Is St. Mary's college of MD going downhill?

[Anonymous]

It is ranked highly as a school with the happiest students. The science programs are supposed to be strong. The campus setting is striking. But lately I have been reading reports on declining enrollment and deferred maintenance. Can students or parents with recent experience share their opinions about whether it is still a hidden gem or is on the decline?

[Anonymous]

If anything, the school is improving. There was a period with a horrible administration a few years ago but Tuajuanda Jordan, the new president has been doing a great job the past few years. My DS is a junior at St. Mary’s and we are really impressed at how far the school has come: new buildings, new programs, new positions, and they just started building a new stadium complex. I’m confused on where you are reading reports on deferred maintenance. My DS has never mentioned any issues and every time we have visited the campus, we are always impressed by how clean everything is and love the feeling that it is like a small private college but with a public school price tag. Yes, definitely happy students and great science program. Like any school, I’m sure you can find something that isn’t perfect but St. Mary’s really is a gem.

[Anonymous]

That is great news, thank you! Nothing like eyes on the ground. "Deferred maintenance" may have been the wrong term. I have just read about disappointing enrollments, and assumed that resulted in budget cuts. Plus I had read some negative on-line reviews from students. Your "review" concurs with what we saw on our visit.

[Anonymous]

OP-- I am curious to know where you read about the declining enrollment and deferred maintenance. I am interested in that school for my daughter. I loved it when I visited and believe it would be a great fit for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is great news, thank you! Nothing like eyes on the ground. "Deferred maintenance" may have been the wrong term. I have just read about disappointing enrollments, and assumed that resulted in budget cuts. Plus I had read some negative on-line reviews from students. Your "review" concurs with what we saw on our visit.

Yeah, probably better to stay away from those student review sites during the college search. It only takes one disgruntled student to post a bunch of negative reviews. Much better to talk to actual students attending the school.

[Anonymous]

They are at the bottom already. I highly doubt they can decline at this point (it can only go up or stay where they are). It's not a new thing either. It's been going on for many years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are at the bottom already. I highly doubt they can decline at this point (it can only go up or stay where they are). It's not a new thing either. It's been going on for many years.

Wow, who pissed in your cheerios this morning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are at the bottom already. I highly doubt they can decline at this point (it can only go up or stay where they are). It's not a new thing either. It's been going on for many years.

Wow, who pissed in your cheerios this morning?

Noone. I don't like cheerios. Which part of my post do you disagree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is great news, thank you! Nothing like eyes on the ground. "Deferred maintenance" may have been the wrong term. I have just read about disappointing enrollments, and assumed that resulted in budget cuts. Plus I had read some negative on-line reviews from students. Your "review" concurs with what we saw on our visit.

Yeah, probably better to stay away from those student review sites during the college search. It only takes one disgruntled student to post a bunch of negative reviews. Much better to talk to actual students attending the school.

I think we found one of those right here on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Re: declining enrollment:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-college-enrollment-20160902-story.html

http://www.somdnews.com/breaking/st-mary-s-college-prunes-budget-due-to-decline-in/article_17df86b8-bba9-5ecf-b584-8955f3de1d37.html

Just wondering how this impacts the mix of kids they do enroll, as their acceptance rate seems to have gone up.

But we really liked the school when we visited, and my daughter seems to favor it. She also got into Wooster with good merit aid. We are not too familiar with it, or Ohio. Once the other acceptances roll in, I will probably be further confused. Hopefully, her overnight visits (not sure if SMCM offers overnight to be honest) will leave her with a strong preference one way or the other.

[Anonymous]

Problem started years ago.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/st-marys-college-of-maryland-joins-troubling-trend-too-many-empty-freshman-seats/2013/11/22/2fd1f8c0-489a-11e3-b6f8-3782ff6cb769_story.html?utm_term=.d80ea868dcf7

It also had recent issues.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2016/03/31/multiple-dorm-arsons-confederate-flags-put-a-college-on-edge/?utm_term=.a1969918f292

Lack of funding from state + low enrollment (which makes admit rate up, quality of students down) is really killing the school. But, yeah, water's nice.

[Anonymous]

Most SLACs are dealing with how to maintain enrollment. When my DS was college hunting, he was accepted at many of the CTCL schools such as Earlham, Beloit, Wooster, McDaniel, and Goucher. They all play a bit of a game where the sticker price is around $45-50,000 but they give tons of merit aid so the total cost of attendance ending up up being closer to $30-35,000. Most of these schools seemed to put a large amount of resources into marketing. At the time, St. Mary’s did very little marketing in comparison, especially to attract out of state students and didn’t play the merit aid game to such an extent. Not sure how much that impacts their enrollment. For my DS, choosing was easy. St. Mary’s was his first choice and the cost of attendance was lowest of any SLAC he looked at (he also was accepted at Gettysburg and Franklin & Marshall which were really out of our price range).

I’m not going to try to convince anyone of the merits of a liberal arts education but for any student looking for an affordable SLAC, St. Mary’s is a great option. It has been an incredible school for my DS and he recently told me that he will be sad to graduate next year. He has had great professors and formed lasting friendships and has not regretted his choice of schools. I think you’d find that the majority of students there feel the same way. Yeah, and water’s nice too.

[Anonymous]

It ranks 95 in public liberal art colleges

[Anonymous]

"and didn’t play the merit aid game to such an extent."

Given their sticker price of $27,300, we were shocked to get $5k more knocked off the price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: declining enrollment:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/education/bs-md-college-enrollment-20160902-story.html

http://www.somdnews.com/breaking/st-mary-s-college-prunes-budget-due-to-decline-in/article_17df86b8-bba9-5ecf-b584-8955f3de1d37.html

Just wondering how this impacts the mix of kids they do enroll, as their acceptance rate seems to have gone up.

But we really liked the school when we visited, and my daughter seems to favor it. She also got into Wooster with good merit aid. We are not too familiar with it, or Ohio. Once the other acceptances roll in, I will probably be further confused. Hopefully, her overnight visits (not sure if SMCM offers overnight to be honest) will leave her with a strong preference one way or the other.

My daughter isn't in college yet but I saw this thread in recent topics, and I wanted to thank you guys for putting Stuff Mary's on my radar. It sounds like a great choice.

I'm chiming in because I have a very close friend who went to Wooster about ten years ago and really loved it. I don't really have a lot of specific details to offer with that--the English department was good, there's a marching band--but it's a good school.