One of the most important decisions students make in their lives is which college to attend. Increasingly, many students are leaning towards state colleges as an alternative to private schools.
Truman State University, located in Kirksville, Missouri, a small town in the northern part of the state, is one of such colleges.
Caroline Stamp, a 2010 graduate of CHS and a freshman at Truman, is happy about her decision to go to a state school.
“You get the private school feel, without the private school price,” Stamp said.
Truman has a total student population of about 5,600 students, compared to the approximately 32,000 students attending the University of Missouri- Columbia (Mizzou).
However, Stamp noted that Truman’s enrollment is growing.
“My class, the class of 2014, is the largest freshman class in 20 years,” Stamp said.
According to Stamp a total of 14 CHS students have enrolled at Truman in the last two years.
“It’s a pretty popular option,” said CHS senior and prospective Truman student Hannah Feagans.
Stamp said that she felt transferring to a large school like Mizzou would be hard after being at a small high school like Clayton.
At many larger colleges, it is common to have lecture halls for many classes. However, Truman students learn in classrooms.
“My largest class size is 25,” Stamp said.
Also, the student-to-faculty ratio at Truman is 16:1, making Truman more personalized and like a high school than a large university.
Additionally, Truman offers a top-notch education. According to the university’s website, Truman has been consistently listed as the number one public university in the Midwest region by U.S. News and World Report’s edition of “America’s Best Colleges.”
“It’s the Ivy League of the Midwest,” Feagans said.
Truman also states on its website that it is the only public school in Missouri to have a “highly selective admissions program.”
But, is Truman’s education really what is making more people go there?
Enrollments for state colleges are increasing all around the state. At Mizzou, the population of the freshman class has increased by about 10 percent from last year, whose freshman class was record-breaking at the time.
Mizzou, which is also a popular option for CHS students, also has had a 20 percent increase in freshman minority students.
At Southeast Missouri State University, the enrollment has gone up almost 5 percent from last year, resulting in a total of 10,460 students. Their freshman class has grown about 8 percent from last year.
This trend is also evident at community colleges. Twelve Missouri community colleges reported an average of almost 6 percent increase in enrollment with a total of about 5,000 more students than last year.
“The growth seen in Missouri’s community colleges over the last year has paralleled a downturn in the economy,” said Dr. Jim Kellerman, the president of the Missouri Community College Association, according to the Missouri Community College Association’s website. “As the financial situation becomes tighter, people want to put their money into things that will benefit them the most–and an education is the best investment a person can make, especially when the job market is as competitive as it is today.”