Bradley 2024 freshman enrollment

[yoda]

So their reporting is worthless because they are dying?

I guess a lot of people would disagree and instead say
they’re dying because their reporting is worthless. I stopped subscribing after 40 years for that reason
& I’ve talked with lots of others who say the same.

[yoda]

One more thing just, my two cents. Why did the PJS axe their extremely popular message boards?
For almost 25 years they hosted forums and many of those who used the site were loyal readers &
subscribers. Why did they close it down?
How much does it cost to run a message board? Many run essentially free or are covered by ad revenue.
The PJS could have used the site to promote their news coverage, to promote events they gain ad revenue from
and to stimulate interest in their product. It was a unique way of reaching and interacting directly with the people
they claim to serve. But even the most expensive platforms that operate message boards
are still only a couple hundred $$/year, so why did they snub/insult literally ten thousand of their loyal users?

Seems that they don't care about the local community and local news coverage. They sold out to a big management
corporation and fired nearly all their local staff. They brought in an editor who had little familiarity with Peoria nor did he
seem to have any affinity for it. He made zero effort to hide the fact that his entire push for the PJStar was to make it
nothing more than a banner for DEI & diversity - https://www.pjstar.com/story/opinion...ty/5661037001/

Heck, if a mid-sized city newspaper desperately WANTED to
alienate their readers & subscribers and do the worst job possible so that throngs of subscribers would
cancel they couldn't have done a better job.

[Da Coach]

It was a cost-saving move, like ending the Saturday paper in 2022, the elimination of home delivery in 2023, and all of the other changes at the PJ Star. It allowed them to cut the jobs of the people who set up and operated the internet forums.
Not many newspapers have internet message boards like the PJS had, none of which made any money. And now that they are run by Gannett, they were forced to eliminate all non-essential jobs, and cut costs to the bone.

[BengalFan14]

One more thing just, my two cents. Why did the PJS axe their extremely popular message boards?
For almost 25 years they hosted forums and many of those who used the site were loyal readers &
subscribers. Why did they close it down?
How much does it cost to run a message board? Many run essentially free or are covered by ad revenue.
The PJS could have used the site to promote their news coverage, to promote events they gain ad revenue from
and to stimulate interest in their product. It was a unique way of reaching and interacting directly with the people
they claim to serve. But even the most expensive platforms that operate message boards
are still only a couple hundred $$/year, so why did they snub/insult literally ten thousand of their loyal users?

Seems that they don't care about the local community and local news coverage. They sold out to a big management
corporation and fired nearly all their local staff. They brought in an editor who had little familiarity with Peoria nor did he
seem to have any affinity for it. He made zero effort to hide the fact that his entire push for the PJStar was to make it
nothing more than a banner for DEI & diversity - https://www.pjstar.com/story/opinion...ty/5661037001/

Heck, if a mid-sized city newspaper desperately WANTED to
alienate their readers & subscribers and do the worst job possible so that throngs of subscribers would
cancel they couldn't have done a better job.

Wow. Paper goes under because of a desire for the staff to reflect community? DEI is to blame? Let me ask - what has any of us done to increase BU enrollment? Engagement? Influence what the PJS reports in Peoria? Nothing? Didn’t think so.

[yoda]

what has any of us done to ....Influence what the PJS reports in Peoria?.

can't speak for everyone else, but cancelling subscriptions and telling them how bad their product is probably had a whole lot to do with their
failing and why they fired so many "reporters" and "sports editors" who were doing such comically poor jobs.
But they appear not to have learned from their failures. Half their "news" stories are about restaurants and their new menus, or which local homes sold for a $million. Meanwhile, there was a murder plot at the Peoria jail & an arrest for a local murder that the PJS doesn't mention.
On the sports side, never any real news on local sports, game results or any actual sports reporting, except Rivermen. Just a bunch of speculation and sports-babble:
Here are the top headline sports stories:
Rivermen announce 20 special jerseys
What's the worst case scenario for Illinois football
What's the best case scenario for Illinois football
High school football predictions
Illinois football's three most important games of 2024
How will Illinois football finish

Thankfully we have Jim Mattson & Kurt Pegler or we wouldn't even know there were any local sports competitions or events at all.

[BengalFan14]

Time to start pushing back against such bad decisions.

[PattonMD]

I mean let's face it, newspapers are on a death spiral. They just can't generate the revenue they used to to support a resonable staff of local reporters. Readership has not gone down because of quality, quality is down because of readership and in turn revenues. They have to cut costs somewhere. Unfortunately young people do not get their news from PJS whether on paper or even electronically. There's just too much competition. To top it off the transition to paying for news on the internet has not gone well for the providers. No one wants to pay or at least not that much.

[yoda]

newspapers had almost 100% of the market for access to news (away from a TV or radio)
They HAD IT ALL in their back pockets but when the internet came along they hated the idea that someone else other than THEM
could actually post information and news - so what did they do?

Instead of embracing the new technology and running with it given the HUGE head start they had on it, they moaned and whined and ripped into anyone who dared post newsworthy information anywhere on the internet - be it message boards, Twitter or social media. I remember a vicious rant by the PJStar sports editor whose initials are KW at the "Smoker" one year when he was asked about info being posted on message boards. You'd have thought all message board users had just killed his mother. He ripped into them as anonymous liars, uneducated, unreliable and unqualified to post any information whatsoever. If he had it his way, he'd have nuked this message board. Funny thing, though, here we are about 8 or 10 years later & his paper is circling the toilet, his paper's message boards have long ago died an ugly death, and he was canned along with all his staff. I will leave it there, but they have NOBODY to blame but themselves for what happened since it was all by THEIR OWN CHOICE out of spite & jealousy. I have no pity on them.

Meanwhile this message board along with lots of others plus Twitter ("X"), etc., are flourishing.
One message board that's traded on the stock exchange is up almost 150% the past year while
Gannett & Gatehouse are trading at little over a buck- both down from $25 a decade ago.

[Da Coach]

Getting back to college freshman enrollment... Eureka College, which, like Bradley, is also a small, private university with tuition and costs a little less than Bradley, has set a new record high for freshman enrollment this fall - https://www.centralillinoisproud.com...reshmen-class/

Illinois Wesleyan, another small private university, has a tuition far higher than Bradley ($54K vs $41K), and they had an increases in their freshman enrollment last year - https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023...-year-students

[yoda]

I just want to beat the dead horse a little more- (then I will be done with this topic)
The PJS online edition can be updated literally at any moment, yet NEITHER today's PJSTAR print edition nor their online edition
has a SINGLE WORD about any of the THREE major breaking news stories in Peoria that happened YESTERDAY.
(an armed robbery of a female postal worker delivering mail, a shooting right near an elementary school with kids present, & a major robbery story at a car dealership)

Do they even care about reporting newsworthy stories?
Their big stories are a report on homelessness and a column urging everyone to get vaccinated.
How can anyone rely on them to report anything relevant to the community?

[molar50]

I’m not sure if this is accurate, but I was told that tuition is free at Eureka College.

[Dub]

Getting back to college freshman enrollment... Eureka College, which, like Bradley, is also a small, private university with tuition and costs a little less than Bradley, has set a new record high for freshman enrollment this fall - https://www.centralillinoisproud.com...reshmen-class/

Illinois Wesleyan, another small private university, has a tuition far higher than Bradley ($54K vs $41K), and they had an increases in their freshman enrollment last year - https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023...-year-students

I don’t have the numbers, but 2 of my daughters started at ICC this fall and to hear their description of the experience compared to mine in 1995… the place sounds FAR less attended as well. School just ain’t cool as it used to be.

[bradleyfan124]

I just want to beat the dead horse a little more- (then I will be done with this topic)
The PJS online edition can be updated literally at any moment, yet NEITHER today's PJSTAR print edition nor their online edition
has a SINGLE WORD about any of the THREE major breaking news stories in Peoria that happened YESTERDAY.
(an armed robbery of a female postal worker delivering mail, a shooting right near an elementary school with kids present, & a major robbery story at a car dealership)

Do they even care about reporting newsworthy stories?
Their big stories are a report on homelessness and a column urging everyone to get vaccinated.
How can anyone rely on them to report anything relevant to the community?

Amen!!!!!!!

[Bradley8792]

When I attended Bradley in the 80/90’s the majority of the administration was in it for the long hall. They had roots in Peoria, many were graduates, and spent their entire careers there. Now it appears to be a revolving door where decisions are made to benefit the individual’s career, not the University. I heard the department for fundraising and endowment went a year or two with virtually no significant donations. That group was showed the door. Without consistency, it will probably never improve.

[Da Coach]

I’m not sure if this is accurate, but I was told that tuition is free at Eureka College.

This is the Eureka College website - 2024-25 tuition- $28,136 - https://www.eureka.edu/admissions-an...ition-and-fees

They do promote that "Every student who attends Eureka College will receive scholarships to reduce their cost to attend"