marc t. frankel, ph.d. senior consultant. triangle associates the economy stinks; sustained...
TRANSCRIPT
Marc T. Frankel, Ph.D.Senior Consultant
Triangle Associates
The economy stinks; sustained recovery is not around the corner.
Geography is destiny: some markets have favorable demography (school-aged children from families with sufficient incomes), while others trend negative.
Price-point resistance sets in, for the first time, when tuition tops US$35K for middle and high school (less some places and more in others).
Annual giving by parents per student continues a 2-year trend downward.
New programmatic formats abound: AP, IB, online high school, home school, global school.
Personal income growth in the U.S. remains flat or negative for the middle class, but grows >2.5% for wealthier families.
IMF forecast (revised 9/20/2011): U.S. growth at 1.5% or less for 2011 and 2012, worldwide growth of 4% in both years.
Income tax rates will rise for highest earners.
Cash-strapped states will fund even less of public education.
Charter and home schools will proliferate.
Evaporation of middle-class jobs will accelerate restructuring of income tiers (disproportionate recession impact) .
Demographic change will change everything.
Certainty of nonprofit advantages is anything but.
The traditional school year and school day will make less and less sense.
Higher education in the U.S. is striating into focused tiers.
Triangle Associates
Triangle Associates
Triangle Associates
About money—endowment and tuition. About program—global and personal. About outcomes—university and beyond. About people—talent and productivity. About image—segments and messages.
Triangle Associates
Triangle Associates
Money Enrollment, day and boarding Governance Program Marketing
* Instead of the head’s hair style or what happened in 5th Grade last week.
Triangle Associates
Create a permanent allocation to endowment from tuition revenue; e.g., self-fund your own endowment.
Set aside 1/3rd of annual fund-raising for endowment. Reverse-engineer tuition-setting and budgeting by
specifying the tuition point first, then ask the head and administrative team to build a program budget to meet that price point.
Commit to an annual boost in productivity; e.g., shift portions of the program online, raise ratios, etc.
Plan for shifting taxation environment—property (likely), income (possible).
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Boarding Schools Determine high-impact recruitment
activities and discontinue any that do not yield student enrollments; e.g., ads, online listings, recruitment fairs, consultants, etc.
Develop an international strategy beyond China.
Develop a web strategy, including search engine optimization for keywords.
Small schools—embrace the niche; medium and large schools—embraces niches.
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Day Schools Calculate your enrollment sweet spot where
size of school is optimal for your fixed and variable costs.
Know your demography. Set strategies for expanding your market
area; e.g., feeder schools, transportation, etc. Avoid net tuition discounting, except for the
terminal grade. Consider disaggregating your program for a
la carte customers.
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Get serious about whether or not your school has a public purpose.
Align board composition and structure with institutional strategy; hold no more than 4 business meetings per year.
Set an appropriate time horizon: 10-15 years for elementary schools; 20-30 years for high schools; 25-50 years for boarding schools.
Define mission-based outcomes and task your administration with measurement.
Abandon the facilities arms race—focus on program outcomes and site flexibility.
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Evaluate contribution to mission-based outcomes from every program area and drop the bottom 10-15%.
Refine, clarify and quantify your value proposition. Formulate a response to global school. Experiment with alternative delivery mechanisms
that leverage technology to enhance productivity. Embrace B.Y.O.D. Vary teacher/student ratios by subject area; e.g.,
30:1 for history lecture and 6:1 for lit seminar; learn from Montessori about elementary ratios.
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Clarify strategic intent; e.g., Southwest Airlines strategy of “being the low fare airline.”
Formulate a strategy of differentiation based on Reversal (less is more), Breakaway (change the category—”we’re not so much a school as a ___________”) or Hostility (erecting barriers that people will want to surmount).
Do market research to understand exactly how your school is perceived in the market by segments; Adjust communications and messaging to reflect both reality and aspirations.
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A World of SolutionsCall or e-mail
Marc T. Frankel, Ph.D., orJudith L. Schechtman, M.S.W.