A Friendly Reminder: Prospects Don't Pick Colleges for the Buildings
Thanks to a federal government loan program, many small colleges went on a building spree thinking it would spark enrollment gains. Now, they're in financial trouble...
I’m 57, and I love walking around college campuses.
New building? Looks gorgeous, let me peek inside.
Wait: Your campus has a lazy river and a 5-star steak restaurant for students? I gotta see that.
A historic site? I love American history, let me see it! (We’ve done a lot of work at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois over the past decade. It was home to one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. When they built the stage for the debate in 1858, they didn’t leave enough room for the doors from the existing building to open up and let the participants onto the stage, which meant that Abraham Lincoln had to climb out a nearby window onto the stage for the debate. Old guys like me love that kind of story).
Of course, many of these building initiatives are funded by private donors and alums who love their schools, and want to leave a tangible mark that will be remembered. That’s incredibly generous of them, absolutely. When big donors aren’t available, college presidents and the boards that govern the campus sometimes look for alternative funding options to get projects done.
Some of them used a little known Department of Agriculture loan program that provided funds for rural colleges.
(Yes, all of this has a big recruiting lesson, Coach - just hang in there)
Now, there’s a lot of news coming out about how this program is actually adding so much financial strain to the balance sheets at colleges (see the link I just gave you) that they are buckling under the monthly payment debt load. Many have actually closed as a result.
So wait a minute: Why’d they take the loans in the first place? The same reason their counterparts gladly receive, and use, donations they receive from generous donors: They can build something new on campus, or provide other new services to students and faculty. Is there anything wrong with that reasoning? Not at all. We all want to serve students one way or the other, and your college is no different than any other campus.
So what’s the problem that, exactly?
The reasoning for the loans was built on a belief that new buildings would bring in more than enough new students to justify the cost.
They were wrong.
Let me cut to the chase: Those college presidents, board of regents, and the USDA never factored in teenage human nature, along with the motivations of the parents that help guide them to a final decision when it comes to where to go college (and the investment they are willing to make in the process).
The vast majority of prospective college students - and even more prospective student-athletes - don’t choose where they go to school based on buildings and infrastructure. In our work with college coaching staffs, we conduct in-depth focus group studies with incoming and brand new college student-athletes, digging into the reasoning behind their decisions on where to compete and earn their degree. Virtually none of them mentions buildings, infrastructure, or the other stuff that college presidents, board of regents or the federal government thinks is a motivator for choosing a campus home. Here’s why:
It’s about relationships, not stuff. All of our research shows that your teenage recruits make their decisions based on a feeling, and an emotional connection, to people. You, your team, or other students and athletes on campus. As adults, we don’t have to like it. But we do have to pay attention to it. Believing that a new library, or even a new athletic facility, is a motivator to choose a college just doesn’t match what the research shows us.
Now, before you stop reading because I just ticked you off a little, let me clarify something: I want you to have your new facility, Coach. And the new library! I vote yes for all of it. But what I don’t want is for you, or your college
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