Does High Point target a particular type of demographic? I know that it has a reputation as a school for students of wealthy families, but choosing someone who appears to have very close ties to Donald Trump’s efforts in the run-up to January 6 would seem to be a choice that would alienate about 50% of the US population. I don’t know if his hiring would be a strong motivating factor to individuals who believe the positions Trump has taken since November 2020 either. I’d be very curious to learn more about the rationale the university had in choosing him.
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This is true. However, I wonder what percentage of HPU’s target demographic does it appeal to or turn off? I have a feeling HPU knows exactly what it’s doing with this hire.
I did a tour with my oldest child in 2017 and HP was not for us for a variety of reasons. For us there was too much of an emphasis on amenities and facilities rather than academics. Elon is very nice but the selling point was the academics not pools and restaurants. I personally do not believe college kids need luxury and worry what type of families and students pick a college for that but it may be the right school for some.
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High Point is a rich kid school for the lesser student. We went. Self toured. Manicured. Electronic signs with kid’s names. They sell the amenities.
This judge is accomplished. Article’s connect him through hearsay but it doesn’t seem to be direct. He has lots of endorsements and led a law school at a Christian University. So he’s likely conservative. And so is the school. After all most rich white kids are. And that’s what this school caters too.
The CEO…sorry President…is brilliant so I’m sure he knows what he’s getting. He’s positioned this school well, put it on the map.
Elon is beautiful. US News, more than others, has shown it love. Becoming a bigger name regionally and yea more traditional.
But for what they want it’s likely a strong hire.
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I agree 100%.
What they want, or more specifically what HPU offers, is not the sort of experience I want for my children. Thus, after some investigations and a visit to the campus (which included discussions with administration, professors and students), HPU was removed from my list of acceptable destinations for my S20 and it won’t even be on the opening list for my daughters.
But for HPU’s target demographic, I think the president is making a great hire. What Martin espouses and represents is, I think, exactly what the parents of most HPU students want for their children. Martin’s appointment will not damage HPU’s standing among these families.
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We recently moved and a neighbor I met has a child at HPU. I spoke to him and he felt it has been a great fit for his son, who he indicated was quite capable but in HS tended to focus more on sports than academics.
He mentioned they do a lot of hand-holding and many of their buildings are set up to look like the “real world”. The example he mentioned was that BOA had donated all of the technology they use so presentations are given using the same resources they might expect once they get a job. Interviews are conducted in offices, they have board rooms, etc. Also, there is a steak house on campus where they must make reservations. If you use your phone you cannot come back for x weeks. If you are late, you cannot come back for x weeks, etc. He said it is pricey but for his son he felt they have done a great job and they are very happy.
I grew up in NC and I never really heard of HPU and while I knew of Elon, it had a very poor reputation. I think both of these institutions have done a very good job in marketing themselves but I think they are a good fit for the right students. Elon is quite remotely located but the campus itself is very nice and the kids walking around seemed quite content.
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A friend just graduated from HPU. It really was the perfect school for him, as he reveled in the handholding, the steakhouse, the golf carts driving him around. He is an athlete, and now is a professional athlete after his 5 years at HPU (got a free extra year because of covid) He could have gone to some really nice schools like Syracuse or Virginia, but academically those weren’t a good fit for him. HPU worked for him.
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We just toured today. The science building has state of the art equipment. Kids can start researching with professors as early as their freshman year. Aren’t both of those factors good?
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What college does not allow freshman to work with professors?
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We know several kids who went to High Point and they did fit the stereotype of being affluent kids who weren’t academically inclined. In both cases however the kids graduated on time, enjoyed their experience and are gainfully employed, so for some kids it works.
It is dangerous to go by reputation and or stats in isolation. For instance College of Charleston has a 75% acceptance rate and according to the NYT…
“The median family income of a student from College of Charleston is $139,500, and 62% come from the top 20 percent. Less than 1% of students at College of Charleston came from a poor family but became a rich adult”
Many of the kids from our northeast town view and treat these schools as peers and they draw similar students.
Based on these stats and the similarly of kids they attract it would be easy to also label a school like College of Charleston as a rich kid with poor academics school. For many kids these schools are a perfect fit and shouldn’t be demeaned nor their students diminished or stereotyped.
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I cannot say too much about College of Charleston except that their Math and CS dept’s host an annual high school competition which is very well done. So within those departments there are some motivated professors I think.
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HPU has no debt. When Dr Nido Qubein first came on he raised $60 Million in the first 30 days. Then he went to the bank to get a loan against that to build. That was repaid and since that time has raised all the funding money for all the building. He is incredible at that.
A lot of people are skeptical as to how they could have that much money but he literally receives large 7-8 figure donations from people yearly- some as high as $35 million from one family. Prior to him coming in the school only received about $5-10 million a year in donations. I have know Nido for over 25 years and am continually astounded at how astute he is with strategic long-term thinking.
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Are you sure about that? Looks like they have $128 million in debt. The more pressing data point is the endowment is only $138 million. That forces the school to rely heavily on tuition dollars. Maybe, instead of buying houses, they should put funds into the endowment?
By comparison, Elon’s endowment is $335 million.
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This thread saw no activity for almost a year and it appears that one user is suddenly spamming a bunch of HPU posts. As threads are meant to close automatically after six months of no activity, I am closing.
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