What is Your College Worth to a Prospective Student?

Understanding all of the factors related to an institution’s return on investment, what value does your institution deliver for the costs your students pay in tuition?  It is likely that the role you play in delivering benefits in exchange for the remuneration you receive in tuition and fees is dramatic.  So why not frame that answer for them in clear terms?

Every institution should be articulating a statement of value for prospective students:  completing the value equation for them so that they understand the specific benefits they can expect to receive.  It is understood that we can’t guarantee results or outcomes, that we don’t know exactly what each student’s lifetime earnings will be, but we can certainly illustrate this for them in a way that helps them understand that there are two sides to the equation.  It’s not just cost, it’s far beyond that.  It’s the potential for a long term return on the investment they make today.

It’s pretty easy to go to any institution’s website and determine what it costs to go to attend and graduate. But how many institutional websites are laying out a thoughtful way to calculate return on those dollars? Articulating value, certainly with the caveats that results are never guaranteed, becomes an important opportunity for the higher education marketing team.