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thebatfan5194 t1_j10v4fc wrote

My wife and I both went to WCSU, graduated in 2016… was a commuter student. Not totally surprised by the problems they are facing now. It’s definitely not a “cool” school to go to but I went there because I could afford it and left school without significant debt and still got a job at the end of it.

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DanAmarante t1_j11prqm wrote

Same situation here. Both my wife and I went there (although we weren’t commuters) and while it completely lacks the sense of “school spirit”, we both got jobs right out of school without being totally swamped in loans.

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SKIPPY_IS_REAL t1_j13ugx6 wrote

The problem with a ton of these colleges is that administration has become a large portion of the yearly cost. I have a friend on the board at Uhart, and despite charging close to $70,000 a year, they are losing money because 35% of the budget is just administrators who get paid more than teachers for very niche positions that require less than 20 hours a week of real work. I know this is a problem most universities are facing right now, even state schools.

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gargle_your_dad t1_j152h2z wrote

Public highschools have the same problem. They don't have money for teachers but money for administration. Where my mother teaches the district has a six figure art therapist who only goes to her classroom once a year. It's beyond pathetic and nepotism is a huge factor.

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yeet41 t1_j18860v wrote

I’m glad people are finally seeing the amount of useless jobs out there.

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woofieroofie t1_j10v52h wrote

The comment in the article that WCSU is a school without an identity is pretty spot on. I graduated from WCSU and in my opinion, it's a school people went to for three reasons: the nursing program, the art program, or because it was local and cheap.

In my experience, I didn't want to commute every morning to the UConn campus in Waterbury or Stamford, and didn't want to drown in student loans from living at Storrs. Looking back I kind of regret not attending a different school because maybe my social college life would have been completely different and more memorable, but I guess what ultimately matters in the end is the diploma.

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chandogrogo t1_j11d0ut wrote

The comments are too funny. I went to WCSU as well, and every thing is pretty true. There’s no community really. It definitely feels like a commuter school even when I lived on campus. I only lasted a year because I had no interest in my major or being there half the time. In the same breath, it definitely played a part in who I am today and I don’t think I would change that for anything. It will be sad to see people who actually care lose their jobs

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spmahn t1_j12k7fi wrote

All the CSU schools are like that though, I lived on campus at CCSU and it was pretty much a joke, even the people who lived on campus in dorms weren’t staying there. The weekends and evenings the campus looked like a ghost town.

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CANOODLING_SOCIOPATH t1_j1164ej wrote

When the unemployment rate is low, like it currently is, colleges like WCSU typically struggle. There are a lot of marginal college students who weigh the choice between going, or continuing to go, to college and getting a job, and right now they can pretty easily get a decent paying job. So many of them are going to decide to take a job instead of going to college.

You can see in the article that enrollment peaks from 2008 to 2012 and then declined as the economy improved.

These colleges need to plan for this cycles. When there is an economic downturn and enrollment skyrockets they should not expect that to continue indefinitely or attribute those numbers to the universities performance. And when those enrollment numbers crater when there is a 3.7% unemployment rate then they should not assume that is the permanent state of affairs.

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SirKnightRyan t1_j11g4sb wrote

Demographics are also a factor, we built up colleges for the millennials, but gen z who are currently in college are the smallest adult US generation.

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matt_fusion t1_j13kfux wrote

I don’t know man, I’ve met some pretty tall Gen Zers.

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Blue-Philosopher5127 t1_j126w0h wrote

Yea this 100% has more to do with demographics. This problem will continue to get worse for schools and big schools are already planning for it. They have been predicting this for a long time and there have been tons of articles on it.

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IndicationOver OP t1_j10lw8e wrote

WCSU is like the only state college I never partied at back in the day. I don't think I ever actually been to that campus.

Always SCSU, CCSU, UHart, UConn and Eastern anyone else?

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Cro-mile t1_j10maom wrote

Same here, I think I may know one person from HS that went to WCSU and it’s a big maybe

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1984isnowpleb t1_j10oq05 wrote

Everyone went home on the weekends occasionally would go to one of the shitty clubs down the road

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adam_west_ t1_j10rbhj wrote

All the kids from that area go to central or southern, the rest go to school out of state . WCSU greatly expanded about 15 years ago and perhaps they missed their targets

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No_Resolutions t1_j10xpms wrote

Same here. Can only recall one person I've ever talked to that went there.

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ImpossibleParfait t1_j11ui3f wrote

Even CCSU was pretty lame when I went there. Thursday nights was the party night and that place emptied from Friday to Sunday. I went there recently and was blown away by all the change from 10 years ago. WCSU is still the same. The food was absolutely atrocious when I went to CCSU and that seems to have changed, there's also now a dining option "up the hill," which you would not what that means if you went there, what we called the "rape trail" is gone etc.

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spmahn t1_j12khfq wrote

CCSU was empty every night of the week, even the people who lived on campus would get in their car and drive off to stay somewhere else most nights

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VMI_Account t1_j14x2mq wrote

I lived in an off campus apartment, but walking distance to the school. My roommate was from NY and would drive 2 hours home every weekend instead of staying at the apartment lol. Weekend party scene wasn't too bad though...nothing like UConn but we could usually find something going on in the area.

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Skolas519 t1_j1536zk wrote

>what we called the "rape trail"

The what now

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ImpossibleParfait t1_j160d63 wrote

There was a wooded area at one of the edges of campus that had a footpath that was basically a shortcut. When I was a freshman in 09, it was notorious for robberies by New Britain trash and the occasional sexual assault. By the time I graduated they had turned the dirt path into an actual walk way with cameras and a concrete path. Now the whole piece of land next to the road has been converted into I think a fast food pizza place and dollar store, and the state police barracks is literally right next to where it the trail used to be. CCSU is not far from New Britain ghettos and robbing college drunk college kids is a relatively low risk activity. I know New Britain has improved considerably since then but it used to be pretty sketchy. My friends and I rented a house like 200 yards from campus that got broken into multiple times, I would wake up to bums fighting over cans left on the front porch from last night's party. I got to know many of the local crackheads, there was a road rage shootout right outside our house. It was certainly an experience.

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_-elijah t1_j11pc3p wrote

Local Danburian here. Definitely a stigma against people from Danbury going to WCSU because they look at it as DHS 2.0. Everyone who I know that went there went there for either cost reasons, the nursing program, or because they procrastinated their applications until the last two weeks and didn’t research any other schools. A lot of the socially isolated people from DHS ended up going to Westconn

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KeifHaring t1_j1268i0 wrote

I’m also local to the area remember WCSU being used as a threat by my parents as the only school I could go to if my grades weren’t high enough. Now that I’m older, I realized there were a bunch of my now colleagues who went there for the same education I got but for a way cheaper price. Kinda funny how in the end, we all ended up working for the same company to start out but I had to pay extra money to go to a “better” college

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beaveristired t1_j14ha81 wrote

CCSU feels like this too. I grew up in a nearby town and walking through the CCSU student center felt like walking through my high school. It was kinda depressing and not very motivating. I saved a lot of money going there, but after 2 years I transferred to Umass. I needed to feel like I was progressing and moving forward, and CCSU felt like stagnation.

(I ended up at CCSU because I disliked the first college I went to, and it felt like a waste of money so I transferred to Central after one semester to save money and regroup.)

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blade-runner9 t1_j11dcei wrote

I think the professor is right. Start with the local schools not NY or NJ. Offer high school credit programs to entice those kids to go to wcsu. The administration is probably way past retirement age and no one will kick them out.

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DLun203 t1_j12dda1 wrote

I went there in 08 for a semester before transferring. The school has no identity. It's a small school that is broken up into two campuses on opposite ends of Danbury, which is extremely inconvenient. How many people in other schools have to plan their class schedule around rush hour? It's not a big sports school so there's very little school spirit. It's tough to attract high school seniors to a school like that.

That said, I hope they figure this out. It's actually a good school from an academic standpoint. It has really good nursing and education programs.

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xHouse_of_Hornetsx t1_j116sob wrote

I hated WCSU. Finishing my degree online now cuz the thought of ever stepping foot back on that campus gives me flight or fight.

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steamyqueef t1_j12iupc wrote

So comforting to know that wasn't only me that felt that way. I might finish my degree from there online too lol

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MaleficentGuava3649 t1_j1267sp wrote

Although the cost of living and taxes are high in CT, I've always been proud of our state colleges. They provide a quality education at a very reasonable price. Perhaps we've become oversaturated with colleges??

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[deleted] t1_j1260yn wrote

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Cesarswife t1_j13fo3m wrote

From these comments I can tell you a great deal of SUNY schools have a similar culture - a former NYer now in CT.

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[deleted] t1_j13funa wrote

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Cesarswife t1_j13ge2k wrote

Which school? You mean as a system? In NY SUNY is seen as a small step up from CC. They target local people and are often back up schools. A degree is a degree at the end of the day but there are only a VERY small number of SUNY schools that are recognizable and desired and even then, having attended one known very specifically for its programs, the culture and other degree offering sucked.

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GourmetTherapy t1_j13hsg1 wrote

I think this opinion must differ greatly by location. I grew up in NY and SUNY was seen as just another college. I know a lot of people that went to SUNY schools and they all had great experiences.

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urbanevol t1_j13ip31 wrote

Stony Brook, Buffalo, New Paltz, Geneseo, and Binghamton at a minimum have good reputations. There are a lot of really local campuses that are similar to CSU though.

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roundabout_now t1_j14k92c wrote

My daughter was accepted at WCSU and SUNY Puchase. She chose SUNY. She found heroin spoons on the stairs to the library. She left after a semester.

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Papa_Bearto2 t1_j11b0tg wrote

Graduated from WCSU in 06 and haven’t ever used my degree.

I do remember the graduation ceremony because a ton of idiots were booing the speaker.

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wakinupdrunk t1_j13w5g7 wrote

It’s a community college disguised as a 4 year school. That part of the state has nothing to entice people fresh out of high school - it’s a school you go to before you go to the school you really wanted.

It’s a weird thing to measure. Even the community colleges have issues with it - they gauge success based on the number of graduates. But largely, people aren’t going to these schools to graduate, they go because it’s cheap and they can get started there before leaving.

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steamyqueef t1_j12iks1 wrote

Wow I am not the least bit surprised, about a week into each semester in every class I took the class size dropped by half.

Their math program especially is a joke it's almost insulting. They stick you in front of a computer all class every class and the entire course is this online textbook bullshit, exams included--with little to no involvement from the professor.

On top of that absolutely no community and I've only had a miserable experience there I want my money back lol

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xHouse_of_Hornetsx t1_j13dvwi wrote

I dropped out of that math class twice. Kept falling behind cuz it was so hard to engage with.

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Shot-Canary8954 t1_j1473r3 wrote

I lived on campus all four years and yeah, it wasn’t an exciting party school by any means, but it was fun to live with others in your class. Lots of late nights just shooting the shit, going out, staying in, ordering Papa John’s. I needed that kind of atmosphere to get me out of my shell, and I’m thankful for it.

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kawaiitohru t1_j123z9e wrote

i was going to apply to this school but i ended up applying to southern instead

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PhilipLiptonSchrute t1_j13imj7 wrote

> “To me, the financial crisis is basically the result of three things: the decline in enrollment, which is happening everywhere, second is the lack of state funding — it has been flat for a long time — and third is really that we have many incompetent administrators,”

... and four, the school is in Danbury and is broken up into two campuses that are at opposite ends of the city, with Brookview in-between. I went to WCSU for a few semesters. It was a royal pain in the dick when you'd spend more time on the shuttle than in the class you needed it for.

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FireyToots t1_j1251es wrote

We live in Danbury. Moved up here from the south. Couldn’t even tell you west conn was still thing except for the buildings in the way of getting around town.

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Mundane-Orange-9799 t1_j13eb97 wrote

I went there for school mainly because it is local and cheap. Enjoyed my time there but it is lacking that college spirit. The great part about it though is my degree was cheap enough where we could pay it off in just a few years. I decided to change careers from my degree (graphic design) to now being a programmer, and I owe it to a programming class at the university that got me interested in the field.

Hopefully they can figure something out because it may not be the most exciting college experience, but it is valuable to the area and for students who don't want to be saddled with mountains of debt when they leave.

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spacemanegg t1_j12cu7h wrote

I accidentally drove into campus one time because I missed my destination in Danbury and it sure didn't feel like I was at a university

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jredline7 t1_j13fmbx wrote

A state school that can’t balance the budget… surprising.

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lublinj2 t1_j11g60q wrote

Went to ccsu for 2 years, and graduated and did MBA (1 year of it at least) at SCSU, never been to eastern or western and idt I know anyone who did either.. often forget they exist lol

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Knineteen t1_j124sv4 wrote

Then let it flounder and close it.

Why do we fee the need to prop up such institutions that aren’t needed?

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caring_impaired t1_j13h54o wrote

In my 20s I would occasionally hit Danbury for Hat City Brewing, Tuxedo Junction, and some bars that came and went, and I never got the feeling that I was hanging out with any college kids.

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uncleleo_ t1_j13uu7r wrote

I was part of the the psych program but switched to philosophy as a contract major. Excited to finally graduate from WCSU in may!

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roundabout_now t1_j14jy5l wrote

In general, current and former students here say they got a good education at a reasonable price, and they got jobs. But, there is no school identity or spirit. The consultants who prepared the report say the problem is financial mismanagement and that programs and curricula needs to be examined. However "Rotua Lumbantobing, a professor of economics and president of the WSCU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said she felt the report’s findings around the need for accountability and transparency, as well as some of the critiques on leadership and organizational shortcomings, are “very close” to what she and other faculty members identify as underlying causes for the university’s “financial crisis.” But the report didn’t say it out loud, obviously,” she said. Folks, take her statement with a grain of salt. CSU system professors routinely knee-jerk blame to administrators to take the onus off of themselves. They, too, need to look in the mirror.

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gargle_your_dad t1_j1540xj wrote

If you're working stocking shelves with a college graduate it probably makes you second guess the value of a degree.

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curbthemeplays t1_j1e1hik wrote

I went there too.

One big problem is how incredibly lacking Danbury is for anyone college aged. Downtown is terrible and there’s just very little to do.

The old mayor would always boast about growth, while the downtown floundered and it became more of a strip mall city. It just has no vibe.

There’s many better cities in CT to live at college age.

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Nutella_Zamboni t1_j15a0xf wrote

GenX here and not too familiar with WCSU. I took classes at Middlesex, Central, and Charter Oak. Middlesex was by FAR the best of the 3. Central seemed like a larger version of a Community College, just without the awesome professors. I would imagine WCSU is similar.

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stinkusdinkus t1_j11dom4 wrote

I went to CCSU and didn't even know there was a WCSU.

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