It may have been twenty years ago when the idea of “branding” became an obsession of higher education.  We studied it, engaged consultants to refine it, created roving teams of artistic police to protect it and acted as if a new and highly rigorous discipline had been discovered that would take us to the next […]

When I was in private industry a couple of decades ago, most of our sales came from existing customers.  If, for any reason, one of our long-term relationships was in trouble, we dispatched whatever resources needed to reattach that customer to the hive. Entering higher education, it was fascinating how bifurcated our relationship was with […]

I normally write about higher education but today I meander into an area of avocation - cars.  Bear with me. It was a big gamble.  Pickups had been made of steel since, well, the Model T. But steel is heavy and a tendency toward rust makes for an unattractive rolling billboard a decade into the […]

Most of us file taxes, providing reams of personal financial information to federal and state governments. A few years ago, the IRS created a Data Retrieval tool or DRT where our personal information can be accessed by third parties, like mortgage bankers, to support lending decisions. It's also used for higher education,  Around four weeks […]

Every mission statement includes a common theme – students.  Though some appear to concentrate on fundraising, athletics, endowment, service to society or faculty scholarship, the primary reason for our institutions to exist is the transformation of students. So, if the desire is to reflect financial performance in a common metric, with the goal of leveling […]

Traveling from one place to another, a common theme has arisen in the quest to garner more students; “Let’s add a sport or two.” The rationale is that coaches are pretty good at delivering a roster of athletes and if the sport is brand new to the institution, it represents additive students.  These newfound athletes […]

The conversation about the level of financial aid needed to bring in next fall’s incoming class is an interesting one.  Typically, it is a tug of war between those who are trying to recruit as many as possible and those who are tasked with making the budget balance.  Leveraging firms propose what they believe is […]

I recall a conversation with a retired Kodak exec some twenty odd years ago.  His former company had decided to shed off all non-core assets and focus on “imaging” or, more specifically, the production of film.  His thought on digital photography was that it would be a slow adoption process for the consumer - maybe […]

Having visited over fifty institutions during my tenure with CFO Colleague, certain themes recur enough that it makes sense to chat about them.  Pricing seems to be the most common issue, particularly when increased discounts are supposed to generate higher net tuition revenues. At one institution, even a sixty percent freshman discount rate wasn't enough […]

As a young auditor, I was admonished to avoid merely following the workpapers of the previous year.  A fresh approach or perspective often provided new insight and reflected improvements within the industry.  This was in the days before personal computers so we had volumes of personally prepared sheets in legal sized binders. And every year, […]