Chicago Tribune, January 21, 2008, Monday

Copyright 2008 Chicago Tribune Company

Chicago Tribune

January 21, 2008, Monday

Chicagoland Final Edition

SECTION: BUSINESS ; ZONE C; MINDING YOUR BUSINESS ; Pg. 3

HEADLINE: Colleges take the business course;

Small, independent institutions are adopting marketing techniques usually identified with commercial firms

BYLINE: By Ann Meyer, Special to the Tribune

BODY:

Elmhurst College for years was largely a commuter school without a growth plan until a new president with an entrepreneurial bent arrived in 1994 and started making changes.

Under Bryant Cureton's leadership, Elmhurst has repositioned itself among small Midwestern residential colleges by following a formula heavy on marketing and communications that any consumer products company would recognize. In the process, it has become a leading example of what can happen when non-profits embrace business principles, experts said.

"The business side of all of higher education is increasingly important," said Ronald Ehrenberg, director of Cornell University's Higher Education Research Institute. Heavily dependent on tuition, many independent colleges are, as Ehrenberg puts it, "on the financial bubble." They need to pay attention to larger trends and react by carving out new niches, he said.

Aside from about 40 of the most selective independent colleges, many of the nearly 600 private colleges and universities throughout the nation, including about 80 in Illinois, will likely face challenges in attracting high-quality students in coming years, experts said. As demographics shift, the pool of affluent college-age students looking for small, independent schools will shrink, said Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges in Washington, D.C.

The colleges that are poised for continued success have differentiated themselves in the marketplace, he said. Elmhurst, which had struggled financially along with many independent colleges in the early 1970s, survived that downturn by admitting more part-timers. But by the early 1990s, its was looking for a new approach.

Since Cureton's arrival the college has doubled residential enrollment, to about 1,000 out of 2,400 full-time students; nearly doubled annual revenue, to more than $45 million; and tripled its endowment, to $100 million. The changes have brought a more engaged student body, better-qualified applicants and an expanded faculty of 127, up from 95.

Central to the growth, Cureton said, has been new clarity of Elmhurst's brand image as the ultimate small-college experience. The tagline "What college ought to be" communicates a focus on quality and also has served as a great motivator to faculty and staff, said Cureton, who is retiring at the end of the academic year from the school affiliated with the United Church of Christ.

Elmhurst now attracts students with better grades and test scores, boosting its selectivity. The college, ranked ninth in 2007 by U.S. News & World Report in the Midwest comprehensive colleges category, is an example of the turnaround possible through a concerted business strategy, experts said.

\ North Park makeover

While Elmhurst has been beefing up academics by emphasizing small class sizes and a focus on the practical through mentoring and internships, North Park University in Chicago has established a new image as "a good value" in education, said Mark Olson, dean of enrollment at North Park, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church.

The new positioning stems from the university's restructuring of tuition and financial aid, which was announced in 2005 with a 30 percent tuition cut.

"After a decade of growth, we had hit a plateau with undergraduate recruitment and wanted to resume our growth," Olson said.

Part of the challenge was overcoming resistance in the marketplace to its tuition, which was then about $20,000. Although the university gave financial aid liberally, often knocking thousands of dollars off the price tag, communicating that upfront wasn't easy.

"We'd be at a college fair and someone would say, 'What's your tuition?'" Olson recalled. "They would walk away before we could say, 'We offer a lot of financial aid.'"

At the same time, others were becoming increasingly sophisticated about financial aid and scholarships, negotiating more vigorously than ever. "We wanted a more straightforward approach," Olson said. So North Park reduced tuition to $13,900 for full-time undergraduates in 2005. Tuition for the 2007-08 school year is $16,500.

By touting the lower tuition North Park immediately stood out, Olson said.

The school is still reaping the gains from that move, he said. "It's been fabulously successful," he said. "We're calling it a no-haggle approach to financial aid and tuition. Our first offer is our best offer."

Not only has the strategy helped to boost applications by more than 30 percent since the tuition restructuring, but fewer students now appeal the school's financial aid award, Olson said.

But beyond the tuition cuts, North Park's overhaul was driven by former university president David Horner's earlier decision to cut the number of majors offered from 50 to 30 instead of trying to be all things to all people.

"It's kind of a 'good to great' strategy, figuring out what you do best and focusing on it," Olson said.

The school also redesigned its general education program, adding an interdisciplinary focus called "The North Park Dialog" to address life's great questions through the study of philosophy, arts, literature and religion. Enrollment of traditional undergraduates has grown from 1,245 in 1997 to 1,854 this past fall, he said. Overall enrollment has more than tripled, to 3,250 from 1,042 in 1990.

North Park also has bolstered its graduate program in non-profit management, which has seen enrollment pick up. The university also has garnered attention with an annual symposium for non-profit executives.

\ Personal attention

Meantime, Elmhurst College's focus is as a liberal arts college where students get personal attention, learn practical skills and have an opportunity to try 133 student organizations and 18 varsity sports.

"We want to nail this notion that the faculty will know your name. You're not going to get lost in the back row" of a classroom with hundreds of students in front, Cureton said, noting that the student-teacher ratio is 13-1.

The change took place slowly, with a 10-year plan Cureton devised. "The biggest change is the school became very purposeful about articulating what it wanted to be," said Jim Winters, vice president for marketing at Elmhurst.

The result was "a deeper, richer, fuller education" that emphasized professional preparation through internships along with critical thinking skills, he said. With it came better-qualified students. The average high school grade point average of freshmen climbed to 3.44 from 2.99 in 1994, while the average ACT score rose to 23.8 from 20.7 in the same year.

Like North Park, Elmhurst provides a great example of what happens when a college clearly communicates its point of differentiation, Ekman said.

"Places like Elmhurst and North Park are very entrepreneurial and innovative in doing some things to attract students and additional donors," Ekman said. "Clearly, a distinctive program is likely to attract more donors than a mediocre one," he said.

As Elmhurst built its reputation, not only did its endowment grow but financial donations picked up as well, with annual fundraising more than doubling since 1994, to $3 million.

NOTES: Small Business

GRAPHIC: Photo: Elmhurst College President Bryant Cureton (left) and James Winters, vice president for marketing, in the Frick Center of the college. Key to the college's recent growth, Cureton said, has been new clarity of Elmhurst's brand image as the ultimate small-college experience. Photo for the Tribune by David Banks

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