In completing the previous strategic plan, Renewing our Vision for the Next Century, Wilmington College can celebrate success. The College set out to enrich its academic and co-curricular programs, to improve the work life of our faculty and staff, to create a technologically connected campus, to build community based on Quaker values, to increase enrollment, and to expand philanthropy. We have not solved every problem, nor have we achieved every goal. However, the implementation of that plan has contributed to positive growth and significant development in all of the areas cited above.
As the College prepared to update the plan, numerous challenges and opportunities remain. Our ability to respond successfully to the challenges and to take full advantage of the opportunities is fundamental to creating the future we want in the next five years and beyond.
Recently, American higher education has been described as being in the midst of the “perfect storm,” with tuition rising, financial aid declining, state budgets collapsing, wages stagnating, and endowments flattening. Despite this perfectly dreadful combination of social and economic forces, colleges and universities are persevering. Closer to home, the storm confronting Wilmington College includes volatile student markets, extraordinary competition, a decline in government support, and a mixed economic recovery. Among the most salient challenges are the following:
The Demographic Challenge: The number of high school graduates in Ohio will decline by 3% between 2002 and 2012. On a shorter horizon, the number of public high school graduates between 2002-03 and 2006-07 from our primary area will be relatively flat. The demographic makeup of this cohort will change, as a larger percentage will be made up of students of color with a higher level of financial need. In addition, the “millennial generation” now entering college is much more likely to favor well-known “brand” colleges.
The Competitive Challenge: Ohio is fifth in the nation in its number of colleges, and Wilmington’s competitors devote significant resources to recruit new students. Within the last three years, many Ohio private colleges in our peer group completed major non-residential renovation or building projects. Schools such as Marietta, Otterbein and Heidelberg spend approximately four times as much on recruitment travel than Wilmington spends. Nationally, the average cost to recruit a new student at a regional private college is $1,800, $400 more than we currently spend.
Like Wilmington College, other colleges and universities have demonstrated that they can move quickly into new markets. For example, Franklin University and Wilberforce University are working on Southern State Community College’s campus. Xavier University is offering master’s degree classes in education at Wilmington High School. Muskingum College, the College of Mount St. Joseph and Thomas More College have announced ambitious integrated marketing programs. And the University of Phoenix has lowered its per credit hour cost, we strongly suspect, to be less expensive than Wilmington’s Cincinnati Branches. In addition, Indiana Wesleyan University and Mount Vernon Nazarene University are the most recent institutions to offer degree programs in Cincinnati.
The Cost Challenge: The college selection process is now treated like any other major purchase. More families have a strong preference for recognized brands. More are making a decision about college based on cost, an unsettling sign that higher education is seen less as a long-term investment than a short-term purchase. The highly desirable “full pay” or “near pay” student is fast becoming a myth, both in the family’s unwillingness to pay as well as its ability to pay. In academic year 2001-02, a family would have needed an income of just under $100,000 to be considered full pay for tuition, fees, room and board at an average four-year private college.
Wilmington College has a larger percentage of first-generation students and students with family incomes below $50,000 than the majority of schools – both public and private -- with which we compete. Moreover, the average financial need of our freshmen has increased in recent years. Nationally, in 1980, the cost for college equaled 25% of the median family income; today that figure is 45%.
The financial aid support from the Federal government and State of Ohio is declining. Overall, Federal student financial aid based on need as a percentage of total aid has declined from 86% in 1986 to 50% in 2000. Ohio is 40th in terms of tax support for higher education. The most recent increase in state appropriations for higher education was just over 1%. In 2003-04 the Choice Grant did not change, having declined for each of the previous two years.
The stock market is still recovering from its worst slump since 1941. Resources that families thought they would have to support children in college have declined and layoffs have lowered the college options for lower and middle-income families, which make up the majority of Wilmington’s student population. Endowments have suffered as well, squeezing operating budgets at virtually all colleges and universities. In order to protect the principal value of our permanent endowment, Wilmington temporarily suspended allocating endowment funds to the operating budget from 2001-2003.
While there are challenges, Wilmington College also has resources to enable it to shape the future positively. Among the most promising opportunities are the following:
The Innovation Opportunity: The College has a long tradition of being entrepreneurial. The establishment of the corrections programs and the development and growth of the branches are examples of our success in identifying and meeting educational needs consistent with our mission. More recently, the development of the Accelerated Leadership Program and the collaborative agreements with Clermont College, Chatfield College and Cincinnati State point to the strength of this tradition. The development of equine science, the environmental studies concentration, the sports management major, and faculty use of the web in instruction are signs that this tradition is supported on the main campus as well. Finally, the success of our current strategic plan, Renewing our Vision for the Next Century, underscores the presence of our will to actively shape the future.
The Integrated Marketing Opportunity: The introduction of an integrated marketing program presents another opportunity. It shows signs of a willingness to focus our message and program offerings. It also allows us to direct our scarce resources to programs that can have the greatest impact on our students and the College. Finally, integrated marketing can help us to establish our unique brand or promise and coordinate the messages that we send to our constituents.
The Investment Opportunity: The success of the current comprehensive campaign presages improvement in our ability to secure outside funds and increase the visibility of the College. Wilmington College has been successful in fulfilling its mission, but it has done so with limited resources. It is clear as well that Wilmington has been a good steward of those scarce resources. For example, the construction of the Campus Village and acquisition of the Campus Commons have allowed us to significantly increase our enrollment of residential students. Considering our success in the current environment, consider how much more we can accomplish with the increased support of alumni and friends.
The Opportunity To Be More Distinctive: There are numerous opportunities to consider as we move forward. The opportunities with the most promise are those that can make Wilmington College distinctive. Current programs that are strong and distinctive should be strengthened. In addition, like the Department of Education’s focus on “Reflective Practitioners in Peaceful Schools,” academic program enhancements can relate more directly to our core values. Similarly, establishing a number of interdisciplinary, value-driven Centers can fulfill the Quaker values expressed in our mission and vision statements. We can become more intentional about being a career-oriented, liberals arts college by developing innovative career-planning programs, involving partnerships of faculty, career services, alumni and students. Other collaborative ventures with two-year colleges can be explored. Finally, we can identify new academic majors, both on the main campus and at the branches, which can highlight our mission and serve new educational markets.
In order to address our challenges, take advantage of opportunities – to shape our future rather than just respond to it -- we must develop a new strategic plan. The purpose of this new plan will be to allow us to focus our work on what we do best, to seek distinctiveness, and to secure the resources we need to prosper. These are the goals of the Agenda for Distinction.
This strategic plan, to be successful, must be based on the mission, vision and core values of Wilmington College. The mission defines our purpose, the vision directs our aspirations, and the values guide our actions. In the next five years Wilmington College will –
The success of the Agenda for Distinction requires a strong commitment to engage the future and to embrace change. The new strategic plan is intended to enable Wilmington College to meet its challenges and realize its opportunities. In other words, it points the way towards a more successful future.
Goal #1:
Embrace the College’s mission, vision, and core values: Wilmington College will incorporate its revised mission and new statements of vision and core values into all areas of the College, providing clarity of purpose and direction to all its operations. The College will also increase efforts to inform its constituencies of its purpose and values. Institutional support of academic and co-curricular programs will be based on alignment with the mission, vision and core values and the ability to retain current and attract prospective students.
The proper focus of the strategic plan, and the work of the College, should be to fulfill our mission, vision and core values. Reformulated in 2002, these statements provide direction to the other goals of the plan. Achieving this goal requires that we place greater emphasis on and commitment to a learning and working environment centered on these values. Central to our mission, vision and core values are the character and quality of the education that we provide to our students. Assessment and program review should focus on the ways and the degrees to which the values of Wilmington College are incorporated in our programs. In addition to embracing these values internally, we must, as well, inform all our constituencies, including prospective students, parents, donors, and friends, of our unique characteristics as an institution. We should organize ourselves to make certain that we can effectively and efficiently achieve goals derived from these values. And finally, we need to assess and measure the extent to which we are living and communicating these values. Therefore, the objectives of Goal #1 are the following:
Goal #2:
Transform the Student Experience: The Curriculum and the Learning Community:
The July 2003 Self Study Report, a document that served as the basis for achieving continued accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association, recommends that the College “prepare a detailed explanation of what it means to be a ‘career-oriented, liberal arts’ college, including the theoretical and philosophical aspects of the concept as well as how it is expected to work in practice.” The accreditation evaluation team concurred with the recommendation. In the “Assurance Section” of their Report of a Comprehensive Evaluation Visit, the team noted that “more work needs to be done in terms of operationalizing the oft used phrase, Wilmington College is a career oriented, liberal arts college.” Therefore, we will begin by clarifying what it means to integrate the liberal arts with career preparation.
We will also seek to strengthen learning within the curriculum, which constitutes the core experience of students, and determine how to increase student engagement in academic inquiry. We will continue to assess academic programs to insure high quality and will review and enact changes in general education requirements to achieve alignment with the mission, vision and values. In addition, we will ensure quality and caring service to students and their families by continually improving our academic support processes and systems. The objectives for Goal #2 are:
Goal #3
Transforming the Student Experience: The Co-curriculum and the Learning Community:
We will improve the alignment of our co-curricular programs to insure that they support and serve the academic program toward fulfilling the mission, vision, and core values of Wilmington College. More students will participate in field projects, internships, and service learning opportunities that relate ideas to real life. We will ensure quality and caring service to our students and their families by continually improving our support services. We will continue to be known as a friendly and welcoming campus community and strive to be even more student-centered. The objectives for Goal #3 are:
Goal #4:
Increase enrollment: Wilmington College will develop and implement successful recruitment and retention efforts that integrate price, delivery, programs, and promotion. At all locations enrollment will increase to optimal levels.
We must determine the optimal size of our student body so that we can identify the resources needed to achieve and maintain that size. Doing so will have at least two advantages. First, a larger enrollment will increase our economies of scale; that is, we can become more efficient. Second, an increased enrollment will provide more resources for programs, faculty, staff, and activities that will enhance learning and transform the student experience. For these reasons, it is incumbent upon us to grow as an institution. To do so requires developing realistic targets for growth.
While it is essential that Wilmington College increase its enrollment, we must not presume that expansion for expansion’s sake will make us successful. Our growth must be based on mission, vision and core values, the size of our market, and the strength of our programs. In addition, the importance of having readily available data is imperative. We should analyze our market position and our goals, and then determine what our optimum enrollment levels should be. We should also identify areas where the growth is likely to occur. The branches, particular academic programs, and co-curricular activities are all areas that should be investigated to determine where we should grow, remain stable, or even cut back. We should determine the types of students we intend to serve. We must insure that growth does not adversely change the positive aspects of the culture of the College. We should plan for growth by attracting new students and by retaining more current students. And, finally, we must strive to increase our enrollment while at the same time increasing our net revenue; this will necessitate reducing our financial aid discount rate. The objectives for Goal #4 are:
Goal #5:
Invest in physical resources: Wilmington College will improve and maintain its physical resources at all locations.
It is imperative that we significantly improve the quality of campus facilities, including both technology and buildings. The use of technology in the educational process and in the administration of the College has had a positive impact on the student experience as well as our administrative efficiency and effectiveness. Consequently, we must set priorities at each of our locations, in each of our programs and for our administrative functions in order to insure the optimum return on our technology investment. Likewise, the construction, renovation, improvement and maintenance of physical facilities at all locations will need to be prioritized. All of this will need to be done within the context of an updated campus master plan. The objectives for Goal #5 are:
Goal #6:
Develop faculty, administration, and staff excellence: Wilmington College will attract, retain, support, and develop a diverse and excellent faculty, administration and staff. We will provide compensation and other measures of support to employees that encourage long-term commitment to the College and its students.
Human capital is our most important resource. Therefore, we must be clear about our expectations of and commitment to the people we employ. We must strive to become more competitive in our compensation to all employees. In order to measure progress, we should determine an accurate and fair set of benchmark institutions with which to compare ourselves. In addition, we should investigate salary structures that can best motivate employees and assure that performance evaluations are useful, conducted regularly and fair. Moreover, all employees should have opportunities to develop professionally. Finally, the College must reflect the population of the region we serve; this necessitates a commitment to improving the diversity of our employees, particularly faculty. The objectives for Goal #6 are:
Goal #7:
Manage financial resources efficiently and effectively: Wilmington College will continue to manage its resources efficiently and effectively to balance the budget, maximize student learning, and improve service to our constituencies.
In order to manage enrollment growth, maintain our physical and technological facilities, and provide competitive compensation, we must manage our financial resources well. We need to actively explore and finance new sources of revenue. In light of increased competition, both for traditional and non-traditional students, we must provide a better and more distinctive educational experience to students. The allocation of our resources should be based on priorities established in concert with our mission, vision and values. Consequently, we will develop a multi-year budgeting program and establish financial reports that demonstrate financial accountability. In addition, we need to formally determine the level of contributions from our branches to the main campus and then develop a plan to reach that level. Finally, we must reduce the level of tuition discounting currently needed to enroll an adequate number of students and generate an acceptable level of net revenue. The objectives for Goal #7 are:
Goal #8:
Expand philanthropy: Wilmington College will broaden and deepen its relationships with alumni and friends and develop the volunteer and financial resources to ensure fiscal stability, program growth, and facilities improvement.
To provide for stability and growth, the College must acquire the resources required for operational and capital needs. With leadership from the Board, we will need to be in a capital or comprehensive campaign during the five years covered by this plan. A high priority must be the construction and renovation of academic and co-curricular facilities on the main campus and the support of current or new programs that should be funded through non-operational support, such as the Peace Resource Center and the Westheimer Peace Symposium. Some of these may be funded by successful efforts in securing federal funds. Finally, we must insure that the Wilmington College story is told often and well to our various publics. The objectives for Goal #8 are:
No plan insures success, but success is rarely possible without a plan.
The strategic goals and objectives contained in this plan represent An Agenda for Distinction for Wilmington College. They identify what the College will strive to accomplish in the next five years and the priorities that will claim both human and financial resources.
To successfully implement this plan and effectively meet the ever-increasing challenges that lie ahead will require more resources from more sources. Yet, as stated in the College’s previous strategic plan, resources alone will not determine success. We cannot become a stronger, more vital and more viable college without becoming more committed to our mission, our students, and to each other.
The successful implementation of the last strategic plan and the positive 2003-04 accreditation evaluation are strong indicators that Wilmington can fulfill its mission, vision and core values into the future. Whether the College can prosper in pursuit of these strategic goals and objectives will depend on resolve and on resources; it will depend on faith and on action; it will depend on commitment
Our work begins anew. We are inspired by our past and its Quaker heritage, by the relevance of our educational purpose, and by the people who serve and are served by Wilmington College. These resources enrich us and will propel us forward.
(Fall, 2005)