for someone to decorate your room before move in, laundry service, room cleaning, turn down service, etc.

Stats indicate that the average college grad with a bachelor's degree still makes considerably more over a lifetime than the average high school grad. Of course it depends on career choice and opportunity for salary increases once you get older. And probably the majority of today's households are two-income. Teachers don't make a tremendous income in Pa., but I've know quite a few married couples where both are in teaching. With their combined salaries and generous retirement benefits, some of them have done very well.

I believe Ship just got a Chick-Fil-A. They already had a Starbucks, Dunkin' and another couple of things I'm not recalling. It's convenient for students, but of course ensures that there probably will be fewer options in Shippensburg borough itself, where the downtown is deader than when I went there 50-some years ago.

[Ship69]

So basically college students want fast food or processed grab and go...then wonder why in 4 years how did they get fat.

They are almost better off having a campus market where they can buy groceries to make their meals themselves. Laughable I know...making their own food...what was I thinking?

A lot of parents I know these days don't cook. Why would their kids? From what I see on campus, the dreaded "freshman 15" weight gain has become the freshman 25.

[IUPNation]

So basically college students want fast food or processed grab and go...then wonder why in 4 years how did they get fat.

They are almost better off having a campus market where they can buy groceries to make their meals themselves. Laughable I know...making their own food...what was I thinking?

[IUPNation]

Pretty sure that’s an expellable offense on this board. Complaining about the bands is okay, but general talk about marching bands and performances is prohibited other than on the D2footballbands.com site. :)

All I can say is the current director has a long way to go to restore the IUP Marching Band to the elite level they were under Doc.

[EyeoftheHawk]

Just wait until I turn it into marching band performances!

Pretty sure that’s an expellable offense on this board. Complaining about the bands is okay, but general talk about marching bands and performances is prohibited other than on the D2footballbands.com site. :)

[EyeoftheHawk]

You know IUP is 4-3 and out of it when the discussion on Oct. 20 is about dining hall food.

Exactly what I was thinking.

[TheBigCat2192]

I understand precisely where you are coming from with this. For such a long time, attracting students to higher education destinations was an arms race. I think many of the "pushes" or "initiatives" for what these universities focus on tend to be go in waves and have a lot of consistency across all campus. Simply looking at the western PA trifecta of IUP, Cal, and SRU is a prime example. My sister chose Cal after she graduated high school in 2007 because they had recently completed an update of their dorms. They were the first of the 3 to perform massive updates to the residence halls, and that was extremely attractive to her. The two final schools for her were IUP and Cal. IUP was just starting their residence hall project. Cal had already completed. 4 years later, I chose IUP. Not because of residence halls, but for the purposes of this conversation, IUP had renovated or built new dorms on campus that were actually an upgrade over what Cal offered. It was a clear example of two universities in close proximity, recruiting the same population, trying to outdo one another.

Parallel that with IUP's KCAC and Cal's Convocation Center. It wasn't until IUP had broke ground on the KCAC that Angelo Armenti at Cal decided that he wanted a shiny toy like that too. That's been discussed at length on this message board from multiple focal points, but again... Just an arms race and keeping up with each other to show "we have as much or more to offer than the other school you are looking at."

Slippery Rock was the first of the three to start undergoing massive changes to dining options amongst the three. I recall that from when I was in high school looking at schools. I was at IUP from 2011-2015, and it wasn't until the 2nd half of my tenure there did they start implementing and planning for a long-term plan how they were going to be changing dining.

I've been on campus at many D1 schools in the south before for a variety of reasons. At most of those places, the dorms are crap. Food is pretty standard, but they all try to compete amongst each other by building the largest and coolest fitness or student activities center. I live in Columbus, Ohio. It's the same thing there.

The unfortunate conversation for many schools is that they pumped so much money into all of these projects to attract students, but enrollment is plummeting at all of them.

I was at BU for the same period as you were an IUP student. When I was a freshman my residence hall underwent a major renovation where they redecorated a lot of the place and added these large “common rooms” in the middle of each floor with multiple couches/tables/chairs and a big TV. They were pitched as places where people would study all day but in the end their primary uses were poorly-attended community events, watching football on Saturdays and Sundays, and hanging out when your roommate had an evening caller over. Not that they never saw any use for studying but many preferred to do so in their dorms or at the library; despite all the money thrown into fixing the poor old Elwell Hall up they were often empty.

We also underwent a lot of changes to dining with the addition of a Steak Shack or Steak and Shake (can’t remember which) and a campus food cart/truck, and I think a second coffee location next to our library (we already had a Starbucks in the commons next to a Subway). We almost got a Chil-Fil-A but the homosexuals protested against it. Somehow BU got one shortly after I left which makes me feel a bit cheated.

[IUPNation]

You know IUP is 4-3 and out of it when the discussion on Oct. 20 is about dining hall food.

Just wait until I turn it into marching band performances!

[Fightingscot82]

Yup. Colleges are increasingly adding more amenities to compete for a declining student pool, and it all adds up. It coincides with how many colleges are viewing kids as revenue-producing clients rather than students. This is very true at the PASSHE schools with the shrinkage of state support over the years. When I attended Ship in the '60s, we had fewer great buildings (many of the classrooms and almost all the dorm rooms were not air conditioned, I was in a basic dorm with 399 other guys where we had eight corridors with 50 guys a corridor and shared the restrooms and showers on those corridors Meals were served family style and were nothing wonderful (I think they were spending about $10 a week to feed each of us, which wasn't much even then), and you ate what they served. There were no meal choices, fast food restaurants on campus, suite dorm living, student rec centers, and many of the things students expect on campus now. It likely wasn't as comfortable as the campus is today, but it sure was a lot cheaper to attend the school.

Bloom has ChickFilA, Qdoba, Dunkin, Starbucks, and Subway on campus. On campus. Not in town.

Most of the amenities at regional schools are done because their students are the most cost sensitive. The 2000s students were willing to borrow stupid amounts of money to finance the college experience they wanted. Then the recessions happened and repayment began and suddenly $40k for a career that doesn't even have starting salaries in the $40s gives you something to ponder. The only remaining arms race is in the flagships for newer and bigger research facilities and the southern FBS schools looking to attract big money kids. There are 15-20 colleges with indoor or outdoor lazy rivers. There's a small college in Florida with one of those surfing simulators. High Point in North Carolina has 5 tiers of room and board to cater to the rich. The highest tier pays for someone to decorate your room before move in, laundry service, room cleaning, turn down service, etc.

[Ship69]

But the kids don't do all you can eat anymore. Its noticeably lower quality or more basic than the fast casual grab & go stuff. Was on campus at SRU last night to see Rainn Wilson and the line to order at the Quaker Steak in their student center was easily 20 deep. We parked near their traditional dining hall and it was so dead that my wife didn't even notice it was a dining hall. Anecdotal but its pretty consistent with where I have spent time. As has been shared by others, students are their own worst enemies. They vote with their dollars and feet on nicer things that cost more money...but b*tch and moan about price. Parents aren't any better.

Yup. Colleges are increasingly adding more amenities to compete for a declining student pool, and it all adds up. It coincides with how many colleges are viewing kids as revenue-producing clients rather than students. This is very true at the PASSHE schools with the shrinkage of state support over the years. When I attended Ship in the '60s, we had fewer great buildings (many of the classrooms and almost all the dorm rooms were not air conditioned, I was in a basic dorm with 399 other guys where we had eight corridors with 50 guys a corridor and shared the restrooms and showers on those corridors Meals were served family style and were nothing wonderful (I think they were spending about $10 a week to feed each of us, which wasn't much even then), and you ate what they served. There were no meal choices, fast food restaurants on campus, suite dorm living, student rec centers, and many of the things students expect on campus now. It likely wasn't as comfortable as the campus is today, but it sure was a lot cheaper to attend the school.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

Great healthy choices there! YIKES!

You know IUP is 4-3 and out of it when the discussion on Oct. 20 is about dining hall food.