Three CUES is GDA Integrated Services’ electronic newsletter. In each edition, we focus on three items selected from our College & University Environmental Scanning (CUES) and our GDAIS research. Unlike most higher education newsletters, Three CUES often looks beyond news about colleges and universities to review greater social and marketing trends. Produced on a regular basis, Three CUES not only provides information, but also offers observations and recommendations concerning each topic. If this newsletter does not display properly, visit www.gdais.com/3cues.
Fall 2008 Edition:
| Look for GDAIS at NACAC’s 64th National Conference in Seattle, Washington, September 25 – 27, 2008. We’ll be in the Exhibit Hall – Booth 1013 – at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. You’ll get a chance to talk to George, Jonathan, Bonnie, Stuart and Bob. See you there! |
The infamous words of James Carville in the 1992 Presidential election are getting play once again as the candidates shift their focus from pigs with lipstick to the Wall Street debacle and its impact on the American consumer. It is obviously too early to tell what impact all of this may have on higher education, but we have some words of caution for colleges to consider.
If the enrollment successes you have enjoyed over the last few years have leaders at your institution thinking now is the time to push the envelope on a price increase or to increase the new student enrollment goals, beware there are some forces at work that will militate against such ambitions. With increased unemployment, the sub-prime lending mess, the fall of Lehman Brothers, the bail-out of AIG among other issues, everything is pointing toward a tighter credit picture for everything from homes to cars to education.
While increased unemployment represents a slight threat to the solvency of institutional financial aid budgets and perhaps a point on the discount rate as colleges struggle to meet the new needs of this growing population, two other problems concern us more. First, it seems clear that there will be a decreasing number of banks able to participate in the student loan program because they simply are unable to get bridge funding to initiate new loans. This was thought to be a potential problem this past year before everything fell apart, but it did not turn out to be the case. However, a recent report by the Congressional Research Service suggests that student loan companies may have a harder time refinancing because these securities have capped interest rates which make them less attractive to investors. A reduced or restricted Stafford Loan market could create significant difficulties for colleges that use them as the centerpiece of their need based loan program.
Our second and probably bigger lending concern is the probable lack of access to home equity lines of credit and alternative loans. These are the vehicles families have been using to make up the difference between disposable income and college costs and/or available financial aid and cost of attendance. These borrowing options have enabled colleges to raise prices above the CPI each year and still enjoy record enrollments. GDAIS research has shown repeatedly over the past five years that parents are amazingly supportive of their children’s wishes to attend their first choice colleges. They openly state that they will do everything they can to come up with the money necessary to support this choice. This is a noble objective, typically funded by readily available low interest long term loans. As credit tightens and less money is available to support these ambitions, we wonder where families will turn.
GDA Integrated Services offers a number of ways to help colleges better understand their market position relative to price and the price sensitivity of their specific pool of applicants. We also provide recruitment training on how the admissions staff should focus on value as opposed to discounting with financial aid. Given what is going on, it would seem there is no better time to ratchet up this phase of a colleges marketing effort. Before the decision is made to increase tuition or raise the new student enrollment target, you might want to discuss these challenges with us.
For more information, contact Topher Small (topher@dehne.com) or Bob Campagnuolo (bob@dehne.com) at 860-388-3958.
Curricular Power: Explaining the Value of the Liberal Arts to Prospective Students and Their Parents
In his August 31 article, “Liberal Arts Tweaked to Round out Resumes,” Associated Press Education Writer Justin Pope describes the surge in economics majors at Middlebury College, which now account for 1 out of every 6 students. Kalamazoo College is adding a business major for the first time in its history, and Sewanee is adding business as a minor.
The reason? Today’s graduates (and even more so their parents) want more than liberal arts majors on their diplomas as they head into the job market. There is a perception among students and parents (rightly or wrongly) that the liberal arts and a well-rounded curriculum are not enough. In fact, our research has shown that only 11% of college-bound students think the liberal arts is important.
“Show me the money”
As anyone who has met with a college-bound student and their parents can tell you, the liberal arts is a tough sell. Long gone are the days when the majority of students were satisfied with a traditional, liberal arts curriculum that ensures exposure to multiple disciplines. They want more marketable skills that can be directly applied in the job market (usually as measured by a graduate’s starting salary).
Major of the Moment
The Millennial Generation is fixated on getting a direct return for its tuition dollar, and today’s students are more likely to approach the college selection process with a specific major (and career) in mind. In fact, GDA Research has found that three out of four students will only consider a college that has their first choice in academic major. Even though they may change their minds four or five times before settling on a major, students are putting colleges on their search lists based on the availability of a single major. More often than not, these majors are not traditional liberal arts majors and tend to be more career-focused, such as business.
Yet most students and parents, when surveyed, are very interested in the idea of “life-long learning” and arming themselves with the fundamental “critical thinking” and “communication skills” that will “prepare them for all of their careers—not just their first.” They want to master learning skills that will retain their value in all job markets and turns of the economy. They want the skills that will make them competitive in a global marketplace. In essence, they want the liberal arts.
So what’s the problem?
The problem is that many students and parents like what a liberal arts curriculum does, but they don’t like the name. They are convinced that employers will not value a liberal education over specific skills and experience, yet they typically agree that the broad-based thinking skills are more valuable and less likely to become outdated than more specific technical skills. Yet, these are what they tend to put at the forefront during the college search. Compounding the problem is the fact that many employers do not seem to appreciate the value of the liberal arts, since only about 15% of employers seek to hire graduates with a liberal arts education.
What’s a college to do?
Colleges need to do a better job of explaining the value of the liberal arts curriculum. We have worked with many colleges to focus their communications more acutely on the direct skills and benefits that come out of the curriculum rather than on the curriculum itself. We have also worked with colleges to demonstrate their outcomes by showing how alumni use their undergraduate experience in various careers and graduate study. While students like the idea of achieving broad-based learning and critical thinking skills, they still want to get their feet wet with real-world experiences that are directly applicable in the workplace. This is where internships, research opportunities, service learning, and extracurricular experiences are reinvigorating and supplementing the curriculum. In a recent GDA survey, over eight of ten college-bound students were interested in having a “hands-on learning experience” at college. These are valuable benefits of the residential, liberal arts experience that typically do not receive enough attention when colleges communicate with prospective students.
Where the rubber meets the road: William Jewell College
William Jewell College has gone a step further by raising the importance of the liberal arts and making it a distinct major. Since the major is the coin of the realm for prospective students, what better way to increase its visibility than by making it a unique major? This means all of their graduates have a double or even a triple major: one in the liberal arts, and another in a specialized field of study or traditional major. In addition, they also developed a separate transcript in addition to the academic transcript that demonstrates hands-on learning experience acquired through internships, research, campus leadership positions, service learning, etc. GDAIS helped William Jewell reposition its new ACT-In curriculum and the residential experience, the Jewell Journey, which is summarized in a mini website we developed: http://jewelljourney.collegetrends.org/.
Today’s students want to learn the theory in the classroom and still have plenty of opportunities to apply the theory in the real world. There is no need for colleges to sacrifice their liberal arts principles; they must simply make themselves more relevant to prospective students and parents. Colleges that are successful at promoting the liberal arts are able to bridge theory and practice very clearly in their communications. Students want to be marketable to employers after they graduate, and colleges that are most successful in communicating to prospective students are those that can clearly state how marketable their graduates are.
Jonathan Steele is director of integrated communications at GDA Integrated Services and a proud double major in English and German. He can be reached at jonathan@dehne.com.
We at GDA Integrated Services have long advocated the importance of people in putting together a new class; that successful recruitment programs, especially at small private colleges with low visibility, require a highly motivated, well-trained, stable admissions staff. This must start at the top – namely with the vice president or dean of admissions and the director of admissions – because it is this relationship, perhaps more than any other in higher education, that sets the tone for similar relationships throughout the admissions organization.
The relationship between director and vice-president or dean is complex, and without proper attention it can go from great to horrific in no time, often without strong signs that things are amiss. Regrettably, we observe too many situations in which a vice-president hires a new director and then makes many assumptions about how much the new person may know about admissions/recruitment, people management and leadership, in general. In these same situations, a new director is often completely confused about who is actually running the office or perhaps terrified to disclose lack of knowledge or experience because he or she does not want to disappoint his or her new boss. Ultimately, what begins with erroneous assumptions on the part of the vice president or dean, and a desire to appear to have things under control on the part of the director, results in a poisonous relationship that impacts everyone on the admissions staff and affects the recruitment program itself.
In many cases the VP/director relationship deteriorates because few admissions leaders – vice-presidents or directors – have much leadership training. Most often, in the world of admissions, it is the ambitious and affable recruiter who makes it to the top. The same people tend to be “lifers” in the business, so they have very limited exposure to leadership theory, since admissions is often their first and only job and success is defined by how many students are recruited. However, in order to be successful in modern-day enrollment work, operating in complex office structures and managing Millennials, it is more important than ever for today’s enrollment leaders to utilize sound leadership theory in managing important relationships like the one between a director and a VP or dean.
Recently, we came across an article titled, Effective Integration of New Employees - Leader Approaches to Supervision, by leadership consultant Elaine Groppenbacher, which offers some good advice for those in leadership positions – regardless of their position in an organization – and can be utilized as a good framework for effective leadership in admissions.
She writes, “all the reflection and collaboration in the world will not make for a successful supervisory relationship if regular interaction between the employee and supervisor does not exist. A supervisor who protects regular, designated supervision time from cancellation gives both new and seasoned employees strong messages:
For those in leadership roles, do your actions send the message you want to send? Have you established a relationship and communications patterns with your direct reports that signals your interest in his or her success and contributions? For those of you who are supervisors, how many meetings do you cancel, put-off or postpone because you think the relationship with your employee is such that you can? Think about the message you may be sending to your employee. For VPs or deans, your actions may be interpreted by your director as an acceptable message to send the admissions staff, too.
Particularly relevant to the VP/director relationship, Groppenbacher suggests leaders ask themselves the following questions every four to six months:
For leaders, how often do you ask yourself the questions outlined above? Do you take time to think seriously about your role as a supervisor and what you need to do to make the relationship work? Do you take time to read and learn about effective leadership techniques? Do you think you have a good grasp of your responsibility to practice effective leadership?
A good relationship between a supervisor and employee begins at the top. In admissions, this is particularly important and must begin with a self-aware vice president or dean who takes the necessary time to apply effective leadership theory to managing and cultivating a good relationship and open communication between himself or herself and the director of admissions, especially a newly hired one. This relationship will be the model for the entire organization.
The current and next generation of effective vice-presidents will need to be considerably more aware of leadership theory and increasingly deliberate in selecting, coaching, mentoring and appraising staff members.
GDA has experienced leadership coaches and mentors who can work with all level of your admission staff in group or one-on-one settings. GDA also offers tools such as performance appraisal worksheets and the Admission Counselor Evaluations Survey (ACES). To find out more, contact Topher Small (topher@dehne.com) or Bob Campagnuolo (bob@dehne.com) at 860-388-3958.
GDA Integrated Services is a marketing consulting, research, strategic planning and services firm specializing in customized, integrated marketing strategies that help colleges and universities compete successfully for students, funds and visibility in the twenty-first century.
We provide colleges and universities with the following services:
Recruitment and Retention Application Program For a complete listing of our services, please see our website at www.gdais.com.