Tim Copeland's Blog on College & University Marketing and Enrollment Management

Managing Enrollment in An Economic Downturn

A sign of the shaky economic times.

The University of Denver recently sent letters to thousands of undergraduate students asking them to consider all options before leaving school for monetary reasons. The University is offering payment plans, extended deadlines, and financial aid, all in an effort to hold on to their students. This according to a recent FoxNews Report.

Managing enrollment in an economic downturn. It's a concern that's on the minds of college leaders and boards across the country. Forget an annual retention rate, many institutions are concerned about students returning for the next semester.

As I've talked with enrollment leaders from undergraduate, to graduate and professional education, I'm often asked what others are doing/what 'we' should be doing to compensate. Here are a few ideas and lessons that I learned in the corporate world:

Colleges Taking Hard Knocks - When Wall Street Sneezes Campuses Get Chills

Several news stories this week in the mainstream media on how colleges and universities are coping with the economic slowdown.

Here's a report from NBC news:

College Closings Could Rise in the Economic Downturn

Some colleges _ like many American consumers and homeowners _ may soon discover they took on more debt than they should have, lured by low interest rates and ambitious growth plans, according to Justin Pope, an AP education writer. Figures from Moody's Investor Service on private colleges show median debt up 50 percent over the last five years.

As quarterly investment statements arrive on campus combined with state budget cuts, over-extended institutions may be at risk. While college closing announcements are anticipated, it would likely be next semester, or next fall, when schools find out how many of their students don't return.

"We've seen what's happened to family income, the financial assets of so many families," said Matt Hamill, senior vice president of NACUBO, a college business officers group. The key question is "how that will manifest itself when it comes time to enroll next fall."

Read the full article

Association of Continuing Higher Education 2008 - Rethinking the CE Marketing Organization

Thank you to all who attended our panel discussion. Hard to believe we used the entire two hours for the session.

You can download a copy of the presentation slides as well as audience survey responses at the following link:

Rethinking the Continuing Education Marketing Organization PowerPoint Slides and Audience Survey Results

A special thanks to our distinguished panel and to Sean Gallagher from Eduventures for responding to some impromptu questions. Finally, I checked with Sean after the presentation. The percentages he cited for the amount of dollars allocated to marketing including personnel costs.

Online Learning in Continuing Higher Education - Promises and Perils

Online continuing higher education is in demand by students and institutions alike.

Today, 490 institutions offer online programming. Twenty-five percent of all enrolled continuing education (CE) students are currently taking online courses; by 2013, this number will grow to 35-45% of all CE enrollments, according to Sean Gallagher, research director at Eduventures.  Sean presented today at the ACHE 2008 conference.

The promise for students is schedule flexibility and for institutions the opportunity for growth.

One of the perils is cannabalization of enrollment. During his discussion, one session attendee noted that 78% of his institution's online enrollment represented on-campus students taking online courses. Others raised the issue of retention for online students, particularly for lower-division students. Sean noted that while 85% of adult learners would consider a 100% online course, it may not be the right delivery modality for 30-40% of students.

As the author of over 100 higher education research reports, Sean has a wealth of knowledge including organizational and course development benchmarking.

If you are looking for additional online continuing higher education insight, contact Sean at sgallagher@eduventures.com.

'A Can't Miss Investment' ... Notes from the 2008 Association of Continuing Higher Education (ACHE) Conference

How would you like to invest in a company poised to exploit the following tremendous market opportunity?

• The industry is a fertile new market, ripe for business investment
• Represents potential large economies of scale
• Industry is currently poorly run, has high costs, and low technology utilization
• Generates large amounts of revenue
• Market is growing and is increasingly global

The industry investment opportunity you ask? Higher education.

This according to a recent investment prospectus received by Dr. Andy DiPaolo, Executive Director, Stanford Center for Professional Development, and the opening session speaker at the 2008 Association of Continuing Higher Education (ACHE) Conference. I'm attending the conference and will be presenting on Tuesday.

Election Day 2008 ... How's Your Enrollment Ground Game?

Well after two years of campaigning, election day is finally here and we get a brief respite from nonsensical television campaigns ads (at least for a couple of years). The electorate is energized with some 130 million+ anticipated voters expected to cast ballots today.

If you watched any political coverage over the weekend, there was a lot of talk on the importance of the 'ground game' today with each political party having a set of strategies to get voters to the polls. As I learned about ground game fundamentals from political pundits, I started to think about the parallels to prospective student enrollment management and marketing.

I'm spending the first part of election day in Corpus Christi, Texas to present at the annual TACRAO conference. Given the theme of the day, my topic?

Planning for Recruiting and Admissions Success: Four Steps to Develop a Winning Ground Game (Download the presentation)