Category: Blog

by Patrick Cain (Academic Impressions) and John Dysart (The Dysart Group) September 2014. This week, we interviewed John Dysart, president of The Dysart Group, about how institutions can optimize tuition discounting strategies to balance goals of access and net tuition revenue. A key expert on this question, Dysart has consulted with more than 160 colleges and universities to increase new student enrollments by as much as 70% in a single cycle, reduce or stabilize discount rates, and improve academic quality. Here is what he shared with us. Interview with John Dysart Patrick Cain, AI: Several industry experts continue to warn of higher-than-ever average tuition discount rates. However, a recent Academic Impressions survey completed by nearly 100 institutions revealed several institutions experiencing net tuition revenue gains, despite offering discounts at or above national averages. Do you see these situations as merely outliers, or are they proof that institutions can inform themselves on how best to discount tuition while boosting NTR? John Dysart: The survey results are in line with the experiences of my client institutions.  Certainly, there are many instances of colleges and universities facing stagnation or reduction in net revenue due to rising discount rates.  Schools can, however, still realize […]

by Mark Hartell, Capital Projects Consultant September 2014. We continue our look at why soft skills are an essential part of the project manager’s repertoire if large capital projects are going to deliver sustainable outcomes that meet wider project objectives. This time, communication. Scenario Picture this scenario: you survived your first week on the project and, on Friday afternoon, you sent out your first status/progress report outlining some key milestones including move dates for staff, expected groundbreaking for the new facility and the key risks/issues. It is standard project management stuff; a nice, color coded summary covering all the key factors. You did not expect that by Monday morning the sponsor would be calling you concerned that they are hearing rumors of unhappy people and misunderstandings. What went wrong?  In your well intentioned desire to communicate, you opted for a one way, “tell” message, written in your own terminology, that focused on what and when rather than why. People jumped to different conclusions about the information that was presented: Some felt that move decisions were unfair. Others saw the decisions as a “Trojan horse” for organizational changes that have nothing to do with the capital project. Departments in any way […]

September 2014. We wanted to gather advice for how to set up internal funding for CBE courses and programs effectively. How can colleges who are in the early stages of piloting competency-based education set up their own CBE course development or program development grant?  To learn more, we reached out to Dr. Sally M. Johnstone, vice president for academic advancement at Western Governors University, who has worked extensively with colleges across the US, assisting them in developing their own CBE programs.  This article is excerpted from our interview with Sally. Interviewer: Daniel Fusch, Academic Impressions AI: Sally, thank you for joining us today. You’ve been working with 11 community colleges over the past two years now as they create their own competency-based education programs.  What have you learned about financing pilot CBE projects? Johnstone: Some of the colleges had a substantial amount of external funding through the Department of Labor’s TAAACCT grant. For these institutions, setting up a CBE program was still a lot of hard work, but it’s easier when you have a couple of million dollars to do it.  They were able to hire a dedicated project manager, pay for faculty time and new equipment, engage employers in focus groups, and […]

by Cory Phare and Daniel Fusch, Academic Impressions August 2014. Recently, we polled a group of 55 administrators tasked with directing first-year programs. Of this group: For 2 in 3 administrators, assessing their first-year program is a priority; yet for one full third, this is not the case. Few are looking at “student success” more broadly than GPA, student satisfaction, and first-to-second-year retention. Nearly all have strong partnerships with academic advising, student support services, and orientation/transfer services – but not many have strong partnerships with other key offices such as service learning/civic engagement or multicultural services. Though this is a small group, the poll offers an interesting, real-time snapshot of several of the challenges facing many first-year program directors. Assessing the Effectiveness of First-Year Programs Yet for 16 of the 55 directors polled, assessment of the first-year student experience program is either not a priority or “somewhat a priority, but with few resources behind it.” (Compare this with the National Resource Center finding that just 59% of First Year Student Experience programs have conducted a formal assessment or evaluation of their program since Fall 2009.) Among those who are pursuing assessment, there is room for improvement. Key measures of success cited […]

Colleges are working hard to bring in additional students. And there is such a cost to bringing in each student, that you don’t want to lose them through an enrollment and registration process that is confusing or simply takes too long. Or as Kevin Pollock, the president of St. Clair County Community College, remarks pointedly, “Any time your students have to walk across campus unnecessarily from one office to another in trying to resolve an issue is an opportunity for them to walk to their car and leave.” Where are the Bottlenecks Kevin Pollock suggests that a key task of your student success task force or retention committee is walking through each step of the student’s experience on your campus, from admission on, to take an in-depth look at where students run into bottlenecks, delays in service, or where there might be missed opportunities to better support their academic success. Pollock recommends trying an array of data collection methods from surveys to focus groups to “mystery shopper” exercises (in which a member of the task force walks through a process in person to get a first-hand perspective of its efficiency). “How does a student register for classes?” Pollock asks. “Is the […]

Our interview with Dennis Pruitt, vice president for student affairs at the University of South Carolina, suggested the need to direct attention to something that is often overlooked: the need to review and audit institutional policies and procedures that delay students in progressing toward their degree. “Historically, many have assumed that if students get over their homesickness, if they have a good affinity group, if they feel good on campus, they’ll persist. But the two factors that truly help students persist are academic progress toward a degree (having a goal and gaining momentum toward it) and maintaining maximum eligibility for the maximum amount of financial aid (to ensure non-interruption in their courses).”Dennis Pruitt, U of South Carolina In light of Pruitt’s comment, one thing academic and administrative leaders will want to look for at their institution is the presence of “road bumps” in their processes and procedures that delay a student’s progress toward a degree. To find those “bottleneck” points in your procedures that stall students in their progress toward a degree: Reviewing Student Complaints “Most frequently, student complaints emerge around the speed of getting a critical task done. Periodically review complaints, and when you find bottlenecks, take them apart. Often, behind that bottleneck, […]