This is how Northeastern gamed the system

[Anonymous]

I'm convinced OP is the Northeastern booster who keeps starting threads about it. Any pub is good pub

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t read the article to the end but from the part I read I didn’t see anything negative in what NEU did. They didn’t cheat, they actually did a lot of good things like hiring more faculty, building more dorms, attracting a bigger pool of students, reducing the class size. Sounds like they deserve the higher ranking.

No, they gamed the system because they improved themselves instead of staying in their place as a lowly commuter school.

Everyone knows the only schools that deserve high rankings are those that have admitted students for centuries based on their parent's 7-8 figure donations. Anyone else is getting uppity.

I know you are trying to be sarcastic but the schools like ivies and such are there also because they “gamed the system” by attracting the best faculty and students. Only they did it way before NEU.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I think you and northeastern should consider couples counseling, op.

[Anonymous]

Seriously, pick a school for what it offers your kid NOW. Ignore the rankings. Yes, NEU gamed the system a bit, and so do many other schools. If you like what NEU offers, then go for it.

If you don't, and many don't want to study abroad fall or all of freshman year, then don't attend. Right now, I'd be more concerned about the housing issues and overcrowding and how that affects getting the courses you need, whether my kid is stuck in a single that's now a double (or double that's now a triple), whether for $6K+ per year for dining my kid can get food in a timely manner, whether my kid is stuck living in a hotel that is not on campus. NEU has grown really fast in the past decade and the infrastructure is not in place to support it. So go in with eyes wide open about what this could mean for your student for all aspects of life in college.

Also, be open minded and realize that students do get internships and do Coops at many other colleges (at least in the STEM fields). So your kid can attend elsewhere and still get work experience---many kids have been doing that for decades

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, pick a school for what it offers your kid NOW. Ignore the rankings. Yes, NEU gamed the system a bit, and so do many other schools. If you like what NEU offers, then go for it.

If you don't, and many don't want to study abroad fall or all of freshman year, then don't attend. Right now, I'd be more concerned about the housing issues and overcrowding and how that affects getting the courses you need, whether my kid is stuck in a single that's now a double (or double that's now a triple), whether for $6K+ per year for dining my kid can get food in a timely manner, whether my kid is stuck living in a hotel that is not on campus. NEU has grown really fast in the past decade and the infrastructure is not in place to support it. So go in with eyes wide open about what this could mean for your student for all aspects of life in college.

Also, be open minded and realize that students do get internships and do Coops at many other colleges (at least in the STEM fields). So your kid can attend elsewhere and still get work experience---many kids have been doing that for decades

Where are you getting this info regarding on campus housing shortage at NEU?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, pick a school for what it offers your kid NOW. Ignore the rankings. Yes, NEU gamed the system a bit, and so do many other schools. If you like what NEU offers, then go for it.

If you don't, and many don't want to study abroad fall or all of freshman year, then don't attend. Right now, I'd be more concerned about the housing issues and overcrowding and how that affects getting the courses you need, whether my kid is stuck in a single that's now a double (or double that's now a triple), whether for $6K+ per year for dining my kid can get food in a timely manner, whether my kid is stuck living in a hotel that is not on campus. NEU has grown really fast in the past decade and the infrastructure is not in place to support it. So go in with eyes wide open about what this could mean for your student for all aspects of life in college.

Also, be open minded and realize that students do get internships and do Coops at many other colleges (at least in the STEM fields). So your kid can attend elsewhere and still get work experience---many kids have been doing that for decades

Where are you getting this info regarding on campus housing shortage at NEU?

Following the NEU Parents FB pages, as my kid was admitted and considered attending. Tons of information on there about the housing issues, dining issues, no room to study in library with so many extra students. Ironically, I'd think kids shoved into forced triples or forced doubles would probably want to head to the library to study since they have no space in their room.

NEU applied to the city of Boston to do precisely that; there was a public hearing this spring. Boston approved the plan to add 900 new beds in East Village and International Village dorms. These are dorms where 2 rooms share a bathroom; so what was 2 doubles will now be 5 students sharing one bathroom and there is no Hallway bathroom to go use (it's not a traditional communal dorm bathroom). I've seen photos and heard parents complain---those dorms are not that big. This plan will force kids to share the closet space as well (don't know about you, but a 2ft closet is already tiny, how can you make 3 people share 2). There simply isn't really enough room for the extra person in those rooms.

Here's an article on it. https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2022/03/11/bpda-approves-northeastern-dorm-plan.html


Fall of 2021 produced a yield with over 1000 extra students, and then they had extras accept into the NUIn and NUBOund program as well (spring admit, go overseas for first semester and fall soph admit go overseas for the entire first year). So they have well over 1000 extra students to place on campus this fall---no clue yet what their yield will be for fall 2022. And NEU has grown alot in the last 8-10 years already and was already poorly dealing with this growth in many areas on campus (except collecting your tuition and R&B $$$).

Initially for fall 2022 admits, the NUBound students were NOT going to EVER be allowed to live on campus when they returned. But when parents (reasonably complained), NEU changed their tone. However, not sure where exactly those extra 500-800 students will be put fall of 2023. And while they could go off campus, that's a challenge in Boston when you haven't even spent the last year in Boston but instead in Oakland CA or London. Boston is a city where you typically pay 1 month brokerage fee to find an apartnemtn. How do you find an apt when you aren't there, how do you find roommates if you don't want to live with NUBound people? Just an indicator to me that they have accepted too many students and cannot accommodate the growing student population.

There is also the huge issue that NEU has already had to use Hotels to house students and requires those students to have a meal plan, despite not being on campus. They may need to do it again this fall. They are struggling with housing---typically the rising 2nd year and beyond (non-freshman) select their housing in March/early April. That hasn't happened yet. Supposed to happen in June/July. After that they will assign freshman. Sophmores are required to live on campus, yet it could be July before they are told where they can live, and for students with terrible housing numbers it might be august before they get assigned to an open space.

Maybe that's what you want for your kid. I personally at 75K+ per year for an education hope my kid could have a few things that are stable in their experiences. And for most the desire to know where they will be living is a key part of that. My incoming freshman (somewhere else) will likely have their housing assignment for freshman year before NEU rising sophomore/jr/seniors have their fall housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, pick a school for what it offers your kid NOW. Ignore the rankings. Yes, NEU gamed the system a bit, and so do many other schools. If you like what NEU offers, then go for it.

If you don't, and many don't want to study abroad fall or all of freshman year, then don't attend. Right now, I'd be more concerned about the housing issues and overcrowding and how that affects getting the courses you need, whether my kid is stuck in a single that's now a double (or double that's now a triple), whether for $6K+ per year for dining my kid can get food in a timely manner, whether my kid is stuck living in a hotel that is not on campus. NEU has grown really fast in the past decade and the infrastructure is not in place to support it. So go in with eyes wide open about what this could mean for your student for all aspects of life in college.

Also, be open minded and realize that students do get internships and do Coops at many other colleges (at least in the STEM fields). So your kid can attend elsewhere and still get work experience---many kids have been doing that for decades

Where are you getting this info regarding on campus housing shortage at NEU?

Following the NEU Parents FB pages, as my kid was admitted and considered attending. Tons of information on there about the housing issues, dining issues, no room to study in library with so many extra students. Ironically, I'd think kids shoved into forced triples or forced doubles would probably want to head to the library to study since they have no space in their room.

NEU applied to the city of Boston to do precisely that; there was a public hearing this spring. Boston approved the plan to add 900 new beds in East Village and International Village dorms. These are dorms where 2 rooms share a bathroom; so what was 2 doubles will now be 5 students sharing one bathroom and there is no Hallway bathroom to go use (it's not a traditional communal dorm bathroom). I've seen photos and heard parents complain---those dorms are not that big. This plan will force kids to share the closet space as well (don't know about you, but a 2ft closet is already tiny, how can you make 3 people share 2). There simply isn't really enough room for the extra person in those rooms.

Here's an article on it. https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2022/03/11/bpda-approves-northeastern-dorm-plan.html


Fall of 2021 produced a yield with over 1000 extra students, and then they had extras accept into the NUIn and NUBOund program as well (spring admit, go overseas for first semester and fall soph admit go overseas for the entire first year). So they have well over 1000 extra students to place on campus this fall---no clue yet what their yield will be for fall 2022. And NEU has grown alot in the last 8-10 years already and was already poorly dealing with this growth in many areas on campus (except collecting your tuition and R&B $$$).

Initially for fall 2022 admits, the NUBound students were NOT going to EVER be allowed to live on campus when they returned. But when parents (reasonably complained), NEU changed their tone. However, not sure where exactly those extra 500-800 students will be put fall of 2023. And while they could go off campus, that's a challenge in Boston when you haven't even spent the last year in Boston but instead in Oakland CA or London. Boston is a city where you typically pay 1 month brokerage fee to find an apartnemtn. How do you find an apt when you aren't there, how do you find roommates if you don't want to live with NUBound people? Just an indicator to me that they have accepted too many students and cannot accommodate the growing student population.

There is also the huge issue that NEU has already had to use Hotels to house students and requires those students to have a meal plan, despite not being on campus. They may need to do it again this fall. They are struggling with housing---typically the rising 2nd year and beyond (non-freshman) select their housing in March/early April. That hasn't happened yet. Supposed to happen in June/July. After that they will assign freshman. Sophmores are required to live on campus, yet it could be July before they are told where they can live, and for students with terrible housing numbers it might be august before they get assigned to an open space.

Maybe that's what you want for your kid. I personally at 75K+ per year for an education hope my kid could have a few things that are stable in their experiences. And for most the desire to know where they will be living is a key part of that. My incoming freshman (somewhere else) will likely have their housing assignment for freshman year before NEU rising sophomore/jr/seniors have their fall housing.

The article also states that this may NOT be temporary. "Kathy Spiegelman, Northeastern’s chief of campus planning and development, indicated that the added beds may not be temporary. " To me that's a red warning flag that it will continue as long as the city says NEU can cram that many kids into a dorm room.

Yes, I understand that many schools have to do "forced triples" or some solutions certain years as it's damn near impossible to predict yeild. But I've seen other schools forced triples---at one school I visited, those were extremely large doubles, everyone had a wardrobe/closet, beds had to be lofted with desk/dresser underneath, but there was still space for 1-2 lounge chairs and there was 6+ ft between the beds so open space in the center of the room. I've actually seen regular triples that have less space at other schools.

Just saying that don't just read the glossy brochure that NEU gives you. Dig a bit deeper into the school and see what issues there are and whether you are willing to accept these issues for your student's 4-5 years. Parent FB pages are great for this. Reading the student newspaper gives insight into student grievances as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seriously, pick a school for what it offers your kid NOW. Ignore the rankings. Yes, NEU gamed the system a bit, and so do many other schools. If you like what NEU offers, then go for it.

If you don't, and many don't want to study abroad fall or all of freshman year, then don't attend. Right now, I'd be more concerned about the housing issues and overcrowding and how that affects getting the courses you need, whether my kid is stuck in a single that's now a double (or double that's now a triple), whether for $6K+ per year for dining my kid can get food in a timely manner, whether my kid is stuck living in a hotel that is not on campus. NEU has grown really fast in the past decade and the infrastructure is not in place to support it. So go in with eyes wide open about what this could mean for your student for all aspects of life in college.

Also, be open minded and realize that students do get internships and do Coops at many other colleges (at least in the STEM fields). So your kid can attend elsewhere and still get work experience---many kids have been doing that for decades

Where are you getting this info regarding on campus housing shortage at NEU?

Here's another article with more details: https://huntnewsnu.com/67014/campus/nu-to-add-beds-to-east-village-international-village-to-address-overcrowding-concerns/


The average space per student will be shrunk to 60-70 sq ft!!!!! In the singles, they will put 2 students, but only 1 2 ft closet to share. In all the beds will have to be fully lofted.

My oldest lived in a new dorm their soph year; new dorm design was to make rooms "smaller" and have more lounges and space to gather outside the rooms. Their double was about 95sq ft per person--seemed small but was brand new and nice amenities.

My youngest will have basic dorms where they are attending, but the avg double is 210-220 sq ft (so over 100 sq ft per person).
I cannot imagine paying $11-12K/school year for my kid to live in a room with only 60-65 sq ft. And to have to live with 1 or 2 others in this confined space.

[Anonymous]

To be honest, I'd be embarrassed to be going to NEU or sending my kid there. The amount of ridicule it gets both by parents and students alike is astounding. Jury is out on whether that's justified, but there is something to be said about the insane boosterism, marketing, exploitative practices, and general air of arrogance I've seen exhibited by some NEU alums who are constantly claiming that it's an elite school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To be honest, I'd be embarrassed to be going to NEU or sending my kid there. The amount of ridicule it gets both by parents and students alike is astounding. Jury is out on whether that's justified, but there is something to be said about the insane boosterism, marketing, exploitative practices, and general air of arrogance I've seen exhibited by some NEU alums who are constantly claiming that it's an elite school.

Lol my child goes there and I am not the slightest bit embarrassed. No one gives a sh!t if it is an elite school or not. My dc is getting an excellent education and is very happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be honest, I'd be embarrassed to be going to NEU or sending my kid there. The amount of ridicule it gets both by parents and students alike is astounding. Jury is out on whether that's justified, but there is something to be said about the insane boosterism, marketing, exploitative practices, and general air of arrogance I've seen exhibited by some NEU alums who are constantly claiming that it's an elite school.

Lol my child goes there and I am not the slightest bit embarrassed. No one gives a sh!t if it is an elite school or not. My dc is getting an excellent education and is very happy.

ITA. Dc just graduated with a B.S. in cybersecurity and is starting a six-figure job next week. They had a great time at NEU, and the co-op program helped land that great job. Well worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To be honest, I'd be embarrassed to be going to NEU or sending my kid there. The amount of ridicule it gets both by parents and students alike is astounding. Jury is out on whether that's justified, but there is something to be said about the insane boosterism, marketing, exploitative practices, and general air of arrogance I've seen exhibited by some NEU alums who are constantly claiming that it's an elite school.

Lol my child goes there and I am not the slightest bit embarrassed. No one gives a sh!t if it is an elite school or not. My dc is getting an excellent education and is very happy.

It is a good school. I (PP) was just pointing out that parents/kids should be aware of the issues NEU has with growing so fast. I'll also note many other schools are having these issues as well (Tufts is one---their put ~100 students in a hotel this year that is 1.6 miles from campus without good shuttles was a disaster for several months). For my kid they were already thinking NEU was larger than they wanted (despite really wanting to be in Boston). And my kid made the right choice to be at a different school with an undergrad size more suited to them.

I researched all schools my kid was considering and tried to be aware of all of these "other issues" that could affect the college experience. Some say it's looking at the negative side of things, I say it's just being aware of them. I'd prefer to know the negatives (all schools have them) and make your choices with those in mind along with the positives---just take off the rose colored glasses and know what you are really getting.

[Anonymous]

My MIL went to Northeastern. At that time, it was like Columbia College Chicago -- all you needed to get in was a high school diploma. It's astounding how they've gamed the system and climbed in the rankings. When our kids started looking at colleges, DH sneered at Northeastern, as a glorified CC. Wow. How times have changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My MIL went to Northeastern. At that time, it was like Columbia College Chicago -- all you needed to get in was a high school diploma. It's astounding how they've gamed the system and climbed in the rankings. When our kids started looking at colleges, DH sneered at Northeastern, as a glorified CC. Wow. How times have changed.

This makes you (and your sneering husband) seem much worst than northeastern, fyi!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:College students like living in a vibrant city and receiving training and education in skills that will result in a well-paid and interesting job after graduation. Seems like a model other institutions should consider emulating.

It felt like a vocational school the way they pitched it to us. DS didn't like the disjointed feel of the non-campus.