Oregon State launched a movie contest asking students to submit a 1-2 minute video expressing their gratitude to donors for their generosity. The grand prize is an iPad, but in my opinion everyone is a winner: the students for their creativity and heart-felt messages, the donors for their life-changing gift, and OSU for creating a win-win situation. Check out the winning video and get ready to be moved. (Sorry about the bad pun at the end; I couldn’t help myself.)

Jeff Papa, President

After this past weekend concluded, the final four of the Men’s NCAA Basketball tournament have been identified.  Not ironically timed is tonight’s airing of PBS’s Frontline entitled Money and March Madness.  It is an insider’s examination of the lucrative business of the NCAA and its brand of amateur college sports. 

Comparing the NBA or the NFL to NCAA athletics reveals several parallels. Corporate sponsorships by companies such as Nike or Adidas provide logo placement opportunities galore. Royalties are paid to colleges on co-branded clothing. Performance bonuses are earned by the winning teams. Signing bonuses are received when colleges and universities switch to a competitor company.  However, the one major difference is that the players do not receive salaries.  But should they? Sonny Vaccaro, a former marketing executive, strongly believes college athletes should be paid. He is in the process of suing the NCAA. He has become the face of a law suit insisting that student athletes be paid because their likenesses and images are being used without compensation.

According to NCAA data, 50% of the schools in this year’s March Madness graduate less than 50% of their players. According to the USAToday, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan would like a new restriction banning teams from March Madness participation if they are not on track to graduate at least 50% of their players.  Duncan’s  restriction comes at a time when college athletic departments are commonly losing money based on high facility and maintenance costs as well as coaching salaries. This unbalanced budget issue often increases the importance of March Madness participation and success.  With wins, subsequent marketing opportunities will arise, often applications increase.  All final four teams have current contracts with Nike.

Should athletes receive direct payment?  Should institutions be required to graduate at least one in every two athletes?  These questions are explored in tonight’s Frontline at 9pm.

 Dana Edwards, Senior Consultant

How are some colleges and universities responding to the ever-increasing costs of higher education and our continued economic challenges?  They are cutting tuition and fees. In fact, Sewanee is cutting its tuition and fees by 10% for the coming academic year. Click the image below and find out why.

Jeffrey Papa

We all know that the US News and World Report rankings are here to stay–that’s a given. But ever wonder about the extent to which the college selection process (in general) and a school’s marketing and enrollment efforts (in particular) are influenced by the rankings. Here are some highlights from a study of NACAC’s members that specifically looked at that those issues:

• 71 percent of the colleges promote their rank in marketing their school
• 65 percent of high school counselors spent some time or a great deal of time discussing the rankings with students and their families.
• 95 percent of NACAC’s members at both colleges and high schools believe that “Yes, colleges either occasionally or consistently invest in strategies and policies to improve in the rankings.”

Jeffrey Papa, President and Partner

“Can You Hear Me Now?” The article focused on Georgia Gwinnett College who have passed out cell phones (and data plans) to their 300 full and part-time faculty members. The idea is that the school pays for the phone and the corresponding bills ($1000 each) for the faculty but they must provide their cell numbers to students. This allows students to contact the professors when they have a question or concern. While many may see that this is an invasion of privacy and over the top hand holding, Georgia Gwinnet believes it is having a major impact. The school admits any student that graduates from a Georgia high school but still boasts a 75% retention rate from freshman to sophomore year which is double open enrollment schools typically experience.

We are in a service economy where our students expect the same service they experience in their banks, stores and other service based organizations. Why should they expect anything different from us?

In reality, Georgia Gwinnet probably has been so successful with this program and high adoption by faculty because they are only five years old. The service based culture was established from the beginning rather than trying to change established behavior and overcome embedded attitudes. My hope is that this approach will be seen an copied by others that understand the need for responsiveness in our industry to our constituents.

…and yes, I give my phone number to my students at Xavier!

Tom Hayes

th@simpsonscarborough.com

American University launched its new brand strategy through a big campus event yesterday. One of the brilliant elements of the launch was the creation of an 11-minute video (long, I know!) designed to help AU’s students, faculty, and alumni understand the process, research, and thinking behind the new strategy.

We all know that launching any sort of “new” strategy on a college campus is likely to be difficult. There will always be detractors. To counter this, AU went to great lengths to bring internal audiences along. The video explains the research that was used to develop the campaign, describes who was involved in the process, discusses the importance of managing AU’s identity, and works to get people excited about the idea of being a WONK.

An article in the AU Eagle this morning still describes students who argue they should have been more involved in the process. But students were extensively focus grouped as part of the process to develop the strategy. And, every last one was invited to participate in a survey about it. Even with this level of engagement, there is still more work to be done…..which is why the video is such a great idea. It was produced internally in about two weeks and was certainly worth the investment of time. A great examples of best practices for an internal brand launch.

Elizabeth Scarborough

Click here to follow me on Twitter

American University is launching its new brand campaign today. Executive Director of Communications & Marketing, Terry Flannery, and team have led the institution through an exhaustive process involving research, evaluation, strategy development, and creative development to arrive at the new plan for promoting the identity of the University.

Today they are staying true to “best practices” and engaging in a comprehensive internal launch which will include a video link from the Website (will post later today) and a major presence on their quad with t-shirts, balloons, and excitement (will post photos later today).

So, what does it mean to be a member of the AU community? It means you are a WONK. What is a WONK, you ask? Click here to find out!

Elizabeth Scarborough

Click here to follow me on Twitter

As they say, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Check out this chart from the Chronicle of Higher Education that shows enrollment growth over the past ten years among for-profits compared to any other area in higher education. Now think of all the press lately about the questionable enrollment practices among for-profits and ask yourself where our profession is heading. Sobering isn’t it?

Jeff Papa

Families are facing rapidly escalating college costs, are reaching across all funding sources to meet additional college costs, and are very worried about future tuition increases, according to a report just released by Sallie Mae and Gallup. After interviewing over 1,600 undergraduates and parents of undergraduates, the Sallie Mae and Gallup study uncovered some very sobering findings:

Nearly half (49%) [of parents surveyed] are extremely worried this year that schools will increase tuition compared to less than one-third of parents two years ago.

One-third of parents are extremely worried that their income will decrease due to job loss, up from 23 percent last year.

Only 10 percent of parents were extremely worried two years ago that their child wouldn’t be able to find a job, but that has risen to 27 percent this year.

More families reported eliminating schools during the college selection process based on cost after receiving their financial aid packages (40% this year compared to 36% last year and 34% two years ago).

63 percent of families report eliminating colleges because of financial considerations at some point in the application process, compared to 56 percent in 2009 and 58 percent in 2008.

I just read an article in the Chronicle that presented a provocative idea: putting enrollment professionals in charge of recruitment and career services. This out-the-box idea seems brilliant and somewhat obvious at the same time, right? But that’s exactly what University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School did. Instead of just focusing on the next class of new recruits, admissions folks are now gaining a direct understanding and appreciation for the “back end” of students’ academic experiences. One footnote: University of Pennsylvania implemented this expanded role with their MBA program. But why stop there? Let’s really throw caution to the wind and consider who this idea could be put into action at more traditional, undergraduate liberal arts institutions. And think about another great benefit: enrollment folks will finally have access to outcomes-based data that have shown—time and time again—to be extremely influential in the college decision process.

Jeff Papa