There was a time during orientation at college when an administrator, often the president, would tell the new beanie-wearing freshman to "look to the right of you. Then look to the left of you. One of you will not be here by the end of the year." That statement was intended to frighten students into being serious in their studies and re-assert the toughness of the academic program at the school. Higher education was still considered a privilege, not a right even though the GI Bill, then Korea, and community colleges were radically changing that situation. The belief was not everyone was "college material" and it was the school's job to sort of those with the "right stuff" from those who were made of lesser substance. That was the self-perceived role of higher education. Wheat from the chaff, if you will. Retention was not an issue to be concerned with at all.
But the world has certainly changed. There are many more schools now. The proprietary sector has gone from cosmetology and truck driving to Ph.D.s. Correspondence schools on match books have become omnipresent, study anywhere, anytime on-line, enrolling machines. Competition for students is intense and admission departments are feeling the stress. As are the budgets of colleges, universities and career schools that have had to make difficult decisions to try and balance the budget when they do not "make their numbers."
And yet, not enough of higher education has really adapted to the changes. It is still "admissions, admissions and again admissions." Bring them in. More new bodies. Or as one overly pragmatic administrator is alleged to have said at University of Phoenix "Get asses in the classes. That's the goal." And it is certain that though this person may have been caught saying that hundreds of others simply were not reported when they also made that or a similar statement. Recruitment and admissions is still seen as the key to the major aspect of operating revenue. I recall quite well the proclamation of the CEO of one of the large career college groups. "There isn't a problem that exists that can't be fixed by enrolling more students." He was speaking not just for his proprietary group but for most every not-for-profit, for-profits, public and private college and university in the country.
The Dumb Business Model
The ongoing and most frequent discussions in campus business meetings and with trustees still focus on "What's our budget target? How many did we admit? How many have committed to the next freshman class? How many have put down their deposits? How many do we figure will actually show?" Strategic enrollment and revenue planning tend to be summed up with "we may have a budget problem for next year? Increase tuition and enroll more students!" has become the annual approach at most colleges and universities.
And when schools lose students during the school year the question starts with, "what did we budget for attrition?" That is followed by the response is "It's okay. We planned for 34 percent drops in the budget. As long as we don't lose more than we budgeted for we'll be okay."
That is a dumb business model. Of course any business, including higher education, has to figure in customer/client defection and loss of market share. But planning to lose upwards of a third of all their customers and all the costs associated with acquiring them each and every year is a confident way of making sure the institution is always running a tight budget. A self-fulfilling profligacy if you will.
A key factor to retaining and growing revenue and operating success is not in admitting students, but in keeping them? It can be understood that in the days of "look left and right" retaining too many students might be considered a sign of a weak academic program. It was also a time of much smaller operating costs and budgets. Presidential salaries were not in the up-to a million dollars level. Faculty lived on the love of learning and free summers. Health costs were affordable and so on. Who talked about retention as an important aspect of a college? But today, in the world of ever-increasing salaries, health costs, debt service, fixed costs, technology and equipment acquisition alongside decreasing public support, and an extremely competitive enrollment market, how can people not think of retention? Yet, they manage not to.
