education problems

[XenesisMayor 0]

I can't seem to be able to get my education level of my city above 160. It always gets close and then suddenly begins to decline. All my education systems are well funded and well covered, and there only exists buildings with high capacity (ie. only large elementary/high school, university only, etc.). Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this?

Somewhat unrelated, my residential demand keeps on fluctuating, and my population is stagnating between 180 000 people and 210 000 people. I have a feeling it may be related to the education system, but I don't know.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[City2TheMax 3]

well I don't know what to do about the education thing, but your residential situation seems to be related to demand caps. The game has "demand caps" which keeps your population in a certain area until you relieve the cap. Caps for residential are relieved by parks and certain rewards, while industrial and commercial caps are relieved by neighbor connections and some rewards. Look in the Omnibus for specifics.

Hope that helped!

[XenesisMayor 0]

Hi City2TheMax,

I don't think it's a problem with the demand caps. I already downloaded the RCI query mod, and my caps are only 10-20% filled. Could it be related to the number of jobs? I seem to have noticed that the addition of my industrial and commercial job numbers are always close to half of the Residential population. Demand seems to be consistently down for those areas as well, even though I have many neighbour connections and rewards.

[dlo 0]

Your situation sounds like a commute problem. Are there any no job zots over your buildings, or are any buildings vacant/dilapidated?

[NetPCDoc 1]

Hello XenesisMayor,

On education - first (just in case) - have you a complete education system:

1) Elementary Schools,

2) High Schools,

3) City Colleges,

4) University,

5) Libraries (local branches and city), and

6) Museums.

And does the effective radius (of all these) cover all of your residential population (R-Zones).

The two other factors that might need to be considered are:

1) Life Expectancy (i.e. Health - HQ), and

2) Origins of your Population.

If your population is home grown - then they will build on the education of their parents, but if you are importing population from Sim Nation then be advised - Sim Nation does not educate any sim.

If I remember correctly - in the unmodded game - your workforce is either 40% or 60% of your residential population - depending on Life Expectancy - which in turn depends heavily on Health and indirectly on Education.

As to transit system neighbor connectoins (the ones that relieve demand caps) - after three of any given type of connection (to any single neighbor) the benefit of more connections of that type (to that neighbor) is no longer cost effective. If you have the appropriate locations, and haven't already done so, try an airport or seaport - to help create more commercial and industrial demand.

Hoping that some of the above helps,

-NetPCDoc

No detail is too small to be micromanaged.

[XenesisMayor 0]

Hi NetPCDoc,

Thanks for the help. I do have a complete education system with full coverage, but I have skipped the city college, after I realized that it reduces the number of people who attend my university. My health system is also well funded and covered.

My city is isolated (it is the only city in the region) and I do have an airport (no seaport since there is no water). The life expectancy of my sims is also stagnating at around 70, and the population by age is showing that most of my sims are between 21 and 30. I have almost all the rewards in my city, yet my demand is still low, and my life expectancy and education is still stagnating.

With regard to the commute problems, I do have a few no work zots appearing on my apartment buildings (it's all high density), but most of them have commuters, my grid streets are free of congestion (I have the latest NAM), and my transit system is underused. I am pretty stumped about the problem, and I'm not sure what to do to fix it.

Somewhat unrelated, does anyone know if the education level of your sims is affected by the size of your institutions (ie. small elementary school makes dumber sims in comparison to large elementary schools)?

[dlo 0]

These apartments are the reason you're never getting a high EQ, since the residents frequently move out and back in with no chance to be educated. If you can describe the transit around the problematic zones, we may be able to help find out the commute problem. Also, the only differences between the small and the large education buildings are the coverage and the capacity. In all other aspects they're identical.

[XenesisMayor 0]

photos of city zoning and a subway map are attached.

[NetPCDoc 1]

Hello - again - XenesisMayor,

An Isolated City - Please Note - if all neighbor connections are to Sim Nation (either off the edge of the region, or to potential cities that have never had a mayor) then more than three transit connections of any given type (rail, road, highway, etc) will be costing you more than what they are returning in demand cap relief. I guess this could be one way to avoid perpetual commuters - but I would recommend just not connecting up the transit systems in the neighboring cities, instead of not incorporating (i.e. not starting) your neighbor cities; even just incorporating the neighbors - without developing or playing them (until you are really ready to do so) - will allow you to get some demand cap relief from transit connections to them.

Leaving City Colleges out of your educational picture will tend to prevent your sims from realizing their full educational potentials.

As to size - what really matters is the number of desks for students (prefer 1 desk per 1 student) and the quality (number of apples?) of the education being given by your educational system. And please remember - actual schools (as opposed to libraries and museums) will only educate your residential populations, and therefore should be placed to cover your residential zones.

And don't forget the boost you can get from certain ordinances, such as free clinics and pro-reading campaigns.

Hoping something helps,

-NetPCDoc

No detail is too small to be micromanaged.

[XenesisMayor 0]

Thanks NetPCDoc. The transit connections I have show no support in term of commuters, except for freight trucks. All my schools, high schools, etc. are overfunded and under-capacity, and I have activated almost all of the ordinances. I will try and place a city college and see if it affects my education, and maybe cut the highway connections to my undeveloped neighbours, but I'm starting to think it may be a program glitch, because I have seen a couple of industrial properties develop that appear as blank grey lots with no query window/commuters. I've tried reinstalling the program, but it doesn't seem to have an effect.

Anyone out there who may have suggestions on how to fix this problem, please help.