We know that colleges and universities today are scrambling to adjust to shifting demographics, shrinking budgets, skyrocketing pressure, and other changes on all fronts. We expect (rightly) that college presidents will be educators, diplomats, fundraisers and visionaries. Too often, organizing and managing personnel slips a little bit farther down the list. Too often, today’s presidents […]
Like a blindfolded volunteer in an “Old Coke, New Coke” taste test, Republican pollsters and pundits seemed genuinely surprised last week to learn that their trusted brand — “USA” — had changed. Although demographers and groups such as the Pew Research Center have been charting changing US birth/death rates and immigration patterns for decades, and […]
In this season of debates, we turn to a higher ed marketing area where debate is endless. What type of college best prepares students for “the real world?” While consumers — students and parents — can find great programs at the extremes of vocational education and classic liberal arts colleges, most of the higher ed […]
I just returned from the beach. I have to admit, it’s not a place I always want to go, but it’s always a place I never want to leave. For me, the beach is nature’s ultimate creative expression. It has only three elements – land, sea and sky – yet it delivers an infinite number of […]
Colleges and universities are rebranding themselves at an increasing rate. Here are a five common reasons for a brand makeover: 1. “We need to reach new frontiers.” We want to widen the nexus, expand our reach, grab new markets, seek new revenue streams. 2. “The world has changed and we are still relevant.” The world […]
A ruling by Judge Rudolph Contreras of the Federal District Court for Washington, D.C. last week set back efforts by the U.S. Department of Education to deny federal financial aid dollars to the lowest performing for-profit schools. For the time being, the marketplace will decide — students and parents matched against hyperbolic for-profit higher ed […]
Today marks my son’s graduation from eighth grade — which gives me roughly two more years of immunity before the tools of higher ed marketing get turned in our direction. At 14, everything seems possible and parents mostly refrain from worrying aloud about career direction or ambition. My son and his classmates still carry themselves […]