Dive Brief:
- The net price of attendance in Montana’s public university system has increased dramatically between 2008 and 2016, according to the Missoulian. School officials point to a number of factors, including higher wages and benefits for employees, a greater need to comply with regulations and a boost in amenities to attract students.
- Students paid 32% more in mandatory fees, 37% more for room and 44% more for board between 2008 and 2016, according to school data. Montana’s state legislature allocated $194 million for public colleges and universities in 2017, compared to $126 million in 2017, and salaries and wages went up 18%, with benefits rising 20%.
- The University of Montana is working to install new attractions that could entice student to enroll, including espresso stands and coffee shops, as well as more wireless access and big-screen televisions. The school’s head of Student Affairs said students toured more colleges than in the past, so it was important to make an impression.
Dive Insight:
In addition to a variety of challenges ranging from tuition revenue declines to state and federal budget cuts, colleges and universities face a situation where the number of college-aged students they were built to accommodate is declining in many areas of the country. The number of high school graduates peaked in 2011, according to the Washington Post, and all areas of the country saw a drop in the number of potential first-time applicants. In some parts of the country, particularly in the south and west, there are slight upticks in the number of the high school graduates, but in the Northeast and Midwest where the number of colleges is greater, this is not the case. The supply is outpacing the demand by greater margins, and colleges are facing a saturated market where schools are competing for fewer students.
The chancellor for Maryland’s public university system, Bob Caret, said in a recent roundtable meeting that the cost of educating students had not risen in the past 40 years, but the spike in the cost of amenities needed to attract students is driving up the student cost. Such amenities are vital to stand out among a shrinking number of potential applicants, but colleges and universities must also ensure that their outreach efforts match the investment they are putting into the school’s attractions. Recent research indicated that only 15.7% of private universities and 16.8% of public universities employed someone whose sole focus was to concentrate on social media marketing. Schools may invest heavily in student life accouterments, but without a formidable digital marketing plan, word-of-mouth alone may not be enough to attract applicants’ increasingly discerning attention.