Situational Analysis

The Higher Education Marketplace

A Very Brief History

Historically, most colleges and universities have existed, and in some cases even managed to thrive, without integrated marketing plans. While at one time or another most have engaged in promotional activities or explored improving their product, by and large this has not been done to meet a set of marketing objectives.

This is in part because competition has not traditionally been amongst institutions for students, but amongst students for the opportunity to attend the institution of their choice. As a result, most colleges and universities have considered integrated marketing activities expensive and unnecessary until recently.

This was especially true in the 1940’s when the GI bill allowed veterans who might never have afforded a college education the opportunity to pursue one. Then the passage of the Higher Education Act of 1965 further paved the way for more individuals than ever to pursue a college education. These acts of legislation and the baby boom from 1946 to 1964 provided a seemingly endless pool of students for the majority of higher education institutions through the 1970’s. During this time, more colleges and universities were built while others experienced tremendous growth, including Tennessee Tech.

While overall college enrollments have continued to increase since the 1970’s, for many colleges, including Tennessee Tech, enrollments peaked during this period and then began to change — holding steady or, in some cases, declining. A number of factors contributed to this.

Factors Contributing to Stagnant or Declining Enrollment

Chief among the factors contributing to stagnant and/or declining enrollment are declines in the pool of available students in some regions, changes to the makeup of this population, the rapid advancement of technology and increased competition.

As a result of these and other changes, many institutions now find themselves in the uneasy position of competing for students. It’s not a role with which the majority of the academic world is entirely comfortable — this climate of competition. And yet, one thing is clear, it’s no longer enough to conduct business as usual. Some schools have been able to maintain their competitive advantage while others have faced steep enrollment declines, a few have been forced to close. Ultimately it may be that only those institutions capable of finding newer and more creative ways of outwitting the competition to attract and retain students will continue to survive.

Regarding the first factor, it all comes down to numbers —— specifically birth rates. Baby boomers swelled the ranks of college attendance from the mid-fifties through the early-eighties. But as the boomers graduated and entered the workforce, many colleges began to suffer enrollment declines or as in TTU’s case, stagnant numbers. (Even so, there have been exceptions, like the Nashville Metro area, where new residents moving in to take advantage of economic growth and opportunity have increased demand.)

The good news is that though overall U.S. birth rates dropped from 1965 to 1980 causing a corresponding dip in many colleges’ enrollments, they rebounded between 1980 and 1993. In fact, annual birth rates between 1989 and 1993 rivaled those recorded at the height of the post-war baby boom. The first of these baby boomer offspring began entering college in the fall of 1998 and their influence will continue to be felt through 2010. In Tennessee, the projected number of high school graduates statewide is expected to rise by 13 percent between 2001 and 2010 (according to the Chronicle for Higher Education’s 2000-2001 Almanac Issue).

More research is needed to examine how population trends will continue to affect Tennessee Tech’s enrollment. And it should be remembered that one of the primary reasons enrollment totals are important to TTU is that funding for higher education is based on these numbers.

The second factor is the face of college prospects has become more diverse and will continue to become so. Because of this, colleges and universities looking to grow their enrollment will have to expand their recruitment efforts among minorities and non-traditional students. Retaining these students may require the development of even more new programs.

For example, as members of the largest segment of the population — baby boomers — enter retirement age they will likely seek out lifetime learning experiences in large numbers. Most will want to continue learning for fun and personal improvement but some may look to pursue second careers (witness the 50-year-old grandmother who recently entered medical school). Colleges and universities offering programs specifically targeted to this group stand to benefit. For Tennessee Tech, which lies just 30 miles from one of the nation’s most popular communities in which to retire (Crossville/Fairfield Glade), the benefits could well be tremendous.

Diversity is also a factor because the racial and ethnic make-up of the U.S. population is undergoing a dramatic shift. In California, for example, members of differing racial and ethnic minority groups now comprise more than half of the state’s population, in effect creating a minority majority. While the shift is not nearly as dramatic in Tennessee, as of 1999 nearly 20 percent of the state’s population or one out of every five residents was a member of a racial or ethnic minority group.

The third, and perhaps most significant, factor is this — technology has forever changed the college recruitment process. Technology may not have necessarily changed the needs of students, but it has helped to create savvier prospects that demand that institutions be more responsive to their needs, whatever they may be.

Today’s college prospects are more sophisticated than the 17-year-olds of even a decade ago. They are informed consumers who know how to comparison shop and, thanks to technology, can do so 24 hours a day. Raised in an era of consumer advocacy, today’s teens quickly recognize poor customer service, bureaucracy and red tape and, thanks to the World Wide Web, even have an outlet for sharing their negative experiences on a broad scale.

They are also impatient — this is the group that taps its foot while waiting on the microwave — not only do they expect that their needs will be met, but they expect them to be met much more quickly.

Technology has also increased competition with the development of a vast array of new options such as on-line degree programs. It has enabled students to learn more than ever about offerings of which they might never have previously even been aware. By increasing competition and making for more discerning customers, it’s ironic that this enhanced technology has ultimately created the need for greater personal attention, increased customer service and more responsiveness from the higher education establishment.

As the pool of traditional students continues to decrease and the threat of competition increases, colleges and universities, including Tennessee Tech, must become more responsive to the needs of current and prospective students just to survive. To thrive and grow, they must move beyond this, reaching out to greater numbers of non-traditional and minority students and work to develop and market their product with the needs and wants of these potential students/customers in mind.

Campus Environs

For Tennessee Technological University, these and other factors have contributed to an enrollment that has either remained steady or suffered modest declines in the last decade. Even more unsettling, during the same time that Tennessee Tech has experienced stable enrollment, some of its primary competitors have seen dramatic growth.

To identify the challenges facing TTU in its struggle to maintain and grow enrollment, a SWOT analysis was conducted with various groups on campus. This feedback was combined with the results of the 1999 Student Satisfaction Inventory conducted by Noel Levitz to provide a clear-cut understanding of the university’s key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Competitors

Though Tennessee Tech University’s competitors differ depending on the market area, the primary ones statewide (according to figures from the ACT Enrollment Information Service) are UT Knoxville and Middle Tennessee State University.

Other regional competitors include UT Chattanooga, East Tennessee State University, UT Martin, Vanderbilt University, Austin Peay State University and the University of Memphis. Tennessee Tech also faces regional competition from a few community colleges including Motlow State, Volunteer State, Roane State and Chattanooga State. (NOTE: While on one level, community colleges are indeed TTU’s competitors, on another many of these two-year institutions are considered partners, collaborating with the university to offer regional programs and prepare students for transferring to four-year colleges.)

To get a clear idea of threats posed by Tennessee Tech’s primary competitors, SWOT analyses based on the perceptions and observations of TTU’s admission counselors will be conducted for nearly all four-year competing institutions located in the state of Tennessee. Further analyses of TTU’s competitors will be on-going with marketing strategies and tactics modified as new information warrants.

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