University Business - March 2011 - (Page 42)

Meeting the Pricing Mandate admissions at Sarah Lawrence College (N.Y.), chairs the College Board’s ﬁnancial aid standards and services committee, which served as an advisory council when the College Board was considering a net price calculator service. McDonnell then led her own college, which has the distinction of being the most expensive college in the country, through the decision-making process of which NPC to select. Included in the conversation were staﬀ from admissions, IT, and ﬁnance, plus the vice president of administration. “We tested ﬁve packaging scenarios that covered about 90 percent of our student taking the ACT/SAT. Completing an admissions essay was the only item rated more diﬃcult than the scholarship search and aid application processes. At last count, there were 11 companies or agencies (including the ED) oﬀering a net price calculator. Of course, institutions can develop their own. What extra steps will campus oﬃcials take to make their case more compelling? Is it unreasonable to envision that a college, knowing its typical competitive set, might decide to display comparative information about competitor institutions such as retention rates, graduation rates, or National Survey of Student Engagement results alongside its own when the comparisons are favorable? Will NPCs have the eﬀect of moving up the timing of the entire aid process? ese and other questions remain to be answered, and each is suggestive of potential marketing strategies, advantages, and disadvantages. Other Issues to Consider WHETHER YOUR INSTITUTION HAS ALREADY MADE A NET price calculator decision or is still in the process, consider the following related issues: 1. Is our website ready? Increasingly, it may be the only chance to make a ﬁrst impression. Whether you do this immediately or wait until the ﬁnal hour, you must realize that you’ll potentially have more stealth visitors to your site than ever before—and probably more parents than ever before. As they complete the NPC and get the “real price” on their own, they can choose to request more information— or you may never know they’ve been on the site at all. Be sure your website effectively demonstrates the institution’s return on investment, or value. Ask the following questions: • What should the web pathway to the net price calculator look like? What will visitors see along the way? • Has the project team paid enough attention to the parents’ section of the website? Consider conducting a fresh ROI inventory of the website and other communications vehicles (social media, print materials, eblasts, etc.). Your goal should be singular: To make an extraordinarily compelling case for your institution’s brand and ROI so that, when prospective families complete the NPC, they’ve already moved from the question of, “What does it cost?” to the commitment of, “I need to do whatever it takes to afford this school.” 2. Are we prepared to respond immediately? The Noel-Levitz net price calculator product has a button at the end that users can click if they want more information about the school, or if they wish to speak to someone about the calculation. Make sure you have processes in place to follow up on these leads quickly. This involves planning training for admissions and ﬁnancial staff, as well as any admissions volunteers, to answer questions and respond to objections of newly informed prospects. Creating Quite a Stir When ﬁnancial aid administrators from across the country gathered in Denver last July for the 2010 NASFAA National Conference, the NPC requirement was on the minds of many. During the three-day conference, nine sessions were devoted to the NPC. ey were listed in two diﬀerent interest tracks, Consumer Information/ Customer Service and Department of Education. For many colleges and universities, this is so much more than a ﬁnancial aid issue. It speaks to an institution’s market position. Two vendors, the College Board and StudentAid.com, each held two sessions. e second College Board session had to be moved to a larger room to accommodate the keen interest. Among the other session presenters were ﬁnancial aid practitioners, representatives from the Association of Institutional Research and the Voluntary System of Accountability and a director of college access initiatives from a large state university system. For many colleges and universities, this is so much more than a ﬁnancial aid issue. It speaks to an institution’s market position. It is reasonable to expect interest in the NPC among prospective students and parents, too, for reasons already addressed, but also because of increasing concerns about the cost of higher education and decreasing savings habits. According to both the 2009 and 2010 CIRP Freshman Survey from UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute, which polls the nation’s entering students at four-year colleges and universities, about 55 percent of ﬁrst-year college students expressed at least “some” concern about their ability to ﬁnance college. e percentage hasn’t been that high since 1971. TUITION Choosing the Best Solution Where are institutions in the net price calculator process? Heather McDonnell, the associate dean of ﬁnancial aid and 42 | March 2011 universitybusiness.com http://www.StudentAid.com http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - March 2011

University Business - March 2011
Contents
Editor’s Note
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
Behind the News
Sense of Place
Viewpoint
Human Resources
Universities and Investment Fraud
Going the Distance
Meeting the Transparent Pricing Mandate
Community Colleges
What’s New
End Note

University Business - March 2011