BOL Round Table

TR,

Witt and the board made a 10 year growth plan about 9 years back so the enrollment increase will slow very soon. We did a bunch of case studies on his plan in undergrad a few years back. The task now is to retain these students. It is amazing the percentage of our graduates that leave the state for work. I did a bunch of work with the Econ Dev folks while in grad school 2 years back and we have a major issue with retaining graduates to work in state. Personally, I love what the Univ has become from an academic standpoint.

This was a nice, informed discussion, and then someone had to bring in " student seating ". Give it a rest.

Good stuff and glad to hear. Again, I think UA and Tuscaloosa have done a nice job of keeping pace. A couple of visits to Georgia in the last few years left me not wanting UA/Tuscaloosa to become the cramped five-mile radius that UGA/downtown Athens encompasses.

People of Athens recently had to beat back an attempt to put a Wal-mart in the downtown area.

TR

I have not been back to campus since Saban's first game at Bama, so I cannot imagine what it is like today, but having graduated from Bama in 1999, I can say that 33,000 would make a much different atmosphere from when I was there. Enrollment, including grads, was only about 20k at that time and it felt about right. I think it is time to visit and see what is shaking.

Robert Witt started out with a goal of 28 and then 32 and during his last year he mentioned that his long term goal was to max out the enrollment at 35,000. UA has designed the infrastructure to handle 35,000 students. They have two new huge dorms being built along the river, along with a new dining hall and a new recreation center along the river. The plan was to hit the max and begin to gradually increase the standards for enrollment. UA also purchased the Bryce Hospital property which will greatly increase the size of the campus.

I graduated high school in Florida and went to Florida State after high school and spent one semester there. Following 9-11 attacks I joined the Air Force and once I finished my four years I went to UA and saw the campus grow a ton during my time there. The amount of students at UA (31,000 when I finished) wasn't as big of a deal as the congestion at Florida State. The FSU campus had NO room to grow, so parking was horrible and classes were all huge. FSU had a lot more students and yet they had a campus that size-wise shouldn't have more than 25 to 30,000 students.

One of the big things Witt did during his time at UA was recruit nationally more than ever for UA. Not only did UA see a rise in enrollment, but a lot more of the students were brought in from states like Texas, Illinois, Louisiana, Georgia, and so on. Witt recruited nationally and it has paid off with higher standards. The percentage of Alabama residents at UA has continually dropped over the years, but better and more elite students from around the nation have made their way to UA. Witt did a terrific job with his national recruitment.

With regards to the city of Tuscaloosa, it has done an outstanding job of building the city's infrastructure to keep up with the rising enrollment. I'll add more later, but one example is the new City Center where Woods Square used to be. Check out the link and gallery for pictures of the new City Center which is under construction.

Also, one difference between UF and UA is that UF is able to offer a wider range of academic options than UF. UA will never be able to offer such a wide range of academic fields due to the Alabama legislature.