Getting To Know: Towson University (MD)-Again
Just before the Thanksgiving holiday I took my third visit to Towson University. Located less than ten miles from Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, Towson University offers many academic programs that college-bound students want, in a location that many would like to live in. This visit was coordinated by the Baltimore Collegetown Network, an exceptionally well-organized partnership that attracts and supports college students in the Charm City, its environs, and most importantly its member schools. I updated a Pinterest page for Towson and invite you to read on!
I last visited Towson University in the summer of 2018.
Since then, the university’s full-time undergraduate enrollment has actually declined from 16,300 to 13,400 students. However, the enrollments in the sciences are rebounding, Counting graduate and part-time students, who bring the total enrollment over 18,000. Towson is the second-largest university in Maryland after the University of Maryland-College Park. It is also a minority-majority university. Nearly 40 percent of the undergraduates are Black, Fourteen percent are Hispanic.
Towson University could be a good value for the money.
The estimated cost of attendance (tuition, fees, room & board, incidentals) is just under $33,000 for Maryland residents, and just under $51,000 for non-residents. However, there are differential tuition charges for some popular programs including Business, Computer Science, Nursing that will add $750/year to the costs of a Towson education. Merit awards that average $3,000 for residents, $7,000 for non-residents, make the costs more reasonable.
Graduates in the Class of 2023, the last year I found data available, who borrowed owed, on average, $27,300. That’s $300 over the maximum that a student may borrow over four years through the Federal student loan program. Just over 30 percent of the class had no debt.
Towson attracts a B+ student.
The average GPA for the incoming Class of 2028 was a 3.78 though 40 percent of the class had lower GPAs.. Admissions are test optional, and less than a fifth of all applicants submitted SAT scores. The range for the middle 50 percent was wide, between 950 and 1230.
One thing we learned from this visit; Towson is a very transfer friendly university, whether one comes from community college or another four-year school. Forty percent of the student body entered as transfer students. Some who start at community college actually begin their education by living on the Towson campus.
Towson’s overall freshman retention rate dropped from 86 percent in 2028 to 83 percent in 2023.
Interesting to me, as the College of Education lost enrollment, its freshman mention is now 92 percent. The fine arts programs are also doing better at retaining students; their 2023 freshman retention was 88 percent. There have been more investments in the health professions and the sciences, but the retention has still slipped. As a result of slipping retention, Towson’s most recent four-year graduation rate did not crack 48 percent for any class that entered between 2011 and 2020..However, Towson is a female-majority school–and over half of the women graduated on time in each year.
Our group was told that the review is truly holistic: that the full application and potential for the student is considered.
I believe that. Eighty-two percent of all applicants to the Class of 2028 were accepted. However, less than a fifth decided to come. A third of those students received merit awards. Fourteen percent came from other states and countries.
Students who are interested in Towson should apply by December 1st for non-binding Early Action, especially if they are interested in the Honors College. The majority of acceptances come through Early Action. There’s only one essay and no recommendation letters are required.
Towson has screened majors as well as competitive majors.
The nursing program is screened and competitive; it even offers the option to apply Early Decision. In the case of other screened majors, interested students earn their way into their major by performing well in the pre-requisite courses. Incoming students interested in business are, for example, essentially “pre-business,” and must earn a minimum GPA to choose a business major. In one sense this is a fairer process than direct admission: your effort in your freshman year in college, not your high school grades, leads to admission to the program that you want. In another sense it is not as fair. Schools that use direct admission for business programs set fairly reasonable (below 3.0) GPAs to stay in the business school. Towson faculty could decide to raise the minimum GPA to for students to remain in a high-demand program when it appears to be over-enrolled.
Popular majors are headed by Nursing and Computer Science, Collectively, the business programs have the largest undergraduate enrollment. Other stand-out programs included Criminal Justice, Dance, Exercise Science and Forensic Chemistry. There are also many other majors, especially in the business and science programs, where research and honors opportunities will be more accessible than they might be at a flagship like the University of Maryland-College Park. That’s another reason to give Towson serious consideration if your budget is more suited to a public university.
The campus feels small for a school with a large student body.
Towson University encompasses 329 acres. To offer a comparison, Goucher College, a liberal arts college that’s in the same town, has 287 acres for just under 1,600 students. However, Towson’s physical campus is larger than Temple University or Virginia Commonwealth University, which have larger enrollments and serve similar educational missions. But those schools are in more urban locations, and they do not have football stadiums on campus as Towson does. Parking is relatively tight at Towson, mainly because the campus is small for the student body it serves, and two-thirds of the students commute from home or off-campus housing.
However, the campus is attractive for what is a essentially a city school.
Towson’s academic campus is largely modern, with the exception of Stevens Hall and Newell Hall, the oldest buildings that opened in 1915 and 1916. The Liberal Arts building, in particular, is one of the nicest classroom and study centers that you will find on any college campus. So is the new Science Center.. Another feature is the Freedom Square where students can post any message that want on large open blackboards.
The campus is fairly easy to navigate.
The university constructed a bridge over Osler Drive, a fast thoroughfare that separates the West Village residences from the academic center of campus, to make it easier to go from home to class. However, academic center of campus is built upon a hill. A walk from end to end, while short for a school with so many undergraduates, might feel longer and more tiring than some prospective students might expect, especially with new construction in progress. The campus is relatively well lit and easy for campus police to secure. However, there are some sketchy areas around campus, although Towson is a fairly well-to-do community.
It’s really hard to see the bonds within this campus community.
Two-thirds of the students do not live on campus, and the location tempts them to find entertainment elsewhere. The campus is about a mile from Towson Center, a multi-level enclosed upscale shopping mall and movie theatre, and other shopping options immediately surround that complex. Students may walk there or ride free shuttle buses. Towson is also on the route for the Baltimore Collegetown Network bus line, a free service that connects students to several other campuses in the metro area. The university will also shuttle students to the light rail stations where trains leave for the Inner Harbor. Greek life is not popular here, engaging about ten percent of the student body.
Towson has had athletic successes.
A member of the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA). Towson competes in 19 NCAA D-1 varsity scholarship sports, the same number as the University of Maryland-College Park.. Interestingly, because the university plays football, 13 of those sports are for women.
Towson is the first university, public or private, in the US to have played football at every varsity level from non-scholarship D-3 to varsity scholarship D-1. The Tigers made it to the national championship game in 2013 after three rounds of playoffs before losing to North Dakota State. More recently, the Tigers drew their largest crowd for their game against Baltimore area rival Morgan State. The football stadium is named for NFL legend Johnny Unitas, whose children attended the university.
The men’s lacrosse program has made the NCAA Tournament six times since 2013, earning four conference titles. The women’s lacrosse program has earned three since then, and the volleyball program has earned five.
Conclusions
There are two very good reasons to go to Towson. Either you already live in Maryland and want to find a reasonably priced college, or the university has an academic program you want. Towson checks both boxes for most of its undergraduate student body, whether they enter as a freshman or a transfer student. .I can understand why. The school is well tapped into the Baltimore-Washington metro area and it really meets the employers where they’re at for the pre-professional programs. This and the location appear to be Towson’s greatest strengths.
But I was left to wonder: are the policies towards screened majors meant to encourage students to try stick with a program as the faculty try to maintain high standards? This is a way to make educational opportunities more accessible than they might at, for example, the University of Maryland-College Park. However, these policies might also be having negative impacts on retention and graduation rates. I was concerned that struggling students opt to leave instead of choosing another major. Towson is not the only public university that is affected by this trade off. But the trade off is something to think about when considering a college.
Report Card: Towson University
- Four-Year/Six-Year Graduation Rates: C+/B
- Freshman Retention: B
- Costs: B+
- Curriculum: A
- Community: B+
- Comforts: B+
- Connections: A (Baltimore/Washington)/B (New York Philadelphia)/C (Elsewhere)
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