COLUMN: Why Utah State needs help
This year, most of us have heard at least something about Utah State University’s retention problems. In case you haven’t, the bottom line is that, even compared to other Utah schools, ours is bad.
We have the highest percentage of students who start school here and don’t come back, and the numbers do take into account the freshmen males who leave for church missions.
Utah State’s answer to the problem was to spend money by hiring an outside company to find out why the rate is so bad, and find ways to improve it. I can save them a lot of time and money and tell you why students aren’t coming back.
The No. 1 reason why we are all here is to get an education, but there are thousands of places in this country to get that education, so the extra-curricular aspects of the university weigh a great deal on a student’s decision on which one they wish to attend.
Tuition has increased every year since I’ve been here, yet the amount of financial aid offered to students stays the same. This may be true of other universities as well, but any student who has ever looked for a job in this town knows how hard it is to get one, especially one that will work around a student’s schedule. The school could help us out on this with on-campus jobs, but the majority of those are reserved for students eligible for work study.
The city of Logan itself is not student-friendly. Zoning laws make it very difficult for many students to afford off-campus housing which most students want after living in dorms for the first year or two.
There is also nowhere in town for college students to go just to hang out. Other college towns I have visited, even Salt Lake City, have clubs with a side for more than 21 people to go if they want to have a drink and an all-ages side for dancing, so everyone can go to the same place. This town practically shuts down at 10 o’clock, even on weekends. The exception is the movie theaters, which are packed on weekends, mostly with high school kids.
Many of the on-campus facilities are sub-par, most notably the exercise equipment. Before I came to USU, my high school and Salt Lake Community College had much better and bigger exercise rooms than we have here. I know this has been a big debate over the last few years, but it is ridiculous to come to a university and have worse equipment than a high school.
The overall attitude on this campus is apathetic to the entire university. Associated Students of USU put on programs and events for the students, but in order to improve these programs, students need to support them. Most colleges, even ones smaller and more out-of-the-way than USU, can bring in big name concerts which helps the student morale and brings in money at the same time.
In fact, just this month, 311 played at UVSC, the same school that will be hosting No Doubt, another big draw, in two weeks. The University of Utah has Willie Nelson and Pink on their schedule. There are several other small-name national groups on the list of Utah concerts coming to other schools in the state, but none are at USU.
All these reasons for students not to come back to school may soon be compacted with a major strain on out-of-state students if the recent bill requiring students to complete 60 credit hours to obtain residency passes. This will make it much more difficult for students from outside of Utah to afford to come here. It will probably help the retention rate, because students can’t leave if they never come in the first place. These same reasons might also be why our school has very low alumni donations compared to other universities. If a student doesn’t have a positive experience while they’re here, they’re not likely to give money back when they’re gone.
None of these things may seem like a very big deal alone, but all them put together, teamed with other less-obvious problems many students experience, add up to students feeling disconnected and frustrated, which does not make them want to come back.