Trends, Truths and Themes:
A report by the task force on
competitive position
Being the “best of the
very good” is a tough position.
Trend One: Getting students here
Mixed signals: Building demand and dropping yield
50.00%
44%
40.00%
30.00%
28.10%
27.50%
24.90%
23.30%
22.70%
18%
20.00%
10.00%
11.90%
10.80%
13.40%
6.50%
0.00%
FY 08-09
FY 09-10
FY 10-11
FY 11-12
-10.00%
FY 12-13
13-14 est
-8%
-20.00%
Yield
Application % increase
TREND ONE
Trend Two: Getting students through
TREND TWO
TREND TWO
Trend Three: Getting students
placed: The proliferation of
external scorecards
In 2012, 18% of graduates had a job lined up – up slightly over three years.
21% had been admitted to graduate school – down by half over three years.
58% left Augie with neither a job offer nor a graduate or professional school
placement
TREND THREE
Starting salary: 7th of 9
Mid-career salary: 3rd of 9
TREND THREE
Truth One: We are, and will remain,
dependent upon tuition
Tuition reliance
95.00%
90.10%
88.30%
90.00%
89.10%
87.50%
85.00%
Axis Title
80.00%
75.00%
70.00%
65.00%
60.00%
55.00%
50.00%
FY 08-09
FY 09-10
FY 10-11
FY 11-12
TRUTH ONE
Truth Two: Resistance to paying
a substantial fraction of our
cost is rising
2004 to 2013*
• Price: $28,173 to $44,937 (+$16,764)
• Ave. EFC (demonstrated financial need**):
$12,927 to $14,212 (+$1,285)
• Ave. Grant: $9,009 to $18,914 (+$9,905)
• Ave. Net Revenue: $19,164 to $26,023 (+$6,859)
*estimated
**71% of pool in 2008 and 79% of pool in 2012
TRUTH TWO
Flat EFC, decreasing net revenue per student,
and increasing “gap”
$19,000
$17,000
$15,000
$16,661
$16,777
$15,752
$15,606
$13,597
$13,739
$14,771
$15,753
$14,997
$13,000
$13,744
$11,000
$9,000
$7,000
$5,000
$5,656
FY 08-09
$6,347
$6,542
FY 09-10
FY 10-11
Net revenue per f-y student
EFC (of those with need)
$7,205
$6,937
FY 11-12
FY 12-13
Gap between aid and EFC
TRUTH TWO
Truth Three: We are experiencing
more intense emphasis on outcomes
Who’s who and what’s what: The
players who define our value
• Net Price Calculator
(NPC)
• College Scorecard
• CollegeMeasures.org
• PayScale.com
• AlumniFactor.com
• WSJ’s “How do
schools stack up?”
TRUTH THREE
TRUTH THREE
Truth Four:
We have high fixed costs
High fixed costs
Compensation and debt service % of operating budget
70.00%
66.60%
66.70%
65.20%
65.00%
64.40%
64.90%
FY 11-12
FY 12-13
60.00%
55.00%
50.00%
45.00%
40.00%
FY 08-09
FY 09-10
FY 10-11
Compensation and debt service % of operating budget
There are other fixed costs not highlighted, such as the cost to maintain
our physical plant and utilities, etc.
TRUTH THREE
Truth Five: Making a compelling case
continues to be difficult
Who are our Top 10 competitors?
The Simple Version
Illinois State
Marquette
University of Illinois
Bradley
DePaul
Illinois Wesleyan
Loyola
Northern Illinois
University of Iowa
University of Illinois-Chicago
TRUTH FIVE
Who are our Top 10 competitors?
The Real Version
For our best students,
we compete with:
For our bread-and-butter
students, we compete with:
University of Illinois
Marquette
Illinois Wesleyan
Northwestern
Washington Univ.
Bradley
Illinois State
Loyola
University of Chicago
Carthage
Marquette
Illinois State
University of Illinois
Bradley
DePaul
Loyola
University of Iowa
Illinois Wesleyan
Carthage
University of Illinois-Chicago
For the kids who are desperately
grateful to have gotten in here,
we compete with:
Illinois State
Northern Illinois
University of Illinois-Chicago
DePaul
Bradley
Western Illinois
Carthage
St. Xavier
St. Ambrose
Elmhurst
So, the total number of Top 10 competitors for these three groups is 18.
Only Bradley, Carthage, and Illinois State are “common” competitors.
Bold: Not Top 10 Competitors
Bold red: Not Top 25 Competitors
TRUTH FIVE
Say “no” and focus:
Strengthening our
competitive position
Boeing’s strategy
Purpose: Make air travel efficient and comfortable …
and profitable.
Plan: Switch from “economies of scale” to “economy
through innovation.”
Series of actions: Create a a lighter, faster, long-range
jet, which will allow more direct flights, decreasing
reliance on “hub and spoke” model. Measureable
goal: Deliver more airplanes than Airbus…and more
happy customers, who want more airplanes.
(2013, Malham)
Indiegogo’s strategy
Purpose: Change the way the world gets funding.
Plan: Democratize the fund-raising process and allow
people or “campaign owners” to find financial backing
for just about anything.
Series of actions: Create open and accessible platform;
develop powerful tools and a global reach; keep
customers happy with a superior user experience,
personalization and lots of hand-holding; respect and
treat every funder equally.
Measureable goal: Last for at least 100 years.
2013, Malham
Themes to guide strategy to strengthen
Augustana College’s competitive position
• Attract a serious look
• Create a culture of successful results and
placements
• Embrace our market
• Emphasize our strengths
• Advance beyond traditional campus-bound and
calendar-based learning models
Attract a serious look
Purpose: Rethink the current price/cost
model to respond to a negative
perception of affordability.
Create a culture of placement
Purpose: Make post-graduation advising and
planning a priority from day one to ensure
Augustana College graduates achieve the best
possible post-graduation results and
placements in graduate school and jobs.
Embrace our market
Purpose: Compete for and enroll students
who value and who have the greatest
potential to benefit from the environment
and experiences we can offer them.
Emphasize our strengths
Purpose: Shift the focus of families toward
our distinctive strengths, to deepen those
strengths and to formally recognize students’
successful engagement in trans-curricular
experiences.
Advance beyond traditional methods
Purpose: Extend the reach and ambitiousness
of our use of learning technologies, emerging
technologies, more progressive pedagogy and
alternative program structures.
Discussion