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Jan17Written by:Nathan Greeno
1/17/2009 7:09 AM  I’ve had some great conversations with presidents of late at schools
from many differing sectors. There is one theme that rises to the top
every time. “What will our new enrollments be for Fall of 2009 and
will our current traditional students be able to afford to return?”
Higher Education is on an emergency cash-watch in every sector.
The nation’s economic crisis is bringing colleges higher borrowing
costs, smaller endowments, tighter budgets, and fears over the
availability of loans and aid for their students.
Many institutions are struggling to maintain enrollments as the
competition for qualified high school graduates begins to intensify.
But that is not the entire story. The new traditional student who works
while schooling is clearly visible in the growth of adult enrollments.
Adult learners will represent 51% of students in higher education by
2010. Long viewed as the stepchildren of colleges and universities,
continuing education divisions are gaining admiration on campuses and
becoming central to strategic planning. They offer the opportunity to
increase enrollment at modest cost, producing significant profit
margins designed to extend the mission of the institution.
Having a recession-proof strategy that includes a focus on adult
enrollments is key to a balanced enrollment portfolio and possibly to
the success of the institution. As with any strategy, there are several
key drivers. Consider the following:
· During struggling economies, many adults carry more than one job.
The flexibility of online and accelerated classroom offerings affords
opportunity of increased access and convenience.
· Adults look for online and blended programs as a means not only to
cope with busy lives, but also to save on the indirect costs of degree
attainment.
· Adults choose accelerated programs since they provide a quicker
opportunity to enjoy the resulting increased earning power, gain a
competitive edge in the marketplace of education-generated promotions.
As with any strategy, there is a significant need for agility and
market response time. Starting new programs for targeted markets of
adult students without delay is an urgent action recommended for
success. For most institutions, the ability to respond quickly to a new
market trend is very slow and often absent. Developing both accelerated
and online course conversions as well as having the expertise to
successfully obtain a piece of the market share is a rare occurrence.
Quite frankly, a lot of frustration results when a great strategy takes
too long to implement and the yield is poor.
But this does not have to be the case. A partnership with Education
Strategy is a very unique relationship. It is characterized by the
word “partnership” not “client.” Our success is tied to making your
new programs work in today’s market. Investigate us today and consider
joining nearly 100 other institutions on a significant growth
trajectory even during a troubled market.
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