The Math Nobody Talks About

The decision to transform a struggling college campus is the right decision for the community. It is often the wrong decision, personally and financially, for the people who have to make it.

That is the problem. Not enrollment. Not demographics. Not the discount rate. The problem is that every person in the room where the decision gets made has a personal reason to delay it. And delay is what kills campuses.

The president earning $200,000 to $350,000 with a campus residence has a personal incentive to keep the institution open as long as possible. The board members who joined to help their alma mater don't want to be the ones who "killed the college." The tenured professor with a mortgage in a town with no other colleges can't afford the uncertainty. The maintenance worker who kept the boiler running for 20 years has no safety net. The community wants their college to stay a college because that's what they know.

Every person in the room has a reason to delay. And delay is what kills campuses. Not the enrollment cliff. Not the demographics. Delay.

A campus that transforms proactively, with 18 months of planning and its best people still on staff, has a fundamentally different outcome than one that transforms reactively after the money is gone. The difference is almost entirely explained by how long the decision was delayed.

The way out: name it. Say it out loud in the boardroom. Then address it. Transition plans for presidents. Cover for boards through external assessment. Individual paths for faculty. Job guarantees for staff. Community design sessions so the town builds what comes next instead of having it done to them.

The campuses that transform successfully are the ones where someone was brave enough to say: "This is going to be hard for all of us individually. And it is still the right thing to do."

Read the full piece on our blog.

jeff@transformlearning.ai