Independent School Choice

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Independent School Choice Purse Strings or Heart
Strings?
Small Boarding School Association 2003 Annual
Conference Montverde Academy, Florida
David Erdmann Dean of Admission and
Enrollment Rollins College derdmann_at_rollins.edu
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Independent School Choice Purse Strings or Heart
Strings? Power Point Synopsis
Slide 1--Longitudinal study suggests
correlations between applications and stock
market value/national high school
enrollments.   Slides 2, 3Case Study 1
disassembles boarding school inquiry pool. More
than 50 of pool is generated by consortial web
site, but those inquirers fail to produce
applicants. Word-of-mouth inquirers represent
only 9 of inquiry pool but produce 77 of
enrolled group. Suggestion is that quality
experience produces satisfied families who spread
the positive experience through buzz networks to
next generation of applicants. Conversely,
negative experiences produce negative buzz.
  Slides 4--6 Aggressive marketing has
supplemented traditional word-of-mouth
relationships with feeder schools and independent
consultants, growing inquirer pools but reducing
conversions from inquirers to enrolled students.
Cost per enrolled student in terms of both
financial and staff time investment has increased
significantly. Slides 7, 8Millennial families
have different attributes than past generations,
placing increasing demands on schools for better
communication, higher quality educational
delivery, programs that meet individual student
needs.   Slides 8, 9In two separate studies of
school inquiry pools respondents selected most
important choice attributes from a list of 36.
Note consistency in most important attributes and
ranking order.
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Cont. Independent School Choice Purse Strings or
Heart Strings? Power Point Synopsis
Slide 10Schools are distinguishable by certain
frame of reference characteristics, but most
schools present the same descriptors in telling
their story. While these descriptors often
position against public education they fail to
position against other independent schools.
Prospective families have difficulty
differentiating schools on the basis of these
descriptors and depend on location, specific
programs in schools (outdoor education,
athletic/fine arts programs, etc.), financial aid
offers, and reputation as choice
drivers.   Slides 11--14Financial aid
recipients often represent more than 30 of
boarding school enrollments, and educational cost
represents a major factor in school choice for
these families. School financial aid budgets are
now inadequate to meet demonstrated need of all
interested candidates. A study of financial aid
awarding practices in 25 schools reveals wide
variances in awarding practices for low, medium,
and high need students.   Slides 15--16Beyond
financial aid and ability to pay, school choice
is driven by many factors including high academic
quality and supportive community expectations,
location, and niche programs. Again, satisfied
families producing positive word-of-mouth is
critical to school enrollment success. While
most schools report high conversions of visiting
students to enrolling students, the challenge
remains that of increasing student/family
interest to the point where they make the
investment to visit campus.   Slide
18References include two articles by David
Erdmann on making the case for independent
schools and the financial aid challenges schools
now face and how to cope with them.
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Benchmark Trends Annual Percentage Changes
Using 1985 as Base Year
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
-10
-20
-30
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Inquiry Pool Conversion Case Study 1

• Totals Conversion Rate
• Inquirers 1450
• Applicants 135 9
• Accepts 80 59
• Enroll 57 71
• Non-Consortium
• Inquirers 720
• Applicants 134 19
• Accepts 80 59
• Enroll 57 71
• Word-of-Mouth
• Inquirers 130
• Applicants 75 58
• Accepts 52 69
• Enroll 44 85

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All You Need Is Love

• Word-of-mouth produces
• 9 of inquiry pool
• 56 of applicant pool
• 65 of accept pool
• 77 of enrolled pool

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Admission Funnel The Really Good Old Days
Universe
Word of Mouth
Inquirers
Visits
Applicants
Accepts
Enrolled
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Generational Changes
Boomer
Childhood Xers Childhood
Millennial Childhood
1945 1965 1965
1985 1985 Today Child Nurturing
relaxing under protective
tightening Family Stability high,
starting to fall falling
low, starting to
rise School Emphasis excellence
liberation
standards Racial Goal
integration
assertion diversity
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Millennial Families

• Achievement focused
• Spend more time together
• Display zero-tolerance toward misbehavior
• Prefer structure, emphasis on basics
• Seek protection against physical and moral
  danger

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Important Attributes in Choice Process
Case Study 3 Teacher quality Academic
support College prep curriculum Class
size Academic rigor Safety Strict drug/alcohol
policies Financial aid availability Activities
Case Study 2 Teacher quality Academic
support College prep curriculum Class
size Academic rigor Safety Strict drug/alcohol
policies Financial aid availability College
placement success
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The Positioning Conundrum

• Frame of Reference Who are we?
• Independent school Coed/single sex
• All boarding Pre-prep/upper school
• Boarding/day

• Parity How good are we?
• Quality faculty
• Curricular breadth and depth
• High academic expectations
• Small classes
• Strong sense of community
• Supportive/nurturing environment
• Strong connections between adults and students
  

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The pull of the purse strings

• Public school competition cost
• Day school competition cost
• Boarding school competition financial aid
• Affordability risk perceived value

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Low Need Student Financial Aid Award Practices
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Moderate Need Student Financial Aid Award
Practices
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High Need Student Financial Aid Award Practices
18

• Millennial/parity lessons
• academic excellence
• supportive/nurturing community
• optimize individual potential outcomes

• Differentiator lessons
• location (Aunt Tillie factor)
• niche program

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The Last Waltz Case Study 4 Why did you select
this school?

• Academics curriculum, quality teaching
• Personal attention and support
• Small classes
• Location

• Reputation
• She really wanted to go there after visiting.

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References
  Independent School Choice Purse Strings or
Heart Strings? SBSA 2003 Annual Conference, Power
Point www.erdmannconsulting.com   Financial Aid
and Independent Schools Doing More with
Less www.nais.org, Resources and Statistics,
Resources, Financial Aid Management http//www.nai
s.org/rsrcs/resources.cfm   The Four Ps of
Healthy Enrollment Making the Case for
Independent Schools in Uncertain
Times Independent School, Spring
2002 www.nais.org/pubs/ismag.cfm   Essex
Institute for Independent School Enrollment
Management http//www.essexinstitute.com   Optimiz
ing Enrollment in Uncertain Times The future
aint what it used to be TABS 2002 Annual
Meeting, Power Point www.erdmannconsulting.com