State of Georgia Lawmakers and the University System Chancellor faced off during a budget discussion on today. At issue? Required furloughs for college and university employees and a $7 million dollar university system advertising budget.
According to the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Chancellor Errol Davis took heat over the University System budget, a plan that would be cut some 10% under recommendations from the Governor.Like many states, all state agencies are under pressure to reduce costs and some are forcing employees to take unpaid days off to close the budget gap. The Chancellor is resistant to use furloughs.
Rep. Chuck Martin (R-Alpharetta) questioned why the university system, which has more than 40,000 employees, is not furloughing employees. He noted that private companies are laying off workers, and many government employees are being forced to take time off. According to AJC staff writers James Salzer and Ariel Hart, Martin asked, “What has the academic world done to share in the economic downturn?”
State representative Martin raised an interesting question, one that should be considered by all colleges and universities. He criticized the system for spending money on recruitment advertising when schools like the University of Georgia are rejecting far more applicants than they accept.
As a former enrollment manager myself, I have some awareness of how this advertising budget is often spent. Glossy print publications, mailed aimlessly to students.
I keep my hand on the pulse of communication by submitting test inquiries (for my 11 month old son) to colleges and universities across the country. Despite technologies to better understand students and communicate with them in more relevant ways, I continue to be amazed at the stuff (waste) I receive. This includes high quality, print publications, in some examples publications that measure almost a ½ inch thick, sent because the institution has my son’s name and our address.
In this era of increased accountability and scrutiny, enrollment managers and marketers must carefully consider recruitment marketing dollars.
Plan to communicate with different students differently by embracing online and interactive marketing technologies and channels. Reserve your high quality print pieces for well-qualified prospective students. You will save a few trees and precious budget dollars.
As I was reading your post, I was hoping for one word and you hit it in your second to last paragraph ... "accountability"
Glad you got it ... without metrics, there is no accountability. Georgia could be doing the right thing, but its all guesswork otherwise. There's no way to tell and no way to defend (let alone change direction with the marketing) without some measure of accountability.
Posted by: Jim Fong | January 27, 2009 at 03:49 PM