McNeese State University: Narrative Description

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MCNEESE STATE UNIVERSITY J-4

4205 Ryan St.
Lake Charles, LA 70609
Tel: (337)475-5000; 800-622-3352; Admissions: (337)475-5148; E-mail: [email protected]; Web Site: http://www.mcneese.edu/

Description: State-supported, comprehensive, coed. Part of University of Louisiana System. Awards associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees and post-master's certificates. Founded 1939. Setting: 580-acre suburban campus. Endowment: $31.2 million. Research spending 2002-03: $2.8 million. Educational spending 2002-03: $2740 per student. Total enrollment: 8,447. Faculty: 393 (292 full-time, 101 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 22:1. 2,183 applied, 88% were admitted. 12% from top 10% of their high school class, 35% from top quarter, 67% from top half. Full-time: 6,023 students, 57% women, 43% men. Part-time: 1,307 students, 66% women, 34% men. Students come from 33 states and territories, 37 other countries, 6% from out-of-state, 1% Native American, 1% Hispanic, 20% black, 1% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 1% international, 23% 25 or older, 12% live on campus, 5% transferred in. Retention: 68% of 2003 full-time freshmen returned. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: business/marketing; education; health professions and related sciences; protective services/public administration. Core. Calendar: semesters. Academic remediation for entering students, ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, accelerated degree program, freshman honors college, honors program, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Off campus study at Council of Intercollegiate Nursing Consortium; Coushatta Project, Kinder, Louisiana. Study abroad program.

Entrance Requirements: Options: electronic application, early admission, international baccalaureate accepted. Required: high school transcript, SAT I or ACT. Entrance: moderately difficult. Application deadline: Rolling. Notification: continuous.

Costs Per Year: Application fee: $20. State resident tuition: $2050 full-time, $519 per term part-time. Nonresident tuition: $8116 full-time, $519 per term part-time. Mandatory fees: $722 full-time, $248.50 per term part-time. Full-time tuition and fees vary according to course load. part-time tuition and fees vary according to course load. College room and board: $3788. Room and board charges vary according to board plan and housing facility.

Collegiate Environment: Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, marching band, student-run newspaper. Social organizations: national fraternities, national sororities. Most popular organizations: Student Government Association, International Students Association, Resident Student Association. Major annual events: homecoming, Spring Fling. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling, women's center. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access. 1,270 college housing spaces available; 950 were occupied in 2002-03. No special consideration for freshman housing applicants. On-campus residence required in freshman year. Options: coed, men-only, women-only housing available. Frazer Memorial Library plus 2 others with 351,708 books, 1.4 million microform titles, 1,679 serials, 3,635 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending 2002-03: $1.5 million. 700 computers available on campus for general student use. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment: The city owes its development to the combination of Capt. J. B. Watkins, a variety of natural resources and a deep-water port. In 1887 Captain Watkins of New York moved his newspaper to Lake Charles and started an overwhelming advertising program, which, with the terminus of a railroad at New Orleans, resulted in the development of a 17-mill lumber industry. The discovery of oil in the early 1900s and a new process of mining sulfur further enriched the city. Forests are presently nearly depleted and the sulfur supply is no longer industrially profitable. This city with its vast oil companies in southwest Louisiana is a leader in the petrochemical industry. A deepwater port since 1926, it is currently the nation's leading rice port. Docks also handle general cargo, the output of chemical and petrochemical plants and products of the city's two large rice mills. Student employment is available. Transportation is provided by commercial passenger air lines, rail, and bus service. There are libraries, YMCA, a great number of churches, and three hospitals easily accessible. Recreation includes fishing, hunting, theatres, and an annual rodeo.

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McNeese State University: Narrative Description

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