1

The 21st Century Women’s College: Redefining Our Future

Discussion with the Board of Trustees

of the College of New Rochelle

December 12, 2008

Susan Lennon, Women’s College Coalition

Pat McGuire, Trinity Washington University

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Women and Higher Education

• Women as the majority enrollment everywhere• Do women truly have access to educational opportunity?• Who are the women who continue to lack equality of

access? • Access = woman-centered pedagogy, scheduling, family support

services, campus climate, leadership opportunities• Social class, race/ethnicity, immigration status, language

• National discussion of college access and affordability is a women’s education issue! (Also national discussion of the economic recovery and Obama jobs program…)

• Strategic challenges and opportunities in the mission to underserved women

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Mission and Strategy

• Is the historic mission relevant to the educational needs of women in the 21st Century?

• How does an institution redefine mission to align more completely with the forecast of educational needs

• What kind of strategic alignment of programs and services will be necessary to ensure the vitality of the mission?

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Megatrends Influence Mission

• The World Is Flat … the Women are Everywhere, break free from traditional market thinking

• 24/7/365 Learning and Communication, need to get beyond campus/classroom based pedagogies

• Paradigm Shifts in perceptions of race, but where is social class in the mix?

• Affordability and Access National Dialogue… how can small private colleges afford to be the primary gateways for low income students?

• Inflection Points: where does the paradigm shift truly occur in the dialogue of mission and market, strategy and institutional future?

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Key Data Projections

From NCES

Collegiate Enrollments

to 2017Projections of Education Statistics to 2017

CONTINUED ENROLLMENT GROWTH PROJECTED TO 2017…WITH LARGEST GROWTH PROJECTED IN 25-34 YEAR OLD AGE GROUP… AND AT GRADUATE AND FIRST PROFESSIONAL LEVELS…

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Largest enrollment increases projected for Hispanic, Black and Asian students; slightly faster growth in public than private institutions

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Women will earn more associate and bachelor’s degrees….

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Graduate Degree fields are fastest growth areas…

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Data Snapshot of Catholic Women’s Colleges

Note: All Data From IPEDS, the Federal Data System

Data sets provided on the following slides are neither determinative of strategy nor intended to be the definitive statement of reality. They are simply provided to inform the discussion about mission and strategy at this moment in time.

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CATHOLIC WOMEN'S COLLEGES - ENROLLMENT TRENDS/FULL-TIME 2004-2007

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

TRINITY

STJOE

MSM

STMWOOD

STMARYS

COLLNO

TRED

STBEN

STKATE

COLSTM

AR

NEWROCHELLE

URSULINE

CARLOW

ALVERNO

MTM

ARY

GEORGIAN

2004 FT ENROLL 2005 FT 2006 FT 2007 FT

IPEDS does not distinguish between traditional full-time undergraduates and adult students who may qualify as full-time according to their credit loads. So, these results include both populations. Increases or declines in the results could be affected by adult enrollments, not just the traditional women’s college.

Of the 15 institutions presented, 3 show at least 2 years worth of modest increases, 3 show at least two years of downward trends, and 9 show relatively flat trends.

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CATHOLIC WOMEN'S COLLEGES - ENROLLMENT TRENDS/PART-TIME 2004-2007

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

TRINITY

STJOE

MSM

STMW

OOD

STMARYS

COLLNOTRED

STBEN

STKATE

COLSTMAR

NEWROCHELLE

URSULINE

CARLOW

ALVERNO

MTM

ARY

GEORGIAN

2004 PT ENROLL 2005 PT 2006 PT 2007 PT

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CATHOLIC WOMEN'S COLLEGES ENROLLMENT TRENDS:

TOTAL ENROLLMENT 2004-2007

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

TRINITY

STJOE

MSM

STMW

OOD

STMARYS

COLLNOTRED

STBEN

STKATE

COLSTM

AR

NEWROCHELLE

URSULINE

CARLOW

ALVERNO

MTM

ARY

GEORG

IAN

2004 TOTAL 2005 TOTAL 2006 TOT 2007TOTAL

2 show modest upward trends, 1 shows downward trends, 12 are relatively flat

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CATHOLIC WOMEN'S COLLEGES COMPARED TO FORMER CWC NOW COED

ENROLLMENT TRENDS: TOTAL ENROLLMENT 2004-2007

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

TRINITY

STJOE

MSM

STMW

OOD

STMARYS

COLLNOTRED

STBEN

STKATE

COLSTM

AR

NEWROCHELLE

URSULINE

CARLOW

ALVERNO

MTM

ARY

GEORG

IAN

BARRY

VILLAJULIE

NAZARETH

MM

TMAN

MANHATTANVL

FONTBONNE

MARYGRO

VE

OHIODO

M

GW

YNEDD

HOLYFAM

MERCYHURST

MARYM

TVA

2004 TOTAL 2005 TOTAL 2006 TOT 2007TOTAL

FORMER CWCS2 show modest upward trends, 1 shows downward trends, 12 are relatively flat

2 show downward trends, 4 modestly upward, 6 relatively flat

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CATHOLIC WOMEN'S COLLEGES COMPARED TO FORMER CWC NOW COED

ENROLLMENT TRENDS: % OF WOMEN IN UNDERGRAD ENROLLMENT 2004-2007

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

TRINITY

STJOE

MSM

STMW

OOD

STMARYS

COLLNOTRED

STBEN

STKATE

COLSTM

AR

NEWROCHELLE

URSULINE

CARLOW

ALVERNO

MTM

ARY

GEORG

IAN

BARRY

VILLAJULIE

NAZARETH

MM

TMAN

MANHATTANVL

FONTBONNE

MARYGRO

VE

OHIODO

M

GW

YNEDD

HOLYFAM

MERCYHURST

MARYM

TVA

2005% W 2006%W 2007%W

8 of 12 are more than 70% female, and this holds true in a larger study of former women’s colleges now coed --- women remain the significant majority in most of these institutions.

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COMPARISON CATH WMS COLL AND FORMER CWC 2007 FT UG RACE/ETHNICITY

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000

4500

07MNRA 07MB 07MAI 07MAS 07MH 07MW 07MUNK07WNRA 07WB 07WAI 07WAS 07WH 07WW 07WUNK

Majority Minority: Trinity, Mt. St. Mary’s (LA), New Rochelle)……Barry, Marygrove

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CATHOLIC WOMEN'S COLLEGES COMPARED TO FORMER CWC NOW COED

ENROLLMENT TRENDS: 6-YEAR COMPLETION RATES 2004-2007

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

TRINITY

STJOE

MSM

STMW

OOD

STMARYS

COLLNOTRED

STBEN

STKATE

COLSTM

AR

NEWROCHELLE

URSULINE

CARLOW

ALVERNO

MTM

ARY

GEORG

IAN

BARRY

VILLAJULIE

NAZARETH

MM

TMAN

MANHATTANVL

FONTBONNE

MARYGRO

VE

OHIODO

M

GW

YNEDD

HOLYFAM

MERCYHURST

MARYM

TVA

06 GR 07 GR

6-year completion rates are lowest for Majority Minority institutions – many factors contribute to the longer period of time that students need to complete degrees, including changing from full-time to part-time status

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CATHOLIC WOMEN'S COLLEGES COMPARED TO FORMER CWC NOW COED

FINANCIAL AID: PERCENTAGE PELL, STATE, INSTITUTIONAL 2007

0

25

50

75

100

07PELL% 07STATE% 07INST%

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SOCIA

L SCI,

1406

HEALTH, 1

401

PSYCH, 123

0

BUA, 115

5

VISUAL/

PERF ART,

937

LIB A

RTS GEN, 8

57

ENGL,

791

EDU, 729

BIO, 6

73IN

TER

DISC

P, 346

COM

/JRNL,

340

LANG

, 338

ETHNIC, 3

24

HIST, 3

18

PHYSICL

SCI, 21

1

MATH

, 208

PUB ADM

, 195

PHILO

S/REL,

157

CMPTR/IN

FO S

C, 91

FAM H

UM S

CI, 73

NATL RESOUR, 6

6

AGRI,

45

LEG

AL STUDIE

S, 43

SECURITY, 4

2

ARCH, 38

ENGR, 3

5

PARKS/REC, 2

5

THEOLO

GY, 1

3

COM

S/TECH, 1

2

SCI TECH, 2

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

COMPLETIONS 2007-2008

Undergraduate Degrees Awarded, Women’s Colleges, 2007-2008Source: IPEDS

12, 101 degrees in 30 disciplines

76% ARE IN 9 areas:

Social Sciences

Health

Psychology

Business

Visual/Performing Arts

Liberal Arts General Studies

English

Education

Biology

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ENROLLMENT DYNAMIC:MARKETINGRECRUITINGADMISSIONRETENTION

ENROLLMENT DYNAMIC:MARKETINGRECRUITINGADMISSIONRETENTION

PRODUC

TS

PROGRA

MS/

SERV

ICES

MARKETS/AUD

IENCES

INTERN

AL/EXTERNAL

SALES TECHNIQUES/STRATEGIESADMISSIONS

Ultimately, the success of mission depends upon astute strategic and operational planning for all components of the enrollment pyramid: understanding market characteristics and motivations, aligning markets with programs, and employing the most innovative/effective sales techniques possible; It’s not about “if we have a great mission they will come,” but rather

- WHO will thrive with this great mission

- WHAT do they need to learn through our programs, and

- HOW do we promote our mission and programs to the world…”

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What’s Next?

• In 2025, what is the profile of the women who will inhabit CNR’s campus? How will they be different from 2008?

• What programs will they need, what will they aspire to achieve with their CNR degrees?

• What changes to the mission will be important for CNR to consider in the next five years?

• How does CNR align strategic thinking about mission/program/markets to capture greater market share among women?