On why private nonprofits want to grow: 1. The cost disease is real and the cost base grows every year, particularly for healthcare, physical plant, and utilities. Also, tenure and promotion often bring base salary adjustments. 2. College leadership is based on what you build and change. Not what you maintain. Executive leaders want to make their case for success, and keeping status quo isn’t going to impress the next search committee. 3. These institutions often have fundraising boards. Those boards are populated by business executives that are used to seeing improvements measured by things like enrollment, new product lines, etc. So there is a bias toward the new rather than the stable. There are surely other reasons but these three seem solid in my experience.
Exactly. It's interesting to see the push to grow. I think you are right about all of these. I suspect number 2 is the biggest driver and the most problematic in my opinion. I fear a disconnect between what the executives want for themselves in terms of career advancement and what their institutions need - namely stability with sustainable revenue growth to cover number 1.
I think adding programs isn't an attempt to grow, but a knee-jerk effort to get more numbers as enrollment falls in other programs.
On why private nonprofits want to grow:
1. The cost disease is real and the cost base grows every year, particularly for healthcare, physical plant, and utilities. Also, tenure and promotion often bring base salary adjustments.
2. College leadership is based on what you build and change. Not what you maintain. Executive leaders want to make their case for success, and keeping status quo isn’t going to impress the next search committee.
3. These institutions often have fundraising boards. Those boards are populated by business executives that are used to seeing improvements measured by things like enrollment, new product lines, etc. So there is a bias toward the new rather than the stable.
There are surely other reasons but these three seem solid in my experience.
Exactly. It's interesting to see the push to grow. I think you are right about all of these. I suspect number 2 is the biggest driver and the most problematic in my opinion. I fear a disconnect between what the executives want for themselves in terms of career advancement and what their institutions need - namely stability with sustainable revenue growth to cover number 1.
The Rosenberg book is: Whatever it is, I’m against it.
Thanks, Josh. It is a great book title and I keep screwing it up. I even had Brian Rosenberg on a podcast and I messed up the title.