Trusteeship - March/April 2021 - 56

FOCUS ON THE PRESIDENCY

The College of the Future

BY JEFFREY R. DOCKING
E LOVE WHAT WE DO ,

which includes our
campuses, students, colleagues, cultures, athletics, and leading our incredible institutions.
We wish nothing had to change, but it does.
Our business model is broken, terribly
broken, and institutions will close by the
dozens during the few years ahead unless
we make the changes that we intuitively
know are inevitable, changes that so many
other sectors of society have already implemented. There is still time, but we must act.
Hundreds of boards are facing chronically stressed budgets and uncertain
futures. Many have recently been forced to
make significant cuts to academic departments, programs, and faculty. And there
are still many more to come. These unfortunate announcements now seem to have
become a weekly occurrence for a wide
range of institutions from small privates to
large public flagships.
These difficult cuts in academic offerings may have been unavoidable, but there
seems to be a growing consensus that
institutions cannot simply cut their way
to sustainability. Absent significant transformation that also addresses enrollment
growth, program cuts may ultimately be
self-reinforcing as reduced services lead to
fewer students leads to further cuts. It is a
vicious negative cycle.
In isolation, this leaves most colleges
with very few options. Every institution
would love to focus on growth as opposed
to cutting costs, but manufacturing growth
can seem impossible without significant
capital to invest in new academic programs, a luxury many institutions simply
do not have.

56 TRUSTEESHIP MAR. APR. 2021

I've served as Adrian College's president
since 2005 and we've been fortunate to
have a measure of success growing enrollment with the latest sport or residence hall
or major. But 16 years later, I have realized
that incremental solutions are no longer
enough. Our budget problems can't be
solved with a few more summer camps or a
few more weddings in our chapel. We need
to get at the heart of the issue and fundamentally shift our operating model, while,
of course, preserving all that is good about
our institutions. If we do, we will enjoy a
prosperous and wonderful future. If we
don't, we will struggle mightily.

In response to these challenges, 87 colleges in the Lower Cost Models Consortium
(LCMC) are cooperating on a grand scale to
increase the enrollment of our institutions.
Enrollment, as we know, is our lifeblood.
According to 2015 College Decisions Survey:
Deciding to Go to College, a report from
New America funded by the Lumina Foundation, the majors offered by an institution
is the most important factor in a student's
college decision. Yet, many institutions
are falling behind when it comes to offering new, competitive, in-demand majors
because they are too expensive to start, it
takes too long, and it is far too risky.

ISTOCK/ GUGAI

Trusteeship - March/April 2021

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