Whatever panic or uncertainty that some industries might be feeling about the Obama presidency has so far avoided the career college sector, to my surprise.

In the last few days, I've spoken with a few long-time, prominent executives in the career college space - including one in Washington, D.C. - and found them to be surprisingly optimistic about the new administration. What's particularly interesting is that these contact's opinions represent far more than their own. They both are deeply involved in career college organizations, including groups directly involved in lobbying for our schools on Capitol Hill.

While they both admit there is some question regarding what Obama's approach will be to career education (education was never a significant conversation item throughout the election), it seems that these executives are not among recent pollsters said to be "scared" to see an Obama administration. Granted, many of the folks that would claim outright fear are possibly either staunch party-line voters, one-issue voters or resigned to Obama's terrorist connections.

In other words, it's hard to say how much of the fear that exists is really legitimate. Regardless, the Bush administration de-railed to a point where even long-term Republicans were questioning its strategy and decision-making. Career college executives saw the storm coming and, according to my sources, began working toward the changeover to Democratic leadership as early as two years ago.

The Republican Party as a whole right now has headed back to the drawing boards to assess its new direction for the next election. With the Higher Education Act reauthorized and the present economic climate, elected officials are reviewing a full plate of issues and will be for the foreseeable future.

Will career colleges get lost in the fold? Is Obama going to tinker with anything that would undermine your operations? I seriously doubt it. As the economy worsens, our sector actually stands to strengthen as more and more people make their way back to the classroom to strengthen their educational background and a shot at landing a career with stability. This is a prosperous time for career colleges. Anything that the new Democratic leadership brings to the table will likely be a gentle breeze in the blowing headwind of rising enrollments. 

Kuzma is Editor-in-Chief of Career College Central. He is a former newspaper editor and public relations spokesperson. His feature writing, essays and short stories have appeared in The Kansas City Star, Urban Times, Ink Magazine and Fatherville.com, an online forum for fathers. Since May of 2005, he has served as Manager of Public Relations and Publications for PlattForm. The Kansas City-based company is a full-service Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations firm specializing in creative solutions for higher education and all branches of the U.S. military.

Maybe the comparison isn't fair and shouldn't be drawn, but at a time when the most
esteemed higher education provider in the land is cutting costs, major "for-profit" career college conglomerates are reporting significant growth.

The economic slowdown has finally crept into the higher education realm in a very
real way. This week, the Associated Press reported that Harvard University is
considering spending cuts due to fears that the slowdown might reduce federal grants
or the school's substantial endowment. A few days earlier, Apollo Group and Corinthian Colleges issued financial reports that show strong performances this quarter and numbers that signal continued growth through year end.

Whenever possible, traditional colleges distance themselves from any association to for-profit motivations. I understand the connotations here and what's at stake in regard to federal funding and regulation. But in doing so, it would seem that these institutions are operated by academics, not smart business people. Bottom lines are a concern for all educators and impact decisions involving faculty, programs and other operations costs no matter what type of learning institution is involved.

This might be going out on a limb here, but I'll extend the invitation myself. At a time like this - when the economy is facing the direst circumstances since the Great Depression - drastic measures don't seem so drastic. I'm sure some in the higher education realm will find this suggestion unconscionable, but perhaps four-year institutions should follow the lead of smart business people and colleges that understand quality education as well as balancing profits.

Last week, the nation took a 180 on its political direction; who's to say educators at traditional colleges and universities couldn't consider looking to executives that run career colleges for suggestions? I know some career college execs who would be willing to help. Here's the olive branch. Any takers?

2008-11-13 

One lesson that not-for-profits (NFP) can learn from proprietary colleges is in the admissions area. In for-profit (FP) admissions, there is greater attention paid to welcoming the entire buying committee than in NFPs. In fact, the NFPs usually do not even know what in the world is meant by the buying committee so there should be no surprise that they do not focus on it.

By the way, ever wonder what the core difference is between a good not-for-profit college and a for-profit college is? The NFPs call money left in the budget surplus or fund balance while the FPs call it what it is, profit. A good college is a good college. And a bad college is a bad college no matter if it is NFP or for profit. And a bad proprietary college can be NFP. That is the fiscal condition that even some bad for profit schools find themselves in but not by either charter or accounting system. By not providing students what they need to succeed and ignoring basics like the buying committee.

Buying Committees

So then what is the buying committee? The committee is all the people who will be involved in the actual decision to put money down and pay for tuition at a college or university. This usually includes parents for a “traditionally aged” student and spouse for an adult. These are the people who will be directly involved in the decision to purchase. Without their agreement, their consent, their buy-in, there will not be a purchase.

FPC’s do all they can to get the buying committee involved from the beginning. They will strongly suggest to a potential candidate that he or she bring a parent or spouse to an admission’s interview. With the full, or fuller buying committee involved from the beginning, the odds increase significantly that a student will enroll if favorably impressed. NFP’s normally work on the student without any committee members. This can be an error since it then requires the student to make the sale. He or she might not have answers to the questions that might arise.

If for any reason or any question left unanswered the parent or spouse is not fully supportive, the enrollment is often lost. Or if the support is lukewarm the first problem that arises becomes a causal factor for dropping out.

For example, say it is an adult student who has decided to enroll even though her husband is not fully supportive or may not have even been involved in the decision to attend. Keep in mind that having a wife in school will require more work, effort and usually belt tightening from the spouse. Let’s say the algebra homework is getting a bit tough. The wife mentions it to the husband who was not part of the buying committee and thus did not buy into her attending college. “I am just not getting this math. It’s just a bit too tough for me. Been a while. And I gotta study history for a quiz tomorrow. Be up late and then I got to work early.”

His response could easily be “I was afraid this would happen. I told you that you aren’t a kid anymore. College would be good but maybe now isn’t the time.”

But if he had been part of the buying committee and they decided to make the academic purchase together, he would have formed a commitment as well. He would then try to encourage rather than discourage.

So how to build a buying committee committee? The following are steps we implemented at some colleges that succeeded more as a result.

Four Actions to Assure Buying Committee Support

One, make everyone who could be involved in the decision to attend the college and pay money feel involved from the start.

When getting information from a potential student prior to a campus visit, get the names of anyone who could be part of the buying committee. Then make sure they all receive an invitation. A formal invitation card like for an event would be best. Have them printed ahead of time with a picture of the college, a logo or something interesting on the front. Then set up a program in the computer so they can be personalized with recipient’s name, the name of the potential student and information needed to attend the campus visit or interview. When a campus representative calls to confirm the upcoming visit, also call for the parents or spouse to give them the same courtesy.

Two, make certain part of the interview/on-campus meeting or tour focuses on the buying committee issues.

Whoever is going to help make the decision to pay money, and a lot of it, has questions. Those questions may vary from those of the potential student and must be addressed. Create a lost of potential questions a parent or spouse may have, or better, have had in the past. Make certain that they are addressed. If the buying committee member does not ask any of them, help them out by asking. “Okay, any questions about applying for financial aid?” Questions about the time commitment that he/she is going to be making?” It is also a very good idea to create a buying committee FAQ brochure to answer questions and do so in a way that helps minimize concern and potential negatives as we have done for colleges.

Three, enroll the buying committee as well as the student.

When the student is accepted, send a letter of acceptance to the buying committee members as well. The reality is that you have enrolled not one person but at least one more and possibly many others – spouse, parents, guardians helping out and anyone who has cosigned a loan. They deserve congratulations on helping the student achieve his/her future as well as recognizing their commitment to the future success of the student.

Four, give buying committee members a formal link they can use to contact the school.

Consider that the academic buying decision is an every day, every class, every home work assignment and every study for a test occurrence. Students make the decision to buy or not buy the college all the time. They may not share that consideration with the school but with members of the buying committee. If there is an issue that the committee member needs help to solve, or information required to help the student remain in the purchasing line to classes, make sure they know where to get that information or help. Provide a web-based link that will provide up-to-date information that parents and others should know. Things like the calendar, exam dates, tutoring information, counseling information and so on. Anything that anyone might want to know about should be available on the web with a searchable FAQ and interrelation database. There should also be a person who will liaise with parents, spouses, partners, friends, etc. Give them an email address and telephone number so they can simply pick up the phone and find out what they must.

The members of the buying committee can be very important to both the initial decision to come to your college or university and the decision to stay in college. They certainly are important to any decision to leave it. Give them all you can to make them feel as if they are an active positive participant in the on-going decision to graduate. The result will be more retention and student success. It often also leads to an additional enrollment. From a buying committee member.   - Neal Raisman

2008-11-06 

Conflict seems to be part of the workplace. We usually think of conflict as bad with a winner and loser. No one wants to be a loser so fear kicks in making people defensive. This causes them to see the situation as a problem, and then react in a hostile way. Sound familiar? What can be done to turn conflict energy into positive energy? We found that it’s important to think of conflict as a way to open up dialog. It gives us a chance to learn about how others think and their belief systems. Often this is exactly what is needed to get change into motion. When employees learn to work through conflict and develop a team mentality they become stronger. Ideally they learn skills to deal with conflict more effectively in the future. How do you handle at conflict at your campus?

1. Ditch your static slide presentations. If your growing weary of using the same old 35 mm slides and PowerPoint just isn’t enough to keep the attention of your students,  consider using a more engaging format to make your lecture content come to life. Flowgram (www.flowgram.com) allows you to pull together web pages, PowerPoint presentations, videos, documents, photos, and other web-based elements to create a multimedia presentation with a guided narrative presentation. “Flowgram is a fantastic interactive communication tool both inside and outside the classroom—for instructors and students alike,” said Gina Maranto, Director of English Composition at the University of Miami. “Using a Flowgram, I was able to pull a variety of examples from the web and package them into an easy-to-follow presentation on how to use technology to help teach writing.” View Gina’s Flowgram: http://www.flowgram.com/p/xdu2grcf5ccuyc.
2. Go Virtual. Up until recently, virtual world platforms have been thought of as a niche phenomenon, but they actually have enormous potential for teaching and presenting.   Try hosting a special event in Second life or enlist your students in building a virtual environment or display on a topic of choice.
3. Use social networks to your advantage. Most of your students use one or more online social networking websites on a daily basis. Research conducted by Grunwald Associates found that 71% of youth between the ages of 9 and 17 visit social networking sites weekly and 96% of those online have participated in some form of social networking. Most social networks allow their members to create groups, providing a convenient and interactive way to communicate and share information outside of the classroom.  Some are actually tailored specifically toward education in certain subjects.  For example, Livemocha (www.livemocha.com) is a free language learning community that provides instructional content, as well as an opportunity to practice with a global community of over 1 million native speakers through IM and chat functions. This is a great way to supplement foreign language classes.
4. Create a blog. Blogs are easy to create and update, and can be used to create an ongoing dialogue between students, staff, and the larger community of people who are interested in your topic. Post curricula, links to relevant articles and news, updates on course schedules and additional resources. There are many tools out there that allow you to easily add news and images to your blog. Daylife (www.daylife.com) provides widgets and API that can help you in adding content to your site.

2008-10-08