Ole Miss just hit 27k students. MSU hit 23k. Are we actually getting a better education or just paying for crowded classrooms?

[OleMisser]

Okay, someone explain this to me.

IHL just dropped the fall 2025 numbers. Ole Miss: 27,000+ (11% growth). Mississippi State: 23,000+ (9 out of 10 years growth). Even USM held steady at 13k .

On one hand: "Wow, Mississippi schools are actually destinations now." Ole Miss is recruiting nationally. MSU is enrolling more minority, international, and veteran students than ever. The flagships are winning .

On the other hand: The enrollment cliff is coming. Mississippi is projected to have the SECOND worst decline in high school graduates in the entire South by 2027 (only behind Virginia) .

So my question:
Are we actually becoming better universities? Or are the big schools just eating everyone else's lunch?

Because while Ole Miss and MSU are setting records:

• Delta State cut 21 programs and still lost students .
• Jackson State dropped 238 students .
• The W is scrambling for transfers .

Also: Ole Miss intentionally shrank their freshman class by 7.2% this year to raise ACT averages (now 25.04) and recruit more in-state kids . That's strategic. But it also means 3,697 freshmen are fighting for the same dining hall tables.

Is bigger better? Or is this just consolidation before the cliff hits?

UPDATE: The Daily Mississippian confirmed this week that Ole Miss has $400 MILLION in construction right now—dorms, parking garages, a transportation hub . So at least they know we're cramped.

 

[Waylon]

The freshman class shrink is interesting though—raising ACT averages while total enrollment grows means they're being pickier about WHO gets in, even as they pack the campus.

I go to MSU and honestly? Some departments are drowning. My major classes are fine (25 people), but intro courses are literally in auditoriums. Is that "better education"? feels like a spreadsheet win, not a student win.