We’ve been hearing it on the news, in conversations, and interdepartmentally: the fiscal status quo of higher ed is once again shaking up.
With the incoming reduction in student populations, we’ve felt it in the water for a few years now. But the second Trump administration’s targeted purging of higher ed grants, increased taxes for larger institutions, and overhaul of the student aid system affects college and universities’ bottom line. In turn, we’re seeing shrinking budgets and more layoffs.
We hear the fiscal stress from larger institutions while we watch smaller colleges and universities close. These cuts are happening across the higher ed landscape, regardless of institutional profile.
What happens when your college or university’s budgets are reduced? And how can you do more with less? Let’s dive in.
Why Admissions Budgets Should Be the Last to Slash
When budgets are cut in higher ed, how do you decide where cuts take place? That’s a hard question institutional leaders must contend with.
We’ve seen many colleges and universities eliminate “low demand” academic programs like humanities, world languages, and arts. Just locally, the University of North Carolina Asheville cut its Drama, Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Ancient Mediterranean Studies programs while Language and Literature programs downsized.
Yet colleges and universities still look for other areas to “trim the fat,” with many encroaching on admissions.
It feels counterintuitive: if your main revenue source is new students and retention, why cut funds to programs that increase those things? Admissions and marketing teams are your salespeople. Cutting your sales = cutting your revenue goals.
Thus, we’re doing a disservice to enrollment management divisions. We know it takes at least 15 touches for actionable movements from a prospect. And it takes money to make those outreaches.
It’s important for presidents and the board of trustees to listen to the boots-on-the-ground experiences of admissions teams, counselors, and even student ambassadors. These groups have direct experience with what recruitment approaches work and do not, and by downsizing their ability to recruit, you downsize the ability for an institution to stay open.
Budget cuts can’t be a shotgun approach. They need to be as precise as a sniper.
How to Do More with Less
As much as we’d like, we can’t always control where fiscal pruning occurs, so how do you navigate the same goals with a smaller budget?
This is where assessment is crucial. We suggest looking at your team’s technology. What duplications or third-party services are there and can be streamlined into one software?
You need to have core systems, but audits and assessments can reveal that you may be paying extra unnecessarily.
Of course, we’re going to praise the abilities of Slate and its all-in-one ability to eliminate service “silos” but there are other ways to optimize a smaller budget.
Turnover happens and sometimes the sole institutional knowledge you have walks out the door. When you don’t have the budget to rehire a salaried position at a competitive rate, rather than gamble resources on hiring and training another person who might dip in two to three years, you can hire a trusted third-party partner to pick up the slack in a cost-effective way.
Outsource carefully though. Ask yourself Can this partner operate within and or complement your current systems? Or are they offering shiny, expensive objects that require time-intensive training?
You want them to be an extension of your team, not one that eats up more resources.
Re-Evaluate Your Student Search Strategies
Another way to work with the fiscal cards you’re dealt is to re-examine your student search.
For a long time, volume was king. But this lingering practice of volume over everything no longer works with the current market.
There are less students and volume costs money. So you should be aiming for quality over quantity, not spending money on students unlikely to convert.
What student is the right fit for your college or university and more likely to matriculate? Do some strategic data analysis of ROI on your search process to find those pockets of best-fit students. Predictive modeling will show you your best prospective student markets to institutional profile and academic programs.
From here, you can save on print costs for publication by printing lower volumes and focus money on audience-specific comms and personalization.
Both marketing and modeling have changed–there’s an oversaturation in the market, and you don’t want to become more white noise.
If you’re using a third-party partner to search, ask yourself: Do you have the resources to internalize or can this partner help you take the steps to internalize (like setting up your student search in your CRM?).
If you’re really strapped, outsourcing non-student-facing folks costs less than a full-time staff where technology can step in.
Navigating the Budgetary Landscape with The Parish Group
It’s a harsh reality we’re dealing with, but one we must face nonetheless. And fiscally prudent practices don’t have to occur only in times of peril.
If you need help trimming the fluff built over time or are caught in contracts that aren’t producing good ROI, The Parish Group can help.
We work as an extension of your team to fill in necessary gaps where needed. We are a Slate Preferred Partner and can help you use Slate in ways that streamline your technological and human resources. We also offer student search that emphasizes quality over quantity, as well as publications and consulting.
Reach out at parishgroup.com or call us at 828.505.3000
Together we do BIG things.
