I believe it represents a case study of part of the "cross roads crisis" that highered is in (and in deeper than we may realize), especially relevant to private liberal arts colleges, in this case.
In some ways the
bottom-line is "What do you do when you've run out of 'next
tricks/tactics'?" Is using innovative recruiting a smart strategy to buy
time or a cop-out to postpone looking hard at the toughest questions?
If "peak oil" has passed for liberal arts colleges, are you we ready with Plan B...?
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From "The
Final Frontier"
"...liberal
arts colleges may be getting to a point where marketing efforts -- such as
targeting new geographic regions or adding new sports or academic programs that
appeal to full-paying or high-achieving prospective students -- might not be
enough to keep the colleges financially viable."
“'The reality is
that the type of students that most colleges want to recruit doesn’t go that
deep,' Hatch said....
"Right now
such short-term moves [looking for new sources of students] are holding off a
significant change in how liberal arts colleges operate....
"Over the
next few years, Augustana is planning to undergo a significant strategic
planning initiative that will confront some of the major challenges Bahls and
others believe will affect colleges like theirs over the next few decades.
Among them: how to incorporate technology into the curriculum, how to address
declining interest in traditional liberal arts programs, and how to change the
financial model to make it more sustainable.
"The goal
of the recruitment expansion is to buy the time to get that process completed."
