this came up on the WAC forum so I thought I would see what the opinions are here

I have the as

FIU

FAU
UNT
ULaLa

everyone else


Troy

what say you?

Depends on the program. USA has a fantastic Allied Health/Nursing/Medical program and good engineering.

Oh, no here we go again. This thread belongs on a university academic site not a sports board.

But it's really kind of kind of irrelevant because be real there's smart people at every university. The ones with more people are usually going to have more smart people unless they are private schools.

Who cares about academics?!?! I want a strong athletic program!

First off, Denver would be #1. Unless you aren't counting them since they are leaving. The other members have positives and negatives and it's pretty subjective.

There are a bunch of different lists...USNEWS has all sunbelt schools as unranked. Forbes 650 Top Colleges has:

#474 Troy
#531 FIU
#577 UL
#586 USA
#591 WKU
#604 MTSU
#613 UNT
#649 UALR
Not included:

ASU, FAU, & ULM.

If your school is not Ivy League, Pac 12 or B1G . . does it really matter . . REALLY ??

I prefer the SEC approach . . just win football games, baby.


Go stAte . . Go SBC !!

(02-24-2012 01:57 PM)cajunhawk Wrote:  There are a bunch of different lists...USNEWS has all sunbelt schools as unranked. Forbes 650 Top Colleges has:

#474 Troy
#531 FIU
#577 UL
#586 USA
#591 WKU
#604 MTSU
#613 UNT
#649 UALR
Not included:

ASU, FAU, & ULM.

Forbes is completely invalid as a list. Their criteria includes RateMyProfessor.com. US News is debatable about its true value, but its rankings are based on reasonable, quantifiable factors.

Working in higher ed, I'd put FIU first.

(02-24-2012 01:57 PM)cajunhawk Wrote:  There are a bunch of different lists...USNEWS has all sunbelt schools as unranked. Forbes 650 Top Colleges has:

#474 Troy
#531 FIU
#553 FAU
#577 UL
#586 USA
#591 WKU
#604 MTSU
#613 UNT
#649 UALR
Not included:

ASU, FAU, & ULM.

added FAU

Troy's number is purely due to their overall size. It seems they were the largest university system in the country a few years ago. Am I mistaken on that???

(02-24-2012 03:43 PM)Usajags Wrote:  Troy's number is purely due to their overall size. It seems they were the largest university system in the country a few years ago. Am I mistaken on that???

Cajuns of UL have an endowment approaching 150 million!!!! I guess we need to transfer some to Athletics---and do we need a student fee!!!! BTW how much are the student fees per semester for the applicable schools????

(02-24-2012 03:53 PM)exflash Wrote:  

(02-24-2012 03:43 PM)Usajags Wrote:  Troy's number is purely due to their overall size. It seems they were the largest university system in the country a few years ago. Am I mistaken on that???

Cajuns of UL have an endowment approaching 150 million!!!! I guess we need to transfer some to Athletics---and do we need a student fee!!!! BTW how much are the student fees per semester for the applicable schools????

South's endowment is $380 mil + .

We approved an athletic fee increase of $300 per year per student to originally help fund the football program.

(02-24-2012 03:43 PM)Usajags Wrote:  Troy's number is purely due to their overall size. It seems they were the largest university system in the country a few years ago. Am I mistaken on that???

Yeah like I said when you have 25,000+ students to chose from vs schools with 9,000- students to chose from these academic rating are subjective. I have seen guys who spent two years in summer school get enrolled at UA while the top of the class also went there.

And most studies do base on Troy overall because they literally all are one campus it's not a system of different universities with the same name like UAB to UA or UAH to UA. Troy Montgomery/Dothan/Phenix/Online is still Troy University.

(02-24-2012 03:53 PM)exflash Wrote:  

(02-24-2012 03:43 PM)Usajags Wrote:  Troy's number is purely due to their overall size. It seems they were the largest university system in the country a few years ago. Am I mistaken on that???

Cajuns of UL have an endowment approaching 150 million!!!! I guess we need to transfer some to Athletics---and do we need a student fee!!!! BTW how much are the student fees per semester for the applicable schools????

Any college admin that would move money from its endowment to athletics should be fired on spot.

An endowment is typically used to cover financial aid and operating costs of colleges. Most of the money used is generated off of interest or dividends and not from the principle amount; in times of rescission or unexpected poor performance, the principle amount could be tapped to make up for losses.

(02-24-2012 10:27 PM)mufanatehc Wrote:  

(02-24-2012 03:53 PM)exflash Wrote:  

(02-24-2012 03:43 PM)Usajags Wrote:  Troy's number is purely due to their overall size. It seems they were the largest university system in the country a few years ago. Am I mistaken on that???

Cajuns of UL have an endowment approaching 150 million!!!! I guess we need to transfer some to Athletics---and do we need a student fee!!!! BTW how much are the student fees per semester for the applicable schools????

Any college admin that would move money from its endowment to athletics should be fired on spot.

An endowment is typically used to cover financial aid and operating costs of colleges. Most of the money used is generated off of interest or dividends and not from the principle amount; in times of rescission or unexpected poor performance, the principle amount could be tapped to make up for losses.

Thanks for that friend. Our feeble Sun Belt minds could not fathom that concept. If it had not been for you, where would we be? God speed Marshall fan...god speed.

(02-24-2012 10:27 PM)mufanatehc Wrote:  

(02-24-2012 03:53 PM)exflash Wrote:  

(02-24-2012 03:43 PM)Usajags Wrote:  Troy's number is purely due to their overall size. It seems they were the largest university system in the country a few years ago. Am I mistaken on that???

Cajuns of UL have an endowment approaching 150 million!!!! I guess we need to transfer some to Athletics---and do we need a student fee!!!! BTW how much are the student fees per semester for the applicable schools????

Any college admin that would move money from its endowment to athletics should be fired on spot.

An endowment is typically used to cover financial aid and operating costs of colleges. Most of the money used is generated off of interest or dividends and not from the principle amount; in times of rescission or unexpected poor performance, the principle amount could be tapped to make up for losses.

-Hey dummy--a little tongue in cheek humor---get it ???? IN Louisiana we have benefitted from some matching state funds for our endowment to be used for chairs, professorships, and scholarships----Although like the rest of the country we got hit hard 3 years ago, this past year saw a huge increase because of stock investments!!!! Oh but I will pass this info of your onto our foundation office!!!