Hiding Behind Institutional Mission
When I set out to write Up to Speed: Marketing to Today’s Adult Student I wanted one of the chapters in the book to specifically addresses WHY institutions need to diversify their student populations, particularly in these challenging times. When I wrote that chapter I was somewhat amused by the idea of it. Really, when you think about it, how many of us, personally, don’t diversify to reduce risk? Take the stock market for example. Many of us have investments, most of which are somewhat spread out over several different stocks to help us run better odds that we won’t find ourselves in the unfortunate position of losing it all if something happens to the one stock we have all our money in. It is the simple “all eggs in one basket” philosophy. So why is this so hard in higher education?
When I ask this question the answer that I usually get is tied to mission. Many schools hide behind the idea that it is not the institution’s mission to serve adults, which I could understand if those institutions then elected NOT to serve adults—but that is often not the case. Many institutions have adult student programs, many institutions reap great financial benefit from their adult student programs, and many institutions provide very few resources to make that financial gain possible—and yet, the goal is traditional residential undergraduate students.
What I have found is that mission is not typically raised as the objection until there is pressure to allocate serious resources (human and financial) to make adult students a stronger focus. It seems nobody is bothered if the adult student program adds significantly to the bottom line, as long as it doesn’t impact (or takeaway) from the dollars and focus on the traditional student.
One of the most glaring examples of this is an institution that I was researching online. In their institutional stats they proudly share that they serve over 10,000 adults at a variety of locations throughout the country as well as online. Additionally they serve just over 1,000 traditional students at a residential campus in a rural part of the country. I was very impressed; this sounded like a great institution, an institution that has truly developed a good mix that has financially positioned them to be successful well into the future. At that point my bubble burst. In large script on a page regarding mission on their website, I found a statement that shared that the institution’s “top priority” was to serve residential students on their 50-acre campus in the middle of rural USA—with not ONE WORD in relation to the adult student program.
Seriously folks? Is this the best we can do? If the adult students you serve can’t proudly be a part of what you do at your institution, let me suggest you stop doing it. It will ultimately save you the pain of being edged out of the marketplace by the institutions that have placed a focus on this population and are doing so in an intentional manner. The competition is running up behind you and your meek efforts, which have historically generated significant revenue, will no longer get the job done. Perhaps it is time to reevaluate your mission, your position, your allocation of resources. Perhaps it is time to bring to the table the population that you have relied on to pay a significant portion of your bills for all these years—haven’t they earned their spot?
Photo by Ma Gali
