<p>I guess I just don't see graduation rates (which is what we're talking about here actually, right?) as correlated very well with location. I just looked up Northeastern's and it's only 62%.</p>
<p>Weather? Cripe, with over half the kids from NY state, you'd think they'd know about winter. And U of Rochester manages an 83% graduation rate (same weather).</p>
<p>I'd be the first to admit that Henrietta is NOT a good place to go to college. But I just don't see it as that much worse than many other college areas. </p>
<p>I do believe housing (or lack thereof) has led to a generally unhappy student body. And not so much that kids don't have housing - but rather there is no central quad or whatever for kids to relate to. Do you know what I mean by that? So many kids are from this area - lots go home on weekends just to make matters worse.</p>
<p>Oddly, they're breaking ground on a new RIT village -- but RIT isn't going to own it. When it was originally conceived, it was going to be a retirement community. Now it sounds like they have no idea what it will be. (And it makes me sick that the developer got big fat tax breaks for it. RIT should never have moved out of the city int he first place. Subsidized SPRAWL is all it is.)</p>
<p>
[quote]
May 1, 2007</p>
<p>RIT retail, housing complex under way
Matthew Daneman
Staff writer</p>
<p>HENRIETTA — Construction has begun on a large housing and retail complex planned for a corner of Rochester Institute of Technology's campus.</p>
<p>On Monday, earth-moving equipment was clearing trees and shrubbery from 60 acres at Jefferson Road and John Street. Developer Wilmorite plans to build a $72.7 million complex of housing and retail space.</p>
<p>The private development will include 918 beds of apartment housing and 80,000 square feet of commercial space, including 40,000 square feet for a new RIT bookstore and space for restaurants, pubs and retail.</p>
<p>The complex, long nicknamed Collegetown, has not been officially named.</p>
<p>Construction is to be completed by fall 2008, according to a statement by Wilmorite.</p>
<p>RIT launched the Collegetown idea and sought a developer with the idea that the retail and housing largely would benefit its students and employees. Now the university is selling Wilmorite the 60 acres, instead of leasing it to the developer. That way RIT plays no role in the financing of the project and no RIT resources will be used in the project, said university spokesman Bob Finnerty.</p>
<p>According to a statement from Wilmorite, the firm expects that the housing will largely be taken up by students from RIT, Monroe Community College, University of Rochester and other area colleges, as well as by local twentysomethings.</p>
<p>Wiljeff LLC will own the development. Wilmorite President Paul Wilmot is also president of Wiljeff LLC.</p>
<p>The County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency last month awarded the project an estimated $7.9 million in sales, mortgage and property tax breaks over the next decade. Collegetown is expected to net local government more than $10 million in tax revenue over those same 10 years.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I also think that for engineering schools on the lower end of the selectivity scale -- well, they are just in a tough spot. They've got to put less qualified kids through the same curriculum as MIT or any other engineering program. </p>
<p>Alas, a lot of my son's friends are heading off to RIT this fall. I wish them well. I think there's a lot of good stuff going on educationally at RIT, I just think it's time for them to focus a little closer on their kids' overall well being.</p>