Category: Blog

Outsourcing Financial Aid Operations

Financial aid offices at colleges that are experiencing rising enrollment as well as increased percentages of the student population seeking financial aid find themselves facing: High inbound call volume (especially at peak times) Longer lines as students unable to get through by phone visit the office in person A bottleneck in staff time and resources with the verification process, as the US Department of Education is selecting more financial aid reports to be verified This strain comes at a time of tight budgets, when most financial aid directors are not able to add staff or other resources. Once these bottlenecks begin to result in deterioration of service, this situation makes outsourcing your call center or your verification process an attractive option. But it is critical to outsource to the right contractor and with the right oversight in place. We turned to Dewey Knight, associate director of financial aid at the University of Mississippi, for his advice on due diligence in outsourcing financial aid operations. Making the Decision to Outsource “I am a big believer in outsourcing financial aid functions when that contributes to a better experience for students and parents,” Knight advises. “But you have to do it right.” In […]

Academic Libraries: Defining (and Communicating) Your Value

Amid calls for accountability, a new report from the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) offers recommendations for academic libraries on how to define their value to the institution and how to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing environment. Among the recommendations: defining outcomes, putting assessment management systems in place, and defining and strengthening the library’s contribution to student success. In light of the report, we turned to Paul Gandel, professor of information studies at Syracuse University, and Gene Spencer, principal of Gene Spencer Consulting, for additional advice on how academic libraries can define and communicate their value. Being Seen as the Solution “People have to see you as a solution they need. No amount of awareness or promotion is going to make you relevant. Your vision for how the library can contribute to the institutional mission is what makes you relevant.” Paul Gandel, Syracuse U The ACRL report lists multiple ways in which libraries can measure and define their value, including: Library impact on students’ academic success, persistence, and retention Library impact on student job success Library impact on student learning Library impact on faculty research productivity Library impact on increasing grant revenue through assistance with faculty […]

Holding a Tuition Freedom Day

More institutions are seeking to grow their donor pipeline by reaching out to potential donors early — in fact, while they are still students at the institution. We have seen a series of tactics at different colleges for cultivating a culture of gratitude and giving among students who will in a few short years become young alumni and potential contributors to the annual fund. Tactics include: Passing out piggy banks at Emory University and inviting freshmen to contribute spare change Speaking to the importance of philanthropy and asking for $1 donations at new student convocations (this practice has been adopted at California University of Pennsylvania and Texas Christian University) Encouraging the student body to set its own goal for fundraising during a campaign (the University of Cincinnati has launched a “One Billion Pennies” drive coinciding with the school’s campaign) Note that it does take a sustained effort throughout the student’s matriculation at your institution to develop a thriving culture of student philanthropy. Tactics such as a “One Billion Pennies” campaign or an ask during new student convocation will be most effective when they are a part of a larger strategy for encouraging students to become young alumni donors. One activity […]

Addressing Housing Overflows Proactively

by Greta Bell

At those residential institutions that are seeing enrollment growth, providing adequate student housing has rarely been more challenging. Sudden, unexpected housing overflows at residential institutions can prove both expensive and complex to manage. We turned to Lorinda Krhut, director of student housing and residence life at the University of Mississippi, for her advice on how institutions can put in place more proactive measures that will help make the process of managing housing overflows more efficient and less costly in future years. Moving Beyond Just Coping with a Housing Crisis Institutions that don’t guarantee housing for entering students have more flexibility during a surge in demand, but unexpected spikes in student housing raise difficult challenges for institutions that have a freshmen residency requirement and a limited number of beds. Solutions various institutions have tried when managing an enrollment surge include: A lottery system for returning students Contracting with off-campus apartments and living spaces, then moving upperclassmen to those facilities while charging them the same cost they would have paid for on-campus housing Krhut notes, however, that these solutions are not ideal. It’s better to have contingency plans in place before a housing crisis hits. There are two key strategies for achieving […]

Making Your Campaign Successful

by Greta Bell

Meeting campaign goals in this economy remains a challenge, and recent news emphasizes how few institutions are exceeding campaign goals this year (a very different story than in 2007-08). Many institutions are just barely meeting their goals: Pace University recently celebrated the close of a seven-year capital campaign with a $100 million goal; the amount raised: $101.1 million Carleton College closed a $300 million campaign last month; the amount raised: $300.4 million The Cygnus Donor Survey (pdf link) released this summer also speaks to the continuing reticence of major donors. In this philanthropic climate, how can institutional development officers plan an effective campaign? We turned to Jim Langley, founder and president of Langley Innovations, and past vice president of advancement at Georgetown University, for his advice on campaign strategies during the recession. Fundraising by Objective While it is common to invite funding to meet dollar goals for particular categories of institutional needs (e.g., financial aid, endowing faculty, programmatic initiatives), Langley suggests that in this philanthropic climate, it is essential to fundraise by objective, not by category: An example of funding a category: setting a dollar amount to raise for financial aid An example of funding a strategic objective: identifying an enrollment target, the number […]

Incentivizing Faculty Retirement

Recent news has highlighted how the economy is making aging faculty more reluctant to retire and slowing colleges’ ability to hire new faculty. And this week saw a New York Times feature interviewing diverse faculty about the issue. Mary Coussons-Read, a professor of psychology at the University of Colorado Denver, summarizes some forward-thinking approaches institutions have tried to offering faculty retirement incentives. When Buyouts Cost Too Much There are institutions that have tried faculty buyouts — for instance, offering a financial lump sum for faculty who retire at the end of the year — but this can prove quite expensive. Offering an array of options for phased retirement allows you to both manage the expense and negotiate a plan that better fits the needs of your individual faculty. “You want to offer an arrangement that allows your faculty to plan for retirement,” Coussons-Read notes, “and that helps your institution plan ahead for reallocating anticipated salary savings toward new hiring or other investment.” If your faculty are signing three- or five-year retirement agreements, then retirement becomes predictable. “Many faculty face both financial and psychological barriers to retirement, and you need to determine what barriers a particular individual faces and use that knowledge as […]

Teaching Academic Honesty in the Classroom

by Daniel Fusch

Incidents such as Centenary College’s decision in 2010 to discontinue a program in China due to the high incidence of cheating among the program’s students raise the question of how to clearly communicate (and police) academic honesty, not only among international students but also among domestic students. Given that many cases of inappropriate academic behavior arise from a fundamental misunderstanding of what constitutes academic work (rather than from an intention to cheat), relying on Turnitin and similar services to “catch” plagiarists is not by itself enough to address the issue. We asked Tony Bates, president and CEO of Tony Bates Associates Ltd. and a key researcher on teaching and learning in the digital age, to offer a fresh perspective on how colleges can encourage the academic success of their students by addressing expectations around academic honesty more proactively. Diagnosing the Issue Bates suggests that the key issue is not getting students to adhere to rules, but getting them to develop the learning skills needed to succeed in an increasingly collaborative learning environment. Students need to be assessed not only on course content but also on critical learning skills, including: How well they reference sources How well they acknowledge the work […]

Building Strong Relationships with Young Alumni

In recent news, development officers at Claremont McKenna College are expanding their alumni engagement strategy by asking alumni volunteers to interview their peers about interest and affinity. The college’s commitment to investing in engaging young alumni has already seen returns: the institution’s 10-year average giving rate has increased 6% since 2008, despite a difficult economy. Now, more than ever, institutions need to ensure the long-term health of the annual fund by moving donors into the pipeline early, and young alumni are often an insufficiently tapped resource. Yet this year sees not only a continuing trend of volunteerism but also growing numbers of recent graduates seeking to reconnect with their alma mater for assistance with networking and career advancement opportunities in this economy. It is critical that alumni relations and annual fund professionals take advantage of a surge in interest from young alumni, through proactive and deliberate outreach. We asked Elise M. Betz, executive director of alumni relations at the University of Pennsylvania; Linda Williams Favero,  assistant director of the University of Oregon Career Center; and Elizabeth Allen, executive director of communications for THINK Global School, for tips on cultivating young alumni engagement. Focus on Services for Young Alumni First, Linda […]

Affordable, High-Impact Study Abroad

Among the findings from GLOSSARI, the Georgia Learning Outcomes of Students Studying Abroad Research Initiative: Students completing study abroad programs show improved academic performance in subsequent terms Study abroad students have higher graduation rates Study abroad improves academic performance for at-risk students However, as the Chronicle‘s article “7 Signs of Successful Study Abroad Programs” notes, as few as 1.5% of American college students study overseas each year. The cost of participation in study abroad programs remains a key barrier for students. We asked Wendy Williamson, director of study abroad at Eastern Illinois University, for a few strategies for keeping study abroad affordable without sacrificing the quality of the learning experience. Keeping Study Abroad Affordable for Students Williamson recommends: Seek out partnerships with your development office and look for opportunities to provide scholarships for students studying abroad Look for the most cost-effective partnerships as you develop your program Establish study abroad programs that are shorter in duration yet designed to maximize the learning experience and cultural integration “Some institutions only use third-party providers,” Williamson says. “Use these only when needed.” You may not need to use a more expensive third party if the host university has a well-established office to manage arrivals of […]

Strategic Planning: Engaging Faculty and Other Stakeholders Early

As July 2010 draws to a close, the news is full of reports of state budget shortfalls, belt-tightening initiatives to cope with the approaching demise of stimulus funding, and growing protests from faculty and staff as institutions make politically unpopular decisions in re-allocating increasingly scarce resources. In this environment, it is critical to engage as many stakeholders as possible as early as possible in the strategic planning process. By involving more stakeholders (faculty, students, staff, alumni, and representatives of the community) in the initial industry scan and identification of priority challenges for your institution, you can plan for resource allocation in a way that builds engagement and buy-in from the campus community (which will be critical as you move from planning to implementation) and enables you to harvest the knowledge and the brainpower of stakeholders across (and beyond) the campus. At a recent Academic Impressions conference, Larry Goldstein (president of Campus Strategies, LLC) and Pat Sanaghan (president of The Sanaghan Group) facilitated a future timeline exercise, in which a diverse group of senior leaders, including provosts, chief financial officers, and vice presidents from different institutions, collaboratively identified and prioritized trends and challenges facing higher education over the next decade. This future timeline exercise can be used to solicit input from a variety of […]