Three key themes emerged even before the first day’s sessions wrapped. They remained prevalent throughout the remaining conference sessions, in conversations during coffee breaks, over meals and while perusing the exhibit hall over the two-and-a-half-day event.
While it’s no secret that enrollment across the higher education sector has been declining, presenters at the NACUBO Annual Meeting made it clear that the full effects of this demographic cliff have not yet been seen and likely won’t be for another 2 years. For institutions relying on tuition as a main source of income, this is troublesome. The need to be proactive and think strategically in order to develop alternative ways to draw students and the community to their campuses is essential. One institution shared that they host a farmer’s market for the local community each week, while another described how they continually reevaluate their benefits packages for students in response to what their peers are and are not offering, such as remote classes, unique on-campus housing experiences, etc. Another school has reimagined the freshman experience to include the opportunity to go abroad to a handful of international satellite campuses and move to the main campus for the second freshman semester, an experience not typically offered to underclassmen.
While not every school has the money to fund niche offerings, another potential approach is to collaborate with other institutions - both higher ed and other sectors - to offer complementary experiences rather than competing ones. A great example of this is Pace University’s Department of Biological Sciences in New York (“Pace”) collaborating with Lenox Hill Hospital to offer a physician’s assistant major. Joining with a local health system helped give the program credibility and created a new reason for prospective students to consider applying to Pace. Today, the university has clinical affiliations with most health systems in NYC and the surrounding geographic area.
New perspectives and ideas can only enhance the student experience and the future of the institution. Offering experiences that other institutions don’t have but for which there is a demand could help subsidize other programs that are important but not growing.
In 2022, the public and private sectors experienced down financial markets like we haven’t seen since the 2008 market crash, and the higher education sector also took a hit. Although 2023 is proving to be more favorable to investors, three main areas of concern remain for higher ed.
There is no single playbook that can be implemented across all institutions for how to diversify a student base, and with the recent SCOTUS decision any intentional efforts may soon become increasingly difficult. However, schools should continue to be strategic when considering how they can provide more support for the diverse students they have and the ones they want to attract. Looking at the market the institution serves, the current student base and the geographic location of the school are important factors in understanding the socio-economic status of students, what matters to them and what they want from a college experience. While some institutions are located in areas that organically allow for more diverse students, some simply are not. The Supreme Court’s recent ruling may affect an institution’s ability to take race into consideration in the admissions process, however there are still many ways an institution can move their DEI efforts forward. To learn more about the SCOTUS Affirmative Action ruling and its implications for higher ed and other sectors, please view our recent article HERE.
While these observations were what resonated most with me as I navigated the more than 50 general and breakout sessions offered, they are by no means all encompassing. Colleges and universities have a number of important issues to consider over the coming months and years, which is why gatherings like these are so important – to provide a platform for discussion and potential solutions, that might not be available within the walls of one’s own institution. Commonfund plans to explore these issues and more in the 2023 NACUBO-Commonfund Study of Endowments (NCSE), scheduled to open for data collection in September. If you are interested in participating, please click here to learn more about how you can be a part of this year’s research. The more data we collect, the more we can understand and work together to solve these pressing and complex issues.