Turning the Tide: How Manor College Reversed Enrollment Declines with Innovation
Navigating the Sea-Change at Manor College
Many colleges and universities have been faced with significant enrollment declines over the last few years. Projections are that undergraduate enrollment for most of the country will dip further from 2026 onwards, for a period of 10 – 15 years. In the face of this challenge, higher education as an industry is seeking the remedies that boost current revenue and/or drive new revenue. By employing some creative marketing approaches, among others, we have been able to maintain sustainability. Manor College is currently a thriving small institution.
When I joined Manor College as president in 2015, among the first challenges was a budget deficit. We righted the ship in year-one predominantly by cutting fixed costs and preparing for a rebranding, which we accomplished in short order. Since then we have balanced our budgets, with surpluses nearly every year, and we are now experiencing an expanding endowment, significant savings, and enrollment strength and growth in new markets. Here are three strategies I used to foster the sea-change at Manor College:
Know your students — and what drove them to enroll. Upon taking the helm at Manor College, it was clear we needed a rebranding. Our old logo worked well in its time, but we needed a refresh. In the past the college had brought in outside consultants, at a cost premium. I moved the entire marketing operation in-house. We did something special and asked our students for help. Through focus groups and surveys, we learned that our students – 65 percent of whom were the first in their families to go to college — chose Manor College because of our inclusive, welcoming culture. Numerous students told us, “I feel like I belong here,” and “When I got here, I realized I belong.” Our actions were ignited. We transformed from our old logo to a new one that depicts our campus as a community invited towards a pathway with open doors. Then, we adopted our new tagline, inspired by our students’ comments: “You belong here!” We trademarked it, and included it on our website and all of our marketing materials. That slogan has worked incredibly well for us: It embodies the welcoming culture that has been so attractive to so many of our students.
Adopt non-traditional marketing approaches. Before I separated us from our outside marketing consultants, I found myself driving around some of the neighborhoods in Philadelphia and its surrounding areas from which we recruit the majority of our students. Unfortunately, I rarely saw our marketing in these neighborhoods. “How could we most effectively reach students in these areas?” I learned about Carvertise, a Wilmington-based marketing agency that wraps rideshare vehicles with an organization’s branding and drives them around in target markets. We were the first in Pennsylvania with rideshare cars, displaying Manor College’s new logo and our “You belong here!” message. We were driving through the very neighborhoods in which we were endeavoring to gain visibility. The cars left a lasting impression and a number of our students have shared with us that their first impressions with us were via these vehicles.
Offer incentives that match your students’ needs. We are keeping ahead of the competition by taking innovative steps in the marketplace where others are following us. It’s kind of funny actually because we are a smaller college and yet we are the trend-setter. Starting this fall of 2024, every first-time full-time student who enrolls at Manor is guaranteed, as included with the cost of tuition, a free basic meal plan; a laptop computer with MS Office and Google software; tuition free courses in the summer; an improved fitness center for use beginning in the fall of 2024; free core curriculum textbooks and free textbooks for most academic programs, and a new, larger and more well-staffed career center.
With these new marketing and packaged-together approaches, in addition to surpluses, our net assets have nearly tripled, non-endowment cash savings on hand has more than quadrupled, and our endowment has grown to 150%+.
Every institution has to hoe its own row through the thick of industry challenges; every institution is unique. We left the pandemic, are enduring the current national FAFSA debacle, and next on our plate is the 2026 “enrollment precipice” mentioned earlier. That is, 2026 is a baby bust resulting from the Great Recession (18 years before 2026 is 2008, when people did not have as many children because of the recession). Competition for students among higher education institutions is about as strong as it gets. The best way to turn the tide at your institution is to take calculated risks that are unique and creative, as we have done at Manor College. Involve your students. Understand what drives them. And adopt marketing approaches that will connect you with them, finding them where they are, and not just online.
Media Contact:
Mindy Ligos
Carvertise Public Relations
[email protected]