Dive Summary:
- Finding revenue opportunities that fit an increasingly tight market has been difficult for many liberal arts colleges, but two colleges illustrate a growing trend in the sector: trying to squeeze new revenue out of existing infrastructure and strengths.
- Central College in Iowa and Concordia College in Minnesota are trying to increase revenue wile decreasing dependence on traditional tuition sources by opening up their traditionally strong programs to corporate partners and other institutions' faculty members.
- Both schools are concentrating on programs like study abroad and language villages, where corporate-sponsored programs might produce the "globally aware" job candidates that the corporations involved are looking for.
From the article:
It may seem counterintuitive, but the best places to look for new sources of money could be the ones already bringing it in. As the main source of revenue at liberal arts colleges - tuition from traditional-age students - becomes increasingly constrained by market forces, colleges are looking for new ways to generate revenue to sustain their costly educational model. While some have added new graduate-degree or preprofessional programs to attract new groups of students, a handful have been reluctant to follow that path, saying it strays from the liberal arts and the colleges' institutional mission. ...