This is the definitive place to discuss everything that makes life on & off campus so unique in Central Virginia.

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By cruzan_flame13
Posts
#586511
I recall that we had a brief discussion about this on a thread but can not fine it. Liberty became classified at R3 a few years back and I was wondering if we were aiming to go through the procedures to become R2. There is always reclassification every 5 years, so I would hope that we are up for the tasks. This is really important for us as an institution to stand amongst the others in this country. It is already difficulty for us to get any respect for several reasons, but respecting us as a credited academic school should not be one of them any longer.2021 should be the year for reclassification, I hope LU can advance to the next level. This will help us academically, athletically and domestically among those that are already at the top level (UVA/VT?)
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By chris leedlelee
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#586514
When I was at LU around 2016 there was a big push for student research. When did our classification change to R3? I would hope that the LU administration sees the benefit of increasing our Carnegie classification status and pushes for such a classification.
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By cruzan_flame13
Posts
#586522
chris leedlelee wrote: October 21st, 2019, 11:04 am When I was at LU around 2016 there was a big push for student research. When did our classification change to R3? I would hope that the LU administration sees the benefit of increasing our Carnegie classification status and pushes for such a classification.
I believe we became classified in 2016(not a fan of the source but only one I could find recently):

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/gra ... ive-group/
By rogers3
Registration Days Posts
#586557
I think LU has the potential,to make bigger waves over the next 25 year's with academics than they do with athletics. If Jerry starts valuing academic quality, he could make the jump faster than most schools and it certainly would be a differientiator.
By Yacht Rock
Registration Days Posts
#586567
rogers3 wrote:I think LU has the potential,to make bigger waves over the next 25 year's with academics than they do with athletics. If Jerry starts valuing academic quality, he could make the jump faster than most schools and it certainly would be a differientiator.
I don't disagree but it seems that so much of the focus has been on quantity over quality. I'm currently doing an online program through another university and it's lightyears ahead of LUO for instance, which technically shouldn't be the case with Liberty being an early adopter of distance education.

These days, there should be far less of a delta between a residential program and an online program with the tools available.
By JK37
Registration Days Posts
#586569
Yacht Rock wrote: October 21st, 2019, 11:15 pm I'm currently doing an online program through another university and it's lightyears ahead of LUO
how do you mean? Can you expound/compare/contrast?
By Yacht Rock
Registration Days Posts
#586572
For one, they use tools beyond a discussion board for interaction with both other students and professors.

At a basic level, for instance, there are tools built into Blackboard that encourages more modern virtual interaction that I never saw used once in my years at Liberty.

The great irony is that we used modern tools in business for remote interaction and if Liberty was trying to prepare students for what remote interaction looks like in the modern age, it fell very short.

I discussed this with some folks in LU Academic Admin and they said basically LU students and faculty don’t prefer more engagement via online tools.
By rogers3
Registration Days Posts
#586574
Yacht Rock wrote: October 22nd, 2019, 6:22 am For one, they use tools beyond a discussion board for interaction with both other students and professors.

At a basic level, for instance, there are tools built into Blackboard that encourages more modern virtual interaction that I never saw used once in my years at Liberty.

The great irony is that we used modern tools in business for remote interaction and if Liberty was trying to prepare students for what remote interaction looks like in the modern age, it fell very short.

I discussed this with some folks in LU Academic Admin and they said basically LU students and faculty don’t prefer more engagement via online tools.
Well, in the years I've been on this board, I've said that we would lose our edge and the cash cow wouldn't always be what it was. We certainly haven't responded to competition in the online arena, but we have continued to create on Campus products that set us apart. Of course, one is sports, but things like LUCOM and other growing programs are differentiators that will bring students in. Just wait until state programs dive into online. By then, an R2 or better would put us in a much more competitive position.
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By BlueBlood
Posts
#586575
rogers3 wrote: October 22nd, 2019, 7:10 am I've said that we would lose our edge and the cash cow wouldn't always be what it was.
This will happen. I think the hope (and goal) has to be that when the cash cow dries up and advantage is lost, that LU is on strong ground financially and academically (and maybe I should add spiritually) to push forward. Using the online money to aggressively build out the campus now is smart. If you start with everything pretty much new now, it removes those costs from future years when money might not be flowing at the same rate. Maintenance and minor renovations is certainly cheaper than major construction.

I do think that LU is really pushing athletics and the beautiful campus right now to gain market share. At some point soon though, it needs to ramp up the focus on academics. The good news is that when LU does focus on something, it usually gets done. And, academic status can be increased. I live right down the road from USF. When I moved here, it was widely considered just a commuter school. The last USF president made a very concerted effort to focus on academics and the result was that the school has rapidly shot up the US News & Princeton rankings in a very short period of time. It can be done. Part of USF's improvement is very real and legitimate academic improvement. However, part of it is really just being smart about how the schools is set up. They figured out the ratings formula. While that may seam hocus pocus, it actually becomes self fulfilling, because more academic students and faculty will now choose to go there. For instance, if LU figures out a way to separate the online academic stats from the residential stats, the brick and mortar school would see an immediate jump in the ratings it gets from the outside rating agencies (which in turn, would entice students currently scared off by LU's academic standing to come to LU). Purdue and Penn State figured out how to run big online programs while protecting the academic ratings of their main campus. LU can if it wants to.

But yes, the cow will dry up.
By ALUmnus
Registration Days Posts
#586577
LUO isn't the only cash cow that LU has to be concerned about drying up. Being a Christian school, federal dollars is a huge concern for the future. Personally I think that has to be one of the school's biggest focuses in the next decade...trying to minimize the dependence on federal loans. That's why the endowment is so critical and alternate sources of aid need to be developed.

This all makes me wonder, LU supposedly has all this money that we're pouring into construction, but how much debt is the school taking on?
By rogers3
Registration Days Posts
#586585
ALUmnus wrote: October 22nd, 2019, 8:50 am LUO isn't the only cash cow that LU has to be concerned about drying up. Being a Christian school, federal dollars is a huge concern for the future. Personally I think that has to be one of the school's biggest focuses in the next decade...trying to minimize the dependence on federal loans. That's why the endowment is so critical and alternate sources of aid need to be developed.

This all makes me wonder, LU supposedly has all this money that we're pouring into construction, but how much debt is the school taking on?
I know some construction has been done with bonds in the recent past... Cash probably made more on the market than the cost of interest on bonds.
By olldflame
Registration Days Posts
#586600
rogers3 wrote: October 22nd, 2019, 11:43 am
ALUmnus wrote: October 22nd, 2019, 8:50 am LUO isn't the only cash cow that LU has to be concerned about drying up. Being a Christian school, federal dollars is a huge concern for the future. Personally I think that has to be one of the school's biggest focuses in the next decade...trying to minimize the dependence on federal loans. That's why the endowment is so critical and alternate sources of aid need to be developed.

This all makes me wonder, LU supposedly has all this money that we're pouring into construction, but how much debt is the school taking on?
I know some construction has been done with bonds in the recent past... Cash probably made more on the market than the cost of interest on bonds.
I'm pretty sure those bonds are the only debt we've taken on in years, and they were basically too good a deal to pass on.
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