I love that Rice is adding 300 new first year student seats next year. Why don't more colleges add seats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think the biggest issue would be attracting quality and qualified professors.

Given the academic job market, they will have zero problems attracting quality and qualified professors.

There is literally no more office space in my department’s building for additional offices and labs. I would love more colleagues and space , but I don’t think this is as easy as some of you are imagining

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not just a matter of adding a dorm. They would have to raise course enrollment sizes then, build larger classrooms, and/or hire more professors and TAs, build offices for those professors, etc., unless parents are fine with larger classes, crappier grading due to staff shortages, and cramped facilities.

Agree, don’t want this. Getting mandatory classes in happens, but it’s usually a bit stressful with waitlists for some popular majors requirements. Can’t imagine how hard it must be at larger schools. Overflow for popular professors, tutoring fills up day one, there will definitely be quality issues I don’t want to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think the biggest issue would be attracting quality and qualified professors.

You don't need more professors.

Of course you do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think the biggest issue would be attracting quality and qualified professors.

You don't need more professors.

You do if you want to keep the same quality of instruction.

Not everyone is in the same major though. Intentionally.

If they had 100 students a year and maybe add two more students per major do you really think they need more professors in year one?

No, they can plan for it in year five.

Look for programs that are new at these schools - where they need more majors - when you are applying. Be strategic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think the biggest issue would be attracting quality and qualified professors.

You don't need more professors.

Of course they do. They need more classrooms as well, unless parents are comfortable with online classes.

[Anonymous]

Most privates don’t require you to declare major until sophomore year and don’t admit that way. Of course they need to factor in a wide range of interests so they don’t bottleneck, but it absolutely happens for pre-med, engineering, CS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If Harvard wants to expand capacity to 100,000 students they can find enough students who are willing to pay full price. But then who would want to go to Harvard in that case?

Harvard can market its degrees by having a 2 tier system - in person and virtual. They can charge the same and droves of people would coke. They can even offer international students this option and get around any visa issues. They are name brand so it all depends on how they want to make money.

Harvard College, like many of the older schools and universities on the east coast, cannot grow due to lack of physical space. If you want the first-year students to have the "Yard" experience, that is in a set amount of rooms dating back to 1763. https://www.thecrimson.com/column/a-new-day-at-harvard/article/2021/2/12/berger-increase-undergrad-enrollment/

In die time it will all be virtual and available to anyone with a pulse and funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many have been, and then parents and students and the community complain about over-crowded dorms, the school renting hotels, etc.

True. But Rice has been slowly expanding from 4000 to 5200 students over a few years. And they've built the infrastructure for it, including a new residential college. There's nothing haphazard about it. No one at Rice is enduring hotels or overcrowded dorms. Some years ago, the school decided it wanted to be a little bigger and planned accordingly. They certainly have the endowment for it.

This is how you do it. I realize not every university has the space to pull this off, but turning doubles into triples appears to be the new norm but cramming kids into small spaces together isn’t healthy.

+1
There are already so many people in houston. It's so crowded everywhere and squashing students like sardines will fit right in with the culture. The reputation has not caught up with reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think the biggest issue would be attracting quality and qualified professors.

Given the academic job market, they will have zero problems attracting quality and qualified professors.

There is literally no more office space in my department’s building for additional offices and labs. I would love more colleagues and space , but I don’t think this is as easy as some of you are imagining

Buildings can always be added, altered, refurbished, etc. For an academic you have a very closed mind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think the biggest issue would be attracting quality and qualified professors.

Given the academic job market, they will have zero problems attracting quality and qualified professors.

There is literally no more office space in my department’s building for additional offices and labs. I would love more colleagues and space , but I don’t think this is as easy as some of you are imagining

They do have a new business school building coming.

https://www.ricethresher.org/article/2025/03/topping-out-next-step-for-new-business-building

"The business school broke ground on the new building in May. The unnamed 112,000-square-foot building will include classrooms, dining areas and event spaces. It is set to be completed by spring 2026, and DesRoches said in a speech to attendees he was told the construction of the building is on time, if not early."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think the biggest issue would be attracting quality and qualified professors.

Given the academic job market, they will have zero problems attracting quality and qualified professors.

There is literally no more office space in my department’s building for additional offices and labs. I would love more colleagues and space , but I don’t think this is as easy as some of you are imagining

Buildings can always be added, altered, refurbished, etc. For an academic you have a very closed mind.

You seem to be missing an obvious solution that requires no refurbishment or crowding of resources. There are many colleges in the US with quality faculty and students and there is an impending enrollment cliff. Why not just distribute the students among the vast number of schools with space instead of cramping them all into the same 20 schools to compete for tight resources?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think the biggest issue would be attracting quality and qualified professors.

Given the academic job market, they will have zero problems attracting quality and qualified professors.

The trend is to hire adjunct and other contingent faculty because tenure/tenure track professors are considered too expensive. This hurts educational quality for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think the biggest issue would be attracting quality and qualified professors.

You don't need more professors.

You do if you want to keep the same quality of instruction.

Not everyone is in the same major though. Intentionally.

If they had 100 students a year and maybe add two more students per major do you really think they need more professors in year one?

No, they can plan for it in year five.

Look for programs that are new at these schools - where they need more majors - when you are applying. Be strategic.

Most classes are not major-only. Many/most of those 100 students are taking pre-reqs and gen ed requirements the first year or two. Either those classes will get bigger, you add more sections, or they become more difficult to access.

[Anonymous]

Some people, both students and faculty, prefer smaller universities to large ones for a reason. I am not knocking larger schools that have their own set of benefits, but it’s weird to claim that enlarging universities will make them all better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would think the biggest issue would be attracting quality and qualified professors.

Given the academic job market, they will have zero problems attracting quality and qualified professors.

The trend is to hire adjunct and other contingent faculty because tenure/tenure track professors are considered too expensive. This hurts educational quality for everyone.

https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/growing-university-rice-welcomes-97-new-faculty-bolster-teaching-research

"The university is experiencing exceptional growth in its enrollment, which is matched by a similar increase in faculty. Fifty-seven tenured and tenure-track faculty will join Rice this academic year, and 40 nontenure track faculty will join Rice this calendar year."