It's only a 2 hr drive from Lambert St Louis MO airport. Like Univ of IL UC UIUC, it is not close to a larger city so getting to and from if kid is visiting home on the east coast. This week there was an article (NY Times?) on Carbondale IL (where SIUC is located) being a hub for abortions in a 10 state radius. Do people actually attend this school from far away states or is it more of a regional university?

Anonymous wrote:Where?? What in the world?

I haven't been, but I'm guessing from the name it's in Carbondale, which is a city in Southern Illinois.

I looked at it, because my kid wants to study glassblowing and engineering and there aren't many schools that offer both.

Anonymous wrote:My aunt and uncle lived there--he was a professer at the university. Back then Carbondale was a super depressing town. I can't imagine it's had a big glow-up!

In my five years there "depressing" never came to mind. "Charming" never came to mind either, but it was too lively to be depressing.

I went there in the late 80s and early 90s! It has quite a history. Maybe a bit of a party school, but that was easily avoided. It was known for having a large international student population. I don't think it still does.

It has a large school of technical careers that has programs in aviation, automotive management (managing fleets, etc.), mortuary science, etc. But it's also a research university.

I don't know what it's like now, but I would check it out. The town of Carbondale is very Democratic, like many college towns. Downtown is a short walk from campus and there are the usual bars, restaurants, theater, etc.

I studied Russian which I think they no longer offer. I still remember my gen ed Philosophy professor and Russian History professor for being amazing. It wasn't perfect, but I have great memories.

But now SIU has half the students as when I went there. Here's an article about it and how they are fighting to maintain standards of DEI. I don't even recognize the school in the article. I never thought of SIU as having basically only local reach. There were people from all over the world doing their research, and undergrads from all over too, including tons from Chicagoland. And rural America leans to Trump everywhere, not just the countryside around Carbondale.

So maybe they are trying extra hard now to recruit. That can be good. I would research specific programs.

https://www.propublica.org/article/regional-public-universities-trump-funding-dei

My aunt and uncle lived there--he was a professer at the university. Back then Carbondale was a super depressing town. I can't imagine it's had a big glow-up!

OP cannot possibly be from around here.

I went there for my masters and it’s a lovely campus. That was decades ago, and their enrollment has declined since then, but it’s in a really pretty area and I enjoyed my classes and professors. Draws kids from Illinois, Missouri and the Chicago area.

Where?? What in the world?

Hard to get there

Might be a good safety for someone. They have lost a lot of students in recent years, according to some IL news reports.

Google says SAT avg is 1120 or higher and 90% acceptance. ~6,000 undergrads. Big benefit seems to be the very low tuition of around $11k. Could be good for certain students.

OP- are you from Illinois or the Midwest?

In 2015, SIUC made the Top Ten list for "Schools That Party All Day Everyday".

Why in the world?

Seems decent.

Kid isn’t sure what she wants to major in. Not sure if she’s got the grades or sats but why not try right?

Anybody go there or have a kid there now ?