As has been discussed on other threads, there is tremendous growth in central Iowa, projected to go up 300K or more by 2040. Obviously this will add pressure to Iowa State for enrollment, which I believe is a good thing. I can see where Ames and Des Moines by 2040 will basically be all connected. But then I looked back to my days at ISU in the late 70's. There was a year or 2 then where ISU was larger than UI. Then something happened, they hired Hayden Fry. So I went back and looked at the enrollments figures from the Iowa registrar from the 70's and 80' and here is what the numbers looked like:
'78 22,766
'79 23,349
'80 25,100
'81 26,464
'82 28,140
'83 29,599
'84 29,712
So after Hayden Fry turns the program in 1980, Iowa adds 7,000 kids to the school, and they stayed roughly 5k larger than ISU until about 6-7 years ago. Obviously we are growing because kids want to be in the sciences and technology now, but could we possibly have a Matt Campbell bump, similar to the bump Hayden Fry gave Iowa? Add up all the stars aligning here, and I think we might see something incredible happen to ISU through 2040. If we can handle it, I could see 50K by 2040.
The MC bump won't even show up for a couple years!
'78 22,766
'79 23,349
'80 25,100
'81 26,464
'82 28,140
'83 29,599
'84 29,712
So after Hayden Fry turns the program in 1980, Iowa adds 7,000 kids to the school, and they stayed roughly 5k larger than ISU until about 6-7 years ago. Obviously we are growing because kids want to be in the sciences and technology now, but could we possibly have a Matt Campbell bump, similar to the bump Hayden Fry gave Iowa? Add up all the stars aligning here, and I think we might see something incredible happen to ISU through 2040. If we can handle it, I could see 50K by 2040.
The MC bump won't even show up for a couple years!
