by Reid Foster / 10.25.2011
With the University of Missouri expected to soon join the Southeastern Conference, most of the attention seems to be placed on how well the Tigers’ sports teams will adjust to their new competition.
However, one overlooked aspect of the realignment is the impact it may have on the MU demographics.
In switching from the Big 12 to the SEC, there could be a noticeable rise in students coming from southeastern states. MU registrar officials would not comment or speculate on a possible change in admissions, but a little history lesson may provide a few answers. For example, since the inception of the Big 12 in 1996– when four Texas schools joined forces with the former Big Eight– Missouri’s admissions from the state of Texas has tripled.
In talking to students from the campuses of the University of Missouri, University of Texas, University of Mississippi, University of Kentucky, University of Alabama, University of South Carolina, and the University of Georgia, the perception is that Missouri is much farther away from SEC schools than Big 12 schools. However, Fayetteville, Arkansas is merely 4 hours away from Columbia, Missouri– that’s a short trip compared to the 4 and half hours it takes to get to Manhattan, Ks., or the 5 hours it takes to get to Ames, Iowa. Or how about the eight hours it takes to get to Norman, Ok. from Columbia?
In fact, the only Big 12 city closer to MU than Fayetteville is Lawrence, KS. Despite this, there are significantly more people at Mizzou from the states of Iowa and Oklahoma than from Arkansas per the 2010 Fall University Registrar, even though all three states bear similar overall populations and Arkansas’ border with Missouri is much more significant than Oklahoma’s. Missouri also shares a border with both Tennessee and Kentucky.
Furthermore, Austin, Tx., is farther away from Columbia than Athens, Ga., one of the westernmost SEC cities. However, if you added up the number of students from SEC states at the University of Missouri, it wouldn’t equal half the number of students that hail from the state of Texas alone. Mizzou hasn’t always been littered with students from Texas, though. Again it’s more of a recent phenomenon. When the Big Eight Conference and the Southwest Conference merged in 1996, it was the first time that Missouri was in the same conference as schools from the state of Texas. Since that time, the amount of students at Mizzou from Texas has tripled, while no other states have even come to close to reaching that type of increase.
Could that tidbit help predict the future? Perhaps. But until the move becomes official, we’ll have to rely on speculation for now.
