Monday, October 19, 2009

UMass and Getting More Out of State Students ... Wish it were that easy!

In today's Boston Globe, UMass Amherst announced a new plan to attract more out-of-state students. Sounds like a reasonable way to get additional revenues. Wish it were that easy is my read. The items that UMass Amherst fails to address or that the Boston Globe failed to cover are:

- What will the competition do? Roll over and die? Say, "Here you go UMass, they're all yours!" I don't think so. There has been discussion in almost every state regarding the "brain drain" and how students are leaving their home state for another. If all these colleges are saying this, then 1) what's the problem ... everybody's winning and 2) do we have a national catastrophe where everyone is losing their brains ... I doubt it.

- Great move UMass, but what about the demographic shift that we will see beginning in 2013 regarding fewer traditional age college students? In fact, beginning in 2009, we are going to see a slight decrease in the number of 18 year-olds. This will continue, albeit slowly until 2016 (barring changes in immigration and birth rates). (See: http://nces.ed.gov/programs/projections/projections2017/tables/table_B04.asp?referrer=report)

- Why not court the adult learner more? Oh yeah, the percentage of degree holders is relatively high in Massachusetts. What about the online learner? UMass Online seems to do a good job at this. Getting a few thousand this way, as opposed to building more dorms might be a better alternative.

- What about the millions of dollars that will be needed to market more aggressively? I'll be interested to see this plan!

- Let's not forget the economy. UMass Amherst will have to better communicate its position and value to the out-of-stater.

When the rubber hits the road, the student is going to shop. They will look at value and alternatives. They will look at brand. UMass will have to not only get their attention, but convince them of value. It's not that easy. That's some HUGE marketing!.

It's not as simple as when Shoeless Joe tells Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) in Field of Dreams ... if you build it, they will come."

Boston Globe article: (See: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/10/19/reinforcements_needed_at_umass_amherst/)
Posted by Jim Fong at 4:04 PM

2 comments:

  1. You fail to consider the fact that, given highly escalating costs at private colleges and universities, UMASS could cut into the privates' share of the market, particularly with aggressive promotion of their Honors and high profile programs.
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  2. Thanks for your comment Dan. I do agree with you that it is an opportunity given the higher costs of private colleges, but if they are looking for out-of-state opportunity, I question their value at $23K for tuition and a total of $31K with room and board. Seems that if you are coming out of state and looking at a Babson or Wellesley, there would be better state options within one's home state, but of course, this varies state to state. Unless UMass repositions itself better, I question whether it can be a competitive alternative to a more expensive private. Again, thanks for your post.
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