Every Campus Needs a Plan
Closures, Mergers and the Future of Higher Ed
If you’ve ever been at a ‘going out of business sale’ at a big box store, you’ve seen how closure plays out in a retail environment. People looking for a deal on an Instant Pot are wandering the aisles, weaving in and out of unwanted items left on the floor. No employees available or interested in keeping the store clean and presentable. I remember first hand being in a Linens ‘n Things during the store’s final days and a customer climbed up a ladder that she dragged from an unsecured storage area. High above the sales floor in the window decor section, this woman was on a mission and attempted to tear down the curtains that were on display. “Ma’am those aren’t actual curtains - they are fake, they are just a sample. They are only three feet long!” An exhausted employee shouted at her. The woman didn’t care, she grabbed the curtain and took the entire display down.
In April of 2018, when Mount Ida College announced it was closing, I was walking to my campus home after a very long day of filling bankers boxes with paperwork that was to be shipped to the campuses of UMass Amherst and UMass Dartmouth as well as the company that was hired to assist us in the machinations of closure. In between filling boxes, assisting frantic students and fielding phone calls from parents, I was interrupted by staff from UMass coming into my office to inventory my furniture and identify what was ‘worthy’ of keeping once they occupied the campus and my office. As I walked home, I saw some students dragging a step ladder from the Campus Center and pulling down a Mount Ida College banner from one of the lamp posts. The woman at Linens ‘n Things was looking for a bargain, the students were looking for an artifact.
Closure is traumatic. Period. The closure of a business is the symbol of failure to make a profit, failure to fill a niche, failure to shift with the times. The closure of a college is all of that - and more. While the woman who was seeking a deal on curtains will eventually find those window sheers at a reduced price, the students who were yanking that banner down - they were hanging on to affinity, belonging and a promise.
I have been banging the closure plan drum for some time. I dedicated my dissertation to the lived experiences of those students who transitioned through closure. Whenever I read about a campus closing, I reach out to the Chief Student Affairs Officer and offer my heartfelt condolences and a helpful ear. This year, I made more calls than any year prior. ARPA funds may have delayed the inevitable for several institutions, but over the next year, we will see the rate of closures and failed mergers accelerate. Some considerations that will further exacerbate the strain on fiscally at risk campuses include:
Community College resurgence. Community Colleges that provide graduates with career ready degrees and certifications aligned with local industry needs will be particularly well positioned to attract students and will pull from regional public and private campuses.
The enrollment domino effect. In order to fill spaces at state flagships and tier one privates, campuses will dip into the next tier to find students, tipping off a domino effect that will lead the open enrollment and nearly open enrollment campuses with a drought.
Trust erosion. Consolidation of campus systems or closure of campuses that have been an economic support for communities will create a tension that will further erode the trust that the public has in Higher Education, especially in rural areas where the closure of campuses has a broader impact.
While not every campus is at risk of closure - there are opportunities for those campuses seeking to further their reach to merge, acquire or create satellite brick and mortar facilities. These are separate strategic decisions that must be considered, but my advice is to look beyond physical proximity. Institutions that are in the financial position to lead such a merger or acquisition have decisions to make. With the assistance of a consultant, expansion campuses should consider institutional mission, program reputation, conditions of existing facilities. If you look under the hood, there are some very strong small programs out there doing innovative work reaching students who the institution seeking expansion may be failing to reach. But there is a clear bottom line - campuses seeking expansion don’t want to get into a lifelong partnership with an unhealthy institution.
To those campuses that are carrying around the “Deadly Three” risks to closure, it’s time to make a real plan, because the trickle of alumni donations and adding a lacrosse program are not going to usher in fiscal health. The “Deadly Three” are pretty straight forward and very common, but in combination they are the death knell for a struggling campus:
An unsustainable dollar amount of deferred maintenance. Let’s be honest, big donors are not giving funds to repair the residence hall roof, upgrade the failing HVAC system in the library, or replace the Student Information System and outdated server. When you add up your campus physical plant and IT deferred maintenance and the total is such an amount that you will have to do a deal with the Devil to keep your campus from crumbling - it’s a sign.
Total tuition contribution of under $18,000 a student. Do the math. What is the cost of operating the campus? Ok, now how many full-time students do you have enrolled? Next, what do they each have to pay to cover the operating cost? Obviously, there is more complexity to it than that - federal and state funds, grants, etc. but you get where I’m going. Can you actually pay the bills with what you have coming in? Back of the envelope math shows that campuses that are in trouble are often bringing in less than $18,000 a year per student in tuition. Ouch.
Leadership vacuum. This is the toughest one, because it’s about ability and acumen, but if you are looking at a cabinet with leadership that is majority new and interim you actually may be in BETTER shape than with a cabinet and governance that is blinded by decades of affiliation with the campus. New and interim leaders may be more willing to make sweeping changes that rock sensibilities but will create a stronger institution in the long run. Yes, there are strong leaders out there who have decades of history with a campus, but they are harder to find.
If this makes you uncomfortable - sorry, not sorry (as the kids say). These three challenges in combination with one another make for an untenable situation. A plan must be made.
If there is not an appetite for the creation of a closure plan on your campus, consider a strength and conditioning plan. This will be a difficult process, and again, one that requires assistance from a consultant, but it is absolutely necessary to do this right. Primarily because the final plan will likely not be about survival as an independent campus, but rather, it means solidifying the institution as a stronger one and better positioned for a merger or strategic partnership. As with anything in life, it feels much better to be in control, even when managing unpleasant situations.
As you consider your campus’s future, would you rather your mission live on even in a drastically different form, or would you prefer bankers boxes, furniture auctions and students climbing lamp posts grabbing for proof of existence?
Fortify Features
Dr. Laura De Veau is Principal & Founder of Fortify Associates, LLC. Fortify Associates, LLC is unique in the higher education, not-for-profit, and public service market. Fortify Associates provide comprehensive workshops, program reviews and project management services with a combination of in-person and virtual delivery. Fortify Associates is committed to creating experiences that are unique to the needs and culture of each of their clients. Dr. Laura De Veau is also a consultant with Higher Ed. Consolidation Solutions a leader in creative solutions for HigherEd including closure plans, mergers and strategic partnerships.