Colleges and "the Downturn"

The Chronicle reports today that Moody's sees tough times ahead for Colleges and Universities. (If you're a subscriber, here's the story. If not, Boston.com has a couple of examples of the kinds of issues facing the college market here...)

Of course, Moody's has been wringing it's collective hands over the Higher Ed market since mid 2007, so who knows how seriously to take their dire predictions. That said, what does the admissions/enrollment/marketing crew at a College do when budgets are cut and there is an immediate need for revenue. Here are some thoughts:

1. Cancel some meetings and get people on the phone. For most small schools, a breakthrough year consists of 10 to 12 more students. You can get these students by spending less time talking about getting them and more time actually building relationships with them... so, it's time to divvy up your best admitted students (or applicants -- since this is only the beginning of January) and start calling them.

2. Bet on your winners. Most colleges and universities have a strong reputation for a few key fields. This means that the faculty who are *not* in those programs spend a lot of time griping about how unfair it is that such-and-such programs undeserved reputation for excellence overshadows their own nascent outstandingness... blah blah blah.

   Ignore all of this. When times are tough, sell what you're known for and promote the heck out of the programs that people know the most about. You can build up your little known program in The Social Ecology of Eastern Europe when you're a little more flush with cash again.

3. Get cool faculty involved. Faculty are a pain in the rear. I know this because I was one. But every school has a few dynamic personalities in the classroom -- and you need to enlist their aid with some special 'classes' for visiting students. Rather than have kids 'sit in' on a class that's already in session, ask your rock star faculty to do a class just for visiting kids and their parents. Make it high participation and interaction.

Do these three things and you should see a positive impact on tuition revenue this fall. You might not single-handedly pull your institution out of a financial morass, but you will be closer to making your numbers and cash-flow positive.