Syracuse University issues financial warning as admissions slump: We’re in the red

[Anonymous]

SEC caters to oos full pays denied elswhere. These lackluster students fit right in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe this will finally be the end of the massively bloated university administrations. I think few parents appreciate how the hiring of non-teaching faculty has exploded since we were in college. This is what has contributed to the massive increases in tuition. Enough is enough.

Exactly. Time to pink-slip the Assistant Associate Deans of Student Engagement and the Sub-directors of Academic Fulfillment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SEC caters to oos full pays denied elswhere. These lackluster students fit right in.

Shut up. Texas, UGA, UF, Vandy disagree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all colleges are being impacted. Some like Tulane, Syracuse, UVM are being hurt. Colleges like Florida, Georgia, SMU, are getting more and more applications. The Boston colleges are doing great and all getting record application. NYU isn't having trouble.

The ones struggling have some pointed deficiency. Syracuse's location doesn't help it, just like Tulane's after Katrina. UVM and Syracuse both suffer from the same isolated hinterland stigma.

UVM has a great location.

No one young wants to live in vermont.

It's a state for old boomer hippies

The only young people I know who go to school there are academically middling white kids from NYC.
The only adults I have met from there are flowing white haired hippies who follow Grateful Dead tribute bands who always seem to sport a bandana wrapped around their heads.

I have no dog in this fight, but I know several kids from NOVA (APS, specifically) who have applied to UVM and a few who have attended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:America does not want to experience college walking between snow trenches. That’s their fundamental problem. If Syracuse was as far south of NYC as it is north, Syracuse would be fine.

This made me laugh, because I went to Syracuse and it was truly the best 4 years of my life... Snow and all.

I didn’t go to Syracuse but have several friends who did, and almost everything they wear is orange. The cult of Syracuse is strong, lol.

It’s true. I’m from the area originally and there is still a lot of orange in my house. My next is getting ready for applications and wants to target much higher schools with Syracuse being her safety. We are telling her it’s not worth the money and we love the school and still watch the sports. She tells us she’s not ruling anything out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The recent flood of Northeast and Midwestern kids going to SEC schools has to be hurting Syracuse. Much better weather, sports, and 50-60% of the cost.

Wherher you like it or not, teens and young adults' natural instinct is to have fun, enjoy life, try new things and not to be rigid, judgy, or puritanical.

The northeast colleges and small liberal arts colleges have overwhelmingly presented themselves as being no fun, filled with screaming protestors and virulent thought police where the crazy students who like to judge and censor people are everywhere, ruled by the stereotypical blue haired girl running around in a mask 5 years after covid craziness ended.

I mean, with regards to Syracuse that is not really the reputation. It's sort of known for being a fun school with tremendous school spirit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The recent flood of Northeast and Midwestern kids going to SEC schools has to be hurting Syracuse. Much better weather, sports, and 50-60% of the cost.

Wherher you like it or not, teens and young adults' natural instinct is to have fun, enjoy life, try new things and not to be rigid, judgy, or puritanical.

The northeast colleges and small liberal arts colleges have overwhelmingly presented themselves as being no fun, filled with screaming protestors and virulent thought police where the crazy students who like to judge and censor people are everywhere, ruled by the stereotypical blue haired girl running around in a mask 5 years after covid craziness ended.

I mean, with regards to Syracuse that is not really the reputation. It's sort of known for being a fun school with tremendous school spirit.

We've got spirit, yes we do, we've got spirit, how about YOU!

[Anonymous]

Syracuse is a great school with many, many passionate alums. I bet they figure this out and come out of this stronger. It’s a sweet spot school in terms of size with strong academics, strong school spirit and a beautiful campus. Agree they need to do something about tuition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The recent flood of Northeast and Midwestern kids going to SEC schools has to be hurting Syracuse. Much better weather, sports, and 50-60% of the cost.

Wherher you like it or not, teens and young adults' natural instinct is to have fun, enjoy life, try new things and not to be rigid, judgy, or puritanical.

The northeast colleges and small liberal arts colleges have overwhelmingly presented themselves as being no fun, filled with screaming protestors and virulent thought police where the crazy students who like to judge and censor people are everywhere, ruled by the stereotypical blue haired girl running around in a mask 5 years after covid craziness ended.

I mean, with regards to Syracuse that is not really the reputation. It's sort of known for being a fun school with tremendous school spirit.

There are kids who are really gung ho about school spirit and sports and if they can't get into Ivy+ might prefer a school like Syracuse, an SEC school, etc. over Rochester, Case, Tufts, etc. which are academically "better" but don't have that. And some people with money will shell out for Syracuse over the top SUNY schools, which again are likely "better," because they want the sports and spirit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The recent flood of Northeast and Midwestern kids going to SEC schools has to be hurting Syracuse. Much better weather, sports, and 50-60% of the cost.

Wherher you like it or not, teens and young adults' natural instinct is to have fun, enjoy life, try new things and not to be rigid, judgy, or puritanical.

The northeast colleges and small liberal arts colleges have overwhelmingly presented themselves as being no fun, filled with screaming protestors and virulent thought police where the crazy students who like to judge and censor people are everywhere, ruled by the stereotypical blue haired girl running around in a mask 5 years after covid craziness ended.

I mean, with regards to Syracuse that is not really the reputation. It's sort of known for being a fun school with tremendous school spirit.

There are kids who are really gung ho about school spirit and sports and if they can't get into Ivy+ might prefer a school like Syracuse, an SEC school, etc. over Rochester, Case, Tufts, etc. which are academically "better" but don't have that. And some people with money will shell out for Syracuse over the top SUNY schools, which again are likely "better," because they want the sports and spirit.

Kids who care about school spirit are overwhelmingly looking south and midwest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Syracuse is a great school with many, many passionate alums. I bet they figure this out and come out of this stronger. It’s a sweet spot school in terms of size with strong academics, strong school spirit and a beautiful campus. Agree they need to do something about tuition.

Syracuse's average SAT scores are tanking. In fact, I'm not even sure if Syracuse bothered to publish a common data set for 2024. Low SAT, low student selectivy, high price.

Syracuse is in trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Syracuse is a great school with many, many passionate alums. I bet they figure this out and come out of this stronger. It’s a sweet spot school in terms of size with strong academics, strong school spirit and a beautiful campus. Agree they need to do something about tuition.

Syracuse's average SAT scores are tanking. In fact, I'm not even sure if Syracuse bothered to publish a common data set for 2024. Low SAT, low student selectivy, high price.

Syracuse is in trouble.

We toured on accepted students day. I really liked it and I think Syracuse has a lot to offer. DC liked a lot of things about it, but could not get beyond the fact that "everyone" DC knows who goes and/or is going there is, in DC's words, "not the greatest student." Ironic, as DC has not been the greatest student either in high school but, thanks to the flukes of yield this year, ended up getting off of multiple wait lists that I would have thought extreme long shots just a couple of years ago.

Agree that Syracuse needs to make some image changes in the coming years. They either need to purposely shrink in size and get more selective, add unique majors or figure out another aggressive way to respond to this trend. Being in Syracuse, unfortunately, is a negative with the weather. But a strong partnership with the city could help overcome that, as the city itself is not bad at all and would appeal to a lot of kids who like a mini-urban environment. Sort of like Tulane and New Orleans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"In an email to staff and faculty, Chancellor Mike Haynie said SU did not hit its undergraduate enrollment target for next year. As a result the school will not bring in enough revenue to cover its spending.

“This a moment for urgency and purpose — not panic. Universities that respond with focused, strategic effort will emerge stronger. Those that do not will find their options narrowing," Haynie said in the email. “I am committed to ensuring Syracuse is in the former category.”

https://www.syracuse.com/syracuse-university/2026/06/syracuse-university-issues-financial-warning-as-admissions-slump-were-in-the-red.html


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A lot of these types of colleges- private, not particularly selective, are going to be in this predicament. We are seeing a piling in of applications to T50 colleges. If you are a private college whose cost of attendance approaches $95,000 per year and you are, for better or worse, perceived as being a mediocre/non-selective college, the competition to attract high achieving students is fierce.

There are a decent amount of families - with VERY average kids - that can pay $95k per year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"In an email to staff and faculty, Chancellor Mike Haynie said SU did not hit its undergraduate enrollment target for next year. As a result the school will not bring in enough revenue to cover its spending.

“This a moment for urgency and purpose — not panic. Universities that respond with focused, strategic effort will emerge stronger. Those that do not will find their options narrowing," Haynie said in the email. “I am committed to ensuring Syracuse is in the former category.”

https://www.syracuse.com/syracuse-university/2026/06/syracuse-university-issues-financial-warning-as-admissions-slump-were-in-the-red.html


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A lot of these types of colleges- private, not particularly selective, are going to be in this predicament. We are seeing a piling in of applications to T50 colleges. If you are a private college whose cost of attendance approaches $95,000 per year and you are, for better or worse, perceived as being a mediocre/non-selective college, the competition to attract high achieving students is fierce.

There are a decent amount of families - with VERY average kids - that can pay $95k per year.

For now. But a school the size of Syracuse requires a lot of them to maintain a healthy freshman class each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Syracuse is a great school with many, many passionate alums. I bet they figure this out and come out of this stronger. It’s a sweet spot school in terms of size with strong academics, strong school spirit and a beautiful campus. Agree they need to do something about tuition.

Syracuse's average SAT scores are tanking. In fact, I'm not even sure if Syracuse bothered to publish a common data set for 2024. Low SAT, low student selectivy, high price.

Syracuse is in trouble.

We toured on accepted students day. I really liked it and I think Syracuse has a lot to offer. DC liked a lot of things about it, but could not get beyond the fact that "everyone" DC knows who goes and/or is going there is, in DC's words, "not the greatest student." Ironic, as DC has not been the greatest student either in high school but, thanks to the flukes of yield this year, ended up getting off of multiple wait lists that I would have thought extreme long shots just a couple of years ago.

Agree that Syracuse needs to make some image changes in the coming years. They either need to purposely shrink in size and get more selective, add unique majors or figure out another aggressive way to respond to this trend. Being in Syracuse, unfortunately, is a negative with the weather. But a strong partnership with the city could help overcome that, as the city itself is not bad at all and would appeal to a lot of kids who like a mini-urban environment. Sort of like Tulane and New Orleans.

Well said.