According to a 2009 article published in Science by sociologist Dan Clawson, state and local governments have significantly reduced their investment in higher education over the past few decades. Thirty years ago, these entities contributed $3.99 for every dollar that students and parents paid for higher education. However, today, the contribution has plummeted to just $1.76 for every dollar paid by students and parents.
Enrollment:
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center‘s most recent enrollment figures for the autumn of 2022 portray a gloomy picture for higher education following the epidemic. Even during what many college administrators have referred to as a “normal” fall on campuses, enrollment fell by 1.1 percent overall. Additionally, even though the decline was less than the previous two Covid-afflicted fall semesters, colleges in all sectors have still lost more than a million students since the fall of 2019.
Revenue:
Michael T. Nietzel, president emeritus of Missouri State University states that net tuition income at two-year colleges fell by 6.3% between 2020 and 2021, while it fell by 2.2% at private nonprofit four-year institutions and 1.6% at public four-year institutions. The four-year for-profit sector was the only institution to experience growth over those two years, with an 8% increase. In comparison to 62% of predominantly residential campuses and 48% of nonresidential institutions, over two-thirds of extremely residential colleges experienced declines in net tuition revenue.
In addition to sharp decline in public funding and tuition revenue, there are major demographic shifts, constraints on international revenue sources and rapid switch to online learning brought about by external factors and global events beyond our control. These have substantially changed the core functionality and infrastructure of academia across the world.
Budgetary planning for higher education institutions has never been an easy process. Most institutions remain uncertain about enrollment numbers, and the increased costs of operations post COVID-19 impacts. This presents quite a quandary for decision makers and by recognizing the need for strategic planning and reevaluating priorities, institutions can make informed decisions that will benefit their bottom line and the overall success of their institution.
- Strategize long term and short term goals
- Embrace innovative solutions
- Invest in technology and digital platforms
Leveraging technology to offset the rising cost
Modernizing the system, making investments in cutting-edge equipment, tools, and training, and normalizing automation should be the top priorities for institutions. Speeding up hiring, automating application processes and reducing manual work for staff and faculty is the need of the hour. Sanmita Admissions is one such software that has been forethought and developed to meet the challenges faced by the higher ed. industry. Its intelligent features are designed to save time and effort by 50%. With its cutting-edge technology, including diversity and inclusion filters, tickler/reminder systems, templates, grading systems, and data mining – it lessens the workload for a number of departments at any higher education institution.
Sanmita Admissions has gotten excellent feedback since its debut and is constantly expanding its feature set that make it more dynamic and customizable to suit the processes of the institution. This web tool is the only true automated solution due to its simplicity, lack of dependence on IT, lack of requirement for software downloads, and lack of licensing fees or contracts.
Sanmita is an award winning agency known for its strategy, design and technology expertise. While we are truly techno-led by design and operations, our team comprises professionals who have served higher education institutions in prominent positions as decision makers and problem solvers.
To know more about Sanmita Admissions, you can schedule a demo with our experts.