MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon addressed the issue of accepting the largest class in MSU history at Tuesday’s Faculty Senate meeting, reiterating this was an error on MSU’s part but the university plans to solve it.
Simon said MSU began the year aware they accepted too many students — more than 8,000 — for the university to hold and the rate of students dropping out was lower than any other year in the history of MSU’s Academic Orientation Program.
“You can make the experience (at AOP) miserable and hope they don’t come back, but you have to make it selectively miserable to hope some people come back,” Simon said jokingly.
Senior Associate Provost June Youatt said faculty and administrators felt responsible to help with orientation this year, including Simon’s visit to the residence halls.
Youatt also said the ACT scores and grade-point averages of the class of 2016 are marginally higher than last year’s incoming freshmen.
“The truth is that their records are stronger, and they had options, (but) they chose to come here,” Youatt said. “These are students that are capable of getting through (four years at MSU ). There are a few who will slack off on their studies, and they will soon be found out.”
Simon said the university has to figure out how to solve the problem of too many students but also make sure to keep the quality of an MSU education where it needs to be.
“We are providing a service that is in demand, and people are prepared to pay for it,” Simon said. “Ninety percent of students who leave here say they would do it again, including those with debt.”
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