Why Grambling ...


tsugraytiger

tsugraytiger

Well-Known Member
continues to draw an inordinate amount of out-of-state students compared to other public HBCUs?

I read between 30-40% of Grambling students are not from Louisiana and it's been that way for decades now. Southern's out-of-state students make up less than 10% ..... I just find it interesting.
 



Its probably due to the fact that the football team and the band travelled so much in the past. That made Grambling a "name" around the country. That was genius because I've always considered Southern to be the quintessential Louisiana HBCU the same way that PV is for Texas. With Grambling's location, they were never going to compete with Southern for the majority of Louisiana natives, IMO. Grambling's proximity to east Texas and Arkansas helps them attract students from those areas...as does the fact that they play in the SFC.
 
tsugraytiger said:
continues to draw an inordinate amount of out-of-state students compared to other public HBCUs?

I read between 30-40% of Grambling students are not from Louisiana and it's been that way for decades now. Southern's out-of-state students make up less than 10% ..... I just find it interesting.
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Southern has more in-state students with huge pockets of fan support in South Louisiana which also has 3 of the 4 largest cities in the state. (Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Lafayette)
 
Storm96 said:
Its probably due to the fact that the football team and the band travelled so much in the past. That made Grambling a "name" around the country. That was genius because I've always considered Southern to be the quintessential Louisiana HBCU the same way that PV is for Texas. With Grambling's location, they were never going to compete with Southern for the majority of Louisiana natives, IMO. Grambling's proximity to east Texas and Arkansas helps them attract students from those areas...as does the fact that they play in the SFC.
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I agree about Grambling's football and band traveling everywhere helping with name recognition and recruitment.

And I agree PV is a bit more "Texas" than Texas Southern. We always had more out-of-state and international students and PV has been around way longer ... but I would still chose TSU over PV if I had to do it all over it again lol
 
GSUperTiger said:
When I started at Gram back in '93 the out of state enrollment was 52%, by far the most diverse in the state.
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Most people I know who went to Grambling are either not from Louisiana or not from North Louisiana ... it's strange. But back in the early 90s, Grambling was definitely the IT/COOL school. Grambling was getting so much love from the black celebs. TLC, SWV, Martin, etc all wore Grambling gear on screen in the early 90s ... that had people from everywhere wanting to go there for sure apparently. I think that's when Grambling was over 10K
 
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tsugraytiger said:
I agree about Grambling's football and band traveling everywhere helping with name recognition and recruitment.

And I agree PV is a bit more "Texas" than Texas Southern. We always had more out-of-state and international students and PV has been around way longer ... but I would still chose TSU over PV if I had to do it all over it again lol
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I meant moreso that the overwhelming majority of TSU students come from just the Houston area. Isn't it something like 80%? That's really the only metro area in the state where TSU can match PV. DFW, San Antonio, Austin, Waco, East Texas, the Golden Triangle, the Panhandle/west Texas, plus rural/ "Small Town Texas" swing heavily to PV.

Don't take this the wrong way but in terms of impact in Texas, comparing TSU to PV is a lot like comparing UH to UT. One is more local with a smaller footprint and with a shorter history
 
Storm96 said:
I meant moreso that the overwhelming majority of TSU students come from just the Houston area. Isn't it something like 80%? That's really the only metro area in the state where TSU can match PV. DFW, San Antonio, Austin, Waco, East Texas, the Golden Triangle, the Panhandle/west Texas, plus rural/ "Small Town Texas" swing heavily to PV.

Don't take this the wrong way but in terms of impact in Texas, comparing TSU to PV is a lot like comparing UH to UT. One is more local with a smaller footprint and with a shorter history
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You're right ... the overwhelming majority come from Houston and Southeast Texas (Beaumont, PA, Orange, Galveston, etc). PV is a better mix of Houston, DFW, San Antonio, etc. Why that is .... I have no idea. But yeah PV is more all-around "Texas" ... I agree with everything you said.
 
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It's due to a large number of alumni who leave the state when they graduate. I consider Dallas (GSU West) and Atlanta (GSU East), Chicago (GSU North), Houston (GSU South), and L.A. (GSU Outwest)....other areas growing with GSU alum is DC and Miami. Another reason our out of state numbers have increased is because we conduct a heavy recruitment in these areas and within a 200 mile radius of those areas.

Also, if your parent or parents graduated from GSU we waive your out of state fees.
 
number1 said:
You also can't discount the fact that most Grambling alumni don't stay to live in Grambling so that probably plays a huge role too. While I know a lot of our alumni move to Houston and Dallas, we also have several nice-sized cities in South Louisiana that our alumni settle down in.
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The ones who usually stay in the area have strong ties to the area. For example I'm from Grambling but when I graduated I moved to DC. In DC they have a Louisiana Network with a number of GSU Alum as well as other HBCUs. After my time in DC I'm back home. CenturyLink has a headquarters in Monroe (35 miles away) and I have noticed a few GSU Alum who work IBM move there because of the collaboration with CenturyLink and IBM.

I work for the state but often times there are no opportunities for recent graduates given that the top employers in Lincoln Parish is GSU and La Tech. With the cutbacks with the state many alum are not trying to be employed in those places.
 
tsugraytiger said:
You're right ... the overwhelming majority come from Houston and Southeast Texas (Beaumont, PA, Orange, Galveston, etc). PV is a better mix of Houston, DFW, San Antonio, etc. Why that is .... I have no idea. But yeah PV is more all-around "Texas" ... I agree with everything you said.
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It wasn't just a "texas" thing, tsugray. PVAMU was the only HBCU in the south/southwest to offer teacher certificates in the 1930s/1940s to minorities(check the range) so we actually had a decent presence in the Louisiana and Mississippi corridors as well (for advanced studies). I recall an elder informing me that one either had to go to PVAMU or attend one of the HBCUs in Atlanta-GA in order to receive that advanced cert (minorities). There were a # of undergrad GSU/SU alums who received their certs from PVAMU way back when. PV had, past tense, a decent stake in the Shreveport, New Orleans, Alexandria, and Baton Rouge areas for a few during the earlier to mid-1900s. Someone SU knowledgeable can collaborate that time period when SU started offering, as well as GSU.

Also, tsugray, remember that sTu was officially born in 1927 (?) as a private JUCO for minorities. It evolved to a 4-yr college some 20+ yrs later and then on to a state university a short time after. PVAMU was already established as a university during that timeframe and had traction throughout texas some almost 50+ years earlier than 1927. During that timeframe, it was sending grads locally to texas and afar in other states (like Cali/Chitown), who helped to recruit/direct students there.
 
Bewildered said:
It wasn't just a "texas" thing, tsugray. PVAMU was the only HBCU in the south/southwest to offer teacher certificates in the 1930s/1940s to minorities(check the range) so we actually had a decent presence in the Louisiana and Mississippi corridors as well (for advanced studies). I recall an elder informing me that one either had to go to PVAMU or attend one of the HBCUs in Atlanta-GA in order to receive that advanced cert (minorities). There were a # of undergrad GSU/SU alums who received their certs from PVAMU way back when. PV had, past tense, a decent stake in the Shreveport, New Orleans, Alexandria, and Baton Rouge areas for a few during the earlier to mid-1900s. Someone SU knowledgeable can collaborate that time period when SU started offering, as well as GSU.

Also, tsugray, remember that sTu was officially born in 1927 (?) as a private JUCO for minorities. It evolved to a 4-yr college some 20+ yrs later and then on to a state university a short time after. PVAMU was already established as a university during that timeframe and had traction throughout texas some almost 50+ years earlier than 1927. During that timeframe, it was sending grads locally to texas and afar in other states (like Cali/Chitown), who helped to recruit/direct students there.
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Yes, I'm well aware of PV prominence in the South (especially Texas) before the 70s (integration in full swing). I was actually watching an old military propaganda movie that shouted out PV along with Howard, Hampton, and the other widely considered prestigious HBCUs which only added to my awareness of how well regarded it was "back in the day". Scroll to the 15:20 mark in the link below.

And despite TSU being less established than PV, TSU quickly gained notoriety in the same regions and schools you speak of for mainly its strong law, education, and pharmacy programs. So many PV alums, Grambling alums, Southern alums, etc are graduates of those programs.
 



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