Post by aggie2039 on Apr 16, 2024 6:42:44 GMT -5
Article, courtesy of Matt Brown
I asked a university president how athletics really impact enrollment
I sat down with the president at Akron to learn how the school recruits and how athletics fits...and doesn't.
That’s going to vary significantly from school to school. But I wanted to start somewhere.
So I called Dr. Gary Miller, the current president of the University of Akron.
What else is Akron doing to recruit students? Besides, you know, anything that might have to do with sports?
Like many other schools in the Midwest, enrollment is “a daily topic” at Akron, Dr. Miller told me. Many of the methods the school uses right now are, “more traditional”, like reaching out and building relationships with local high schools, direct marketing in specific markets (like Northeastern Ohio, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati), and an explicit focus around promoting specific majors (at Akron, for example, that means highlighting the school’s Engineering programs).
But Akron also can’t depend exclusively on traditional students coming out of high schools.
“We do a lot with community colleges. We have a joint admissions process with our local institution, Stark State Community College. We also have branch campuses, and we actually host a high school on our campus where over half the graduates of that school leaves with an associates degree from us, to give them a leg up to go to college.”
“But in recent years, we’ve also focused a lot on adult learners.”
Adult learners often refer to “less traditional” students…folks who might be restarting their college education after taking a significant break, or who are studying while also working during the day. These are generally not students who are seeking a residential undergraduate experience.
“We are very proud of our credit for prior learning program, which evaluates people’s work experience, military experience, etc., and in many cases, we can assign credit and shorten their time to degree, sometimes by as much as half, or even more.”
“We also have a really interesting relationship with Coursera. We’re a partner with them, and we can bundle their products and sell it at a discounted rate to our students and our alumni. We’re even starting to talk to businesses who might need some sort of training that Coursera can offer, and we’ll all partner together.”
It would make sense for Akron to try multiple different strategies to reach enrollment goals. As regions like Northeast Ohio lose population and produce fewer college-bound high school students, Akron, and hundreds of schools like it, need to look towards less-traditional sources for students, even as they continue to recruit 17-year-olds who are seeking a residential, full-time campus experience.
And most of those more traditional students are from a handful of specific markets
Akron is happy to talk to students from all over the country, if not the world, but the school also recognizes that they’re going to have better luck recruiting in certain places….mostly the places you’d assume.
“The majority of our students do come from Ohio,” Dr. Miller told me. “We’ve historically done very well in Columbus and Cincinnati, as well as Cleveland. But we also do pretty well around Pittsburgh, as well as some places like New York and Illinois…markets where in-state tuition can be relatively high, and our out-of-state tuition can be competitive.” Miller also noted that Akron’s Engineering programs and industry ties are strong enough to recruit students globally, not just in Asia, but in Brazil and throughout South America.
So how does athletics fit into that strategy? On paper, it sounds like national appeal might not be so useful?
Part of the appeal of having a D-I athletic department is that your teams are often on national television, competing in national tournaments. But if the school is mostly trying to recruit students in a 400ish mile radius, and is increasingly going after students who aren’t interested in dorms or stadiums or a residential experience at all…does having a big sports program actually matter that much?
According to Dr. Miller…yes. But the math can be complicated.
“There’s really no way to directly tell exactly how your D-I athletic program affects your enrollment,” he told me. “But there are a few indirect things that we look at.”
“For one, when we look at the students that we accept to Akron, who decide not to come here, and you look at where those students end up attending…the vast majority of them attend another FBS school. Sometimes in Ohio, (and surprisingly, it isn’t Kent State as often as you might think), sometimes outside. But this makes us believe that the student’s orientation at the beginning was for a school like us.”
“Another thing to look at, is when you look at the major private donors to universities, all three of the ones where I’ve been a president (UW-Green Bay, UNC-Wilmington and Akron), about 70% of them also give to athletics. A large proportion of those came to the university in the first place with their generosity because of athletics. It’s a very squishy number, but it is not unusual to have somebody who is very interested in engineering also giving to the baseball team.”
“The other thing to think about is that there are lots of communities like Akron that love Akron athletics. Athletics becomes a key part of the university’s engagement with the community. In fact, our gate receipts in all our revenue sports have gone up these past two years.”
I asked Dr. Miller if all of this meant that the school wouldn’t necessarily be in a position to deeply benefit from a March Madness upset, since so much of the national news coverage would be centered in places like Dallas or Seattle or Phoenix, where the school would be unlikely to recruit new students or donors.
“No, I think all of that still helps. I was a provost at Wichita State right before they went to the Final Four…and their web hits just went through the roof. You get national press, and that does filter down to social media posts, local market…it does help.”
“Is it a strategy that you can depend on? No. It’s kind of like a bonus.”
Dr. Miller did mention the popular analogy for athletic departments as a “front porch” for a university. But then he took that in a direction I wasn’t completely expecting.
“When college athletes were primarily students, there was a very close connection to the local and campus community, one that wasn’t just build around that’s student’s athletic performance, but that student.”
“Nowadays, where the teams we field in many sports are really transient…the competitive level is really good, and people like that. But there’s a sense that there’s a loss of connection. And I think that is why you’re seeing students not go to games as much, and student sections being made smaller. [College sports] is becoming more of a TV product than a local event, having to do with people that you’re connected with and are going to be connected with for a long time.”
“That, in my view, is a real danger to college sports. Ultimately, it becomes unconnected to the university.”
“There’s that deal about college athletics being the front porch of a university. But there’s also something about sitting on that front porch and having a chat….staying there a while. That’s what I’m afraid we’re losing.”
I haven’t heard many administrators talk about athlete transience explicitly in the context of the value proposition to the university as a whole. For the University of Akron to be successful as an institution that serves the citizens of Ohio, after all, they’ll want to recruit students who had a positive experience and want to either remain in Ohio, or give back to Ohio in some capacity. Is that mission undermined in any way if athletics can’t lead?
None of this, in my view, should make a reader think that Akron (or schools like Akron) shouldn’t have college athletics. But I think it’s important to be as specific and concrete as possible about what success for that department looks like, how that will be measured, and what it means (and doesn’t mean) for the school as a whole.
If you want people to come visit, sure, it helps to have curb appeal. It helps to have a nice, modern, front porch….maybe even a front porch that’s a little nicer than what they have down at Kent or Bowling Green or Athens.
But ultimately, I think Dr. White is right. You do want people to stick around. And that requires more than just a great porch.
I asked a university president how athletics really impact enrollment
I sat down with the president at Akron to learn how the school recruits and how athletics fits...and doesn't.
That’s going to vary significantly from school to school. But I wanted to start somewhere.
So I called Dr. Gary Miller, the current president of the University of Akron.
What else is Akron doing to recruit students? Besides, you know, anything that might have to do with sports?
Like many other schools in the Midwest, enrollment is “a daily topic” at Akron, Dr. Miller told me. Many of the methods the school uses right now are, “more traditional”, like reaching out and building relationships with local high schools, direct marketing in specific markets (like Northeastern Ohio, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati), and an explicit focus around promoting specific majors (at Akron, for example, that means highlighting the school’s Engineering programs).
But Akron also can’t depend exclusively on traditional students coming out of high schools.
“We do a lot with community colleges. We have a joint admissions process with our local institution, Stark State Community College. We also have branch campuses, and we actually host a high school on our campus where over half the graduates of that school leaves with an associates degree from us, to give them a leg up to go to college.”
“But in recent years, we’ve also focused a lot on adult learners.”
Adult learners often refer to “less traditional” students…folks who might be restarting their college education after taking a significant break, or who are studying while also working during the day. These are generally not students who are seeking a residential undergraduate experience.
“We are very proud of our credit for prior learning program, which evaluates people’s work experience, military experience, etc., and in many cases, we can assign credit and shorten their time to degree, sometimes by as much as half, or even more.”
“We also have a really interesting relationship with Coursera. We’re a partner with them, and we can bundle their products and sell it at a discounted rate to our students and our alumni. We’re even starting to talk to businesses who might need some sort of training that Coursera can offer, and we’ll all partner together.”
It would make sense for Akron to try multiple different strategies to reach enrollment goals. As regions like Northeast Ohio lose population and produce fewer college-bound high school students, Akron, and hundreds of schools like it, need to look towards less-traditional sources for students, even as they continue to recruit 17-year-olds who are seeking a residential, full-time campus experience.
And most of those more traditional students are from a handful of specific markets
Akron is happy to talk to students from all over the country, if not the world, but the school also recognizes that they’re going to have better luck recruiting in certain places….mostly the places you’d assume.
“The majority of our students do come from Ohio,” Dr. Miller told me. “We’ve historically done very well in Columbus and Cincinnati, as well as Cleveland. But we also do pretty well around Pittsburgh, as well as some places like New York and Illinois…markets where in-state tuition can be relatively high, and our out-of-state tuition can be competitive.” Miller also noted that Akron’s Engineering programs and industry ties are strong enough to recruit students globally, not just in Asia, but in Brazil and throughout South America.
So how does athletics fit into that strategy? On paper, it sounds like national appeal might not be so useful?
Part of the appeal of having a D-I athletic department is that your teams are often on national television, competing in national tournaments. But if the school is mostly trying to recruit students in a 400ish mile radius, and is increasingly going after students who aren’t interested in dorms or stadiums or a residential experience at all…does having a big sports program actually matter that much?
According to Dr. Miller…yes. But the math can be complicated.
“There’s really no way to directly tell exactly how your D-I athletic program affects your enrollment,” he told me. “But there are a few indirect things that we look at.”
“For one, when we look at the students that we accept to Akron, who decide not to come here, and you look at where those students end up attending…the vast majority of them attend another FBS school. Sometimes in Ohio, (and surprisingly, it isn’t Kent State as often as you might think), sometimes outside. But this makes us believe that the student’s orientation at the beginning was for a school like us.”
“Another thing to look at, is when you look at the major private donors to universities, all three of the ones where I’ve been a president (UW-Green Bay, UNC-Wilmington and Akron), about 70% of them also give to athletics. A large proportion of those came to the university in the first place with their generosity because of athletics. It’s a very squishy number, but it is not unusual to have somebody who is very interested in engineering also giving to the baseball team.”
“The other thing to think about is that there are lots of communities like Akron that love Akron athletics. Athletics becomes a key part of the university’s engagement with the community. In fact, our gate receipts in all our revenue sports have gone up these past two years.”
I asked Dr. Miller if all of this meant that the school wouldn’t necessarily be in a position to deeply benefit from a March Madness upset, since so much of the national news coverage would be centered in places like Dallas or Seattle or Phoenix, where the school would be unlikely to recruit new students or donors.
“No, I think all of that still helps. I was a provost at Wichita State right before they went to the Final Four…and their web hits just went through the roof. You get national press, and that does filter down to social media posts, local market…it does help.”
“Is it a strategy that you can depend on? No. It’s kind of like a bonus.”
Dr. Miller did mention the popular analogy for athletic departments as a “front porch” for a university. But then he took that in a direction I wasn’t completely expecting.
“When college athletes were primarily students, there was a very close connection to the local and campus community, one that wasn’t just build around that’s student’s athletic performance, but that student.”
“Nowadays, where the teams we field in many sports are really transient…the competitive level is really good, and people like that. But there’s a sense that there’s a loss of connection. And I think that is why you’re seeing students not go to games as much, and student sections being made smaller. [College sports] is becoming more of a TV product than a local event, having to do with people that you’re connected with and are going to be connected with for a long time.”
“That, in my view, is a real danger to college sports. Ultimately, it becomes unconnected to the university.”
“There’s that deal about college athletics being the front porch of a university. But there’s also something about sitting on that front porch and having a chat….staying there a while. That’s what I’m afraid we’re losing.”
I haven’t heard many administrators talk about athlete transience explicitly in the context of the value proposition to the university as a whole. For the University of Akron to be successful as an institution that serves the citizens of Ohio, after all, they’ll want to recruit students who had a positive experience and want to either remain in Ohio, or give back to Ohio in some capacity. Is that mission undermined in any way if athletics can’t lead?
None of this, in my view, should make a reader think that Akron (or schools like Akron) shouldn’t have college athletics. But I think it’s important to be as specific and concrete as possible about what success for that department looks like, how that will be measured, and what it means (and doesn’t mean) for the school as a whole.
If you want people to come visit, sure, it helps to have curb appeal. It helps to have a nice, modern, front porch….maybe even a front porch that’s a little nicer than what they have down at Kent or Bowling Green or Athens.
But ultimately, I think Dr. White is right. You do want people to stick around. And that requires more than just a great porch.
