Changed economic circumstances at UC/DAAP

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Cincinnati
1

<p>My daughter just got an email from DAAP noting that all schools and all programs at UC are being severly compromised due to economic cutbacks. Her department,which is Digital Design, will be eliminating 65% of their adjunct budgets. This could not only result in bigger classes but they noted could even cause the elimination of some courses in the major. Should this occur, the kids will get a waiver,but this certainly could result in a dimunition of skills. Cincinnati is also looking at ways to raise revenue in order to reduce the impact of these cuts</p>

<p>To be fair,I should note that this might be occuring in many schools and not just at Cincinnati. I just wanted to give everyone a "heads up" about this situation. You should probably call the department of your major interest and see how this economic problem with impact your major.</p>

<p>Be also aware that the economy has both reduced the number of coops available to kids and has resulted in more coops not being paid. This could raise the overall cost of the school over what you were planning to spend.</p>

2

<p>taxguy,</p>

<p>Thanks for the info. It’s really not such a surprise, but still a disappointment.</p>

3

<p>My son is a pre-junior in Industrial Design, finishing up his second year this summer. He loves the program and is doing great grade-wise, and is a hard worker as are most of the kids in ID. I’m pretty sure he’s one of the stronger students in his group. </p>

<p>The just concluded spring quarter was his first co-op quarter. However, similar to many kids in ID (and I’m told, in architecture and fashion design), he was unable to procure a coop assignment through the university. This creates an extremely awkward situation (particularly for out of state students), as the only alternatives are to go home for a quarter or stay in Cincinnati and take no more than 6 credit hours in courses outside of his major. Furthermore, the coop couselors keep you hanging on (not their fault, as they can’t create jobs out of thin air) right until the start of the next quarter. Obviously, coming home without a coop is a poor alternative, since according to the “plan” there are not supposed to be any “off” quarters; students are either supposed to be in school or satisfying their co-op requirement.</p>

<p>Our son was greatly anticipating his first co-op experience, and was extremely disappointed when nothing came through. I think he “overshot” in choosing firms to apply for, choosing primary top end consultancies in the bigger cities; however, his coop counselor reviewed his choices and did not advise him to apply anywhere else and in fact endorsed his choices. He clearly would have been better served to apply for some jobs in less glamorous cities and/or less glamorous firms, including more in-house opportunities. He was greatly disappointed by his failure to get a coop, as frankly UC’s coop program was the reason he chose to attend UC instead of going to one of the other ID schools to which he had been admitted. He chose to come home instead of stay in Cincy and take 6 credit hours, which I understood and (from a cost perspective) it made much more sense. Having said that, he still loves the program. I wrote a note to Dean Probst regarding this situation and got back a pleasant but nonresponsive response.</p>

<p>Fortunately, once he came home he was able (on his own) to secure a coop with a design firm in our hometown, not in the ID field but still valuable experience, and even got paid! UC granted coop credit, which frankly was the least they could do.</p>

<p>I understand that most of this problem is attributable to the poor state of the economy. However, I don’t see UC offering me a rebate on the pricey out of state tuition I’m paying (even with the Cincinnatus scholarship $). I’m fairly certain that UC is run like a business, particularly in these difficult times. However, it seems to be there’s a bit of bait and switch going on here; they are luring kids in with the coop program and then not delivering.</p>

<p>Has anyone heard how it went with regard to kids applying for summer coops? My suspicion is that it was difficult for these kids as well, and will continue to be so for some time until the economy gets back on more solid footing. It does not seem as though DAAP has a “Plan B” for these kids. The kids are discouraged from seeking coops on their own, yet the upperclassmen frequently advise the underclassmen to push on their own and not rely on the coop counselors.</p>

<p>Obviously the university is not advertising this situation, as it is not in their interest to do so. However, combined with the cutbacks referred to in this thread and the general lack of availability of non-need based scholarship $, I am disappointed by the current situation. Industrial design is not a career path that offers a million jobs upon graduation, and the decision to attend UC was made specifically with that in mind, in order to get a leg up (through the coop program) on obtaining permanent employment in the field. If the coop program is unable to deliver this benefit, then UC should be upfront about it.</p>

<p>I’d be interested in hearing thought of other students and parents regarding this; thanks.</p>

4

<p>stanco asks,“Has anyone heard how it went with regard to kids applying for summer coops?”</p>

<p>Response: Actually, my daughter has constantly been doing summer and winter coops even though it is technically harder to get coops in the summer due to increased competition. Remember, most kids, from other schools, are off in the summer and are looking for jobs!</p>

<p>I can’t speak for ID, however, the school normally requires only 5 quarters of coop, leaving the sixth quarter for either courses or for international study. </p>

<p>My daughter has had two tremendous coops since she is now a rising junior and actually turned down one in order to take some computer graphics courses. Imterestingly, she will also get a coop job by doing some freelance work that was referred to her. Freelance will qualify for coop experience! Thus, she will get the courses that she wants and the extra experience that she wants. However, my daugher did VERY well grade wise like your son, was in digital design,which is a "hot"major these days, and interviews very well,which could make a difference. </p>

<p>Moreover, having prior coops help since they provide contacts for other coops if you do a good job at the firm.</p>

<p>Finally, these economic programs are not the fault of the university. In fact, University of Cincinnati is hampered by their stupid governor who has put a freeze on tuition and fees,which they need to do in order to expand services. Thus, the state has cut funding while mandating that the school can’t increase fees to help make up for the cut funding. How’s that for a Catch-22? However, even with the high out of state tuition, it is still MUCH cheaper than many other good ID programs such as CMU , Pratt etc.</p>

<p>I can feel your frustration, Stanco.It is harder to get coops and internships these days for everyone. Kids just have to network more, improve their portfolio, and start applying earlier using a wider net.</p>

<p>When applying for coops, remember that most kids don’t want to leave Ohio or the midwest. Being willing to go further away and work for a less reknown firm should increase his coops chances. Each coop brings greater coop opportunities both with that firm and with other firms that they may have contacts with as long as he does well with that firm. Once he gets a coop, he should work is “ass off” to leave a lasting impression. It will help him in the future in many ways.</p>

5

<p>Stanco, I should also note that my daughter keeps in touch with her bosses and those that hired her, which was easy to do since she has a tremendous work ethic of trying to meet all deadlines no matter what! She also has strong networking skills,which are very crucial in today’s economy. You really need to tell your son to do the same thing.</p>

6

<p>Stanco, sorry for the multiple posts, but I keep thinking of things to add after the 20 minute editing period expired.</p>

<p>My daughter applied to about 35 coops. She said it is very necessary to apply to a large number of firms to even get one interview, and that was when the economy was good! She also did a lot of searching on the INTERNET to find other coop opportunities.</p>

<p>My daughter had a great line that she remembered reading and tries to live by:</p>

<p>" Destiny is around the corner for most people. It just doesn’t make deliveries. Folks have to seek it out and grab it."</p>

7

<p>stanco asks,“Has anyone heard how it went with regard to kids applying for summer coops?”</p>

<p>stanco, I do appreciate your and your son’s frustration. Good for your son for finding a design co-op on his own, even if it wasn’t in ID.</p>

<p>My son, a junior architecture student, secured a summer co-op in his field, but it wasn’t easy. DAAP sent his portfolio with resume to several firms, but with the challenging economy, these firms weren’t hiring this summer. He got the impression that the co-op counselors were doing all they could possibly do in this economy to find opportunities for students. My sense is that last winter DAAP was not prepared (nor were most of us) for the difficulties students would face when seeking spring co-op assignments. By the time students were looking for summer co-ops, DAAP had a chance to come up with Plan B; they did offer alternative related experiences outside of architecture jobs as a way of earning co-op credit to those unable to find an architecture co-op. </p>

<p>My son was finally offered a summer architecture co-op after applying for many on his own close to home. After speaking to architecture classmates and friends back home who haven’t found work yet, he’s grateful for the opportunity to use the skills he’s been learning and earn much needed money for college expenses. My son, too, is an out-of-stater.</p>

<p>After 2 years in the program, my son is convinced that he chose the ideal architecture program for himself, especially after speaking with students in other programs and seeing their portfolios. Although he and his classmates work extremely hard (although I haven’t met an architecture student who doesn’t!), he said they’re learning an amazing amount and feel well-prepared to work for architecture firms. </p>

<p>Our family is cautiously optimistic that our son will have an easier time finding a co-op when applying for his winter assignment. I wish your son luck in securing a fall co-op in ID. Please tell us how he fares.</p>

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<p>Mom of 2,</p>

<p>My daughter will start in the MArch program this fall. Have you or your son heard if the co-op opportunities are any different for the grad students?</p>

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<p>momoftwins, my son said he heard that the grad students had a much higher rate of securing co-op positions for the 2009 spring and summer quarters. Many students in the MArch program have prior experience working for architecture firms that made them more attractive to potential employers. Using this logic, the difficulty that rising juniors (as compared to rising seniors and grad students) experienced landing their first co-op assignment for 2009 spring and summer quarters makes sense. The rising juniors have less education in architecture (at least as compared to rising seniors) and most have no work experience at architecture firms before their first co-op.</p>

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<p>Thanks, Mom of 2. I’ve been concerned because at her graduation in May many of the MArch students had not received any offers yet. Very few B.S. Arch students had jobs or internships. At least with this summer’s internship, she’ll have 4 summers of work in an arch firm. I sure hope it helps land that first co-op this winter.</p>

11

<p>Taxguy,
First I have to thank you for all of the info you have shared over the years. You have made my son’s college search much easier. He is applying to schools for Industrial Design this fall and U of Cinc is on his list. He still has to visit and it looks like he won’t be able to until after the new year. I was wondering if he should wait until the scholarship reception (if he is offered one) or would that be too late?
I am curious if you have an update on the effects of the budget cuts at DAAP.</p>

12

<p>My son just started ID last month at DAAP. He is also in the Honors program.
We did not visit the campus until the weekend of the Cincinnatus scholarship event (actually, we didn’t visit anywhere until after acceptances). He has been pleasantly surprised with how small his Honors classes are (English and Art History) … each has under 25 students. He really likes his professors in both of these classes, and seems to have plenty of work to do. On the other hand, his Foundation art classes apparently are larger than they have been in the past. Doesn’t seem to be a problem so far…feel free to PM me as the year goes on and I’ll keep you updated. Overall he is happy so far, to my great relief. He is from out of state, so I’ve had many anxieties about this year.</p>

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<p>drae27, Thank you for your nice words. I think your son should apply and NOT wait for Cincinnatus results.</p>

<p>As to the effects of the budget cuts, it is too early to tell. Some of the cuts have been ameliorated by having much higher number of freshmen and transfer applicants. I certainly don’t know what cuts were made to the ID department since my child is a digital design major. If I find out more, I will post the results.</p>

<p>I did see one cut in that there are fewer adjunct faculty. This means more full time faculty is taking over more courses. Is this good? I will try to report on this when more information is forthcoming.</p>

14

<p>This is obviously an older thread, but I’m wondering – has the DAAP and coop program recovered? Are students still having difficulty getting coops? I’m particularly interested in hearing about experiences in the Fashion Design program.</p>

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<p>I know three students in Fashion Design, one in Graphics and one in Architecture and all have had their choice of co-op’s at excellent jobs over the past two - three years. Some have been in NYC, Florida, Chicago and Cincinnati.</p>

16

<p>My son is a soph ID student. He just went through his first experience of securing a co-op (for Spring semester). It was quite stressful, as it appears the software/database (PlacePro) that DAAP uses was an absolute mess…bad links, outdated contact info, etc. Fortunately, a newly hired co-op counselor has been working her butt off to get things straightened out. She has been a godsend…going far above the call of duty! Thankfully, this will be the last time my son will have to deal with PlacePro, as there is supposed to be an entirely new system set up by the time he starts applying for co-op #2 for the Fall semester.</p>

<p>Just to give you an idea…I think the latest co-op placement report before the holidays for soph/juniors combined showed over 80% had secured a co-op. I’m guessing that by the time the Jan 15th cutoff date arrives, almost all the students will have been placed. So I think the “rough patch” may be behind them. Hopefully, the new co-op placement system will have things running smoothly from this point forward.</p>

17

<p>Collegrparents — always plan on doing lots of independent research for co-ops vs relying on placement office alone. Son is 4th year DAAP ID and sourced 3 of his 4 co-ops on his own. Offers tend to come in, for many, uncomfortably close to the start of the next semester…but they do come in. On the bright side…nothing beats the experience he has received, and he already has a job offer upon graduating! </p>