The Redgate Read On Online Learning

There is no better time than RIGHT NOW to begin the journey to earning your degree.  That’s right!  Even though we are living in a time of economic uncertainity, earning your credentials, refining your skills, or learning a new trade is often best accomplished during such seasons.  Why?  Because during these times of economic turmoil, employers are counting on the most highly skilled employees to keep their business moving forward, government generally looks highly on education, and people, in general, just sense a need to be “at the top of their game.” 

There are still many companies who continue funding their Tuition Assistance Programs even during these tough times.  Did you know that one out of every two adult learners are supported by some type of tuition assistance plan?  Here is a “snapshot” of how these tuition assistance or tuition reimbursement programs work:

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You heard it here — there are a number of private colleges in the United States who are facing insolvency and financial hardship during these troubling economic times.   Banks and homebuilders aren’t the only ones facing financial hardships.  Lack of endowment and skyrocketing tuition costs, coupled with less than stellar retention rates, are causing some colleges to consider drastic measures. 

Although for some schools this is bleak news, there is always an opportunity — a silver lining around the storm clouds –and that opportunity is called “consolidation.”   For some in higher ed, this will be unimaginable or, at least, difficult to swallow.  But for those who come from a financially struggling institution, it might be the only viable lifeline.

Here is a great article called “The Coming College Bubble”: Read the rest of this entry »

Here is a picture of yours truly presenting at TARGUSinfo’s Online Lead Quality Summit which was held recently in Las Vegas.  Okay, so are you asking yourself why am I holding a basketball?  The answer is quite simple.  I was making an analogy between basketball and lead scoring.  You see, lead scoring is a FUNDAMENTAL in lead management.  This is true whether you are in the edu space, retail, automotive, financial or any other sector.  

I am a big college sports fan and student particularily of the game of basketball.  This past season, the Memphis Tigers had a team loaded with talent and for the most part breezed through their regular season and conferenc championship.  But througout the season their one achilles heal was free throw shooting.  To any player, coach, or fan of the game, free throw shooting is a key fundamental.  During their championship run, Memphis just could not make free throws.  They were one of the worst and, at times the worst team in the country for making free throws.  Interestingly enough, they shot free throw fairly well throughout the NCAA tournament up until the championship game. 

On April 8th, in the National Championship Game against Kansas, Memphis led by nine points with 2:12 left in the game.  The game was arguably over.   Then the team that came into the game shooting a miserable 61 percent from the charity stripe did what they had done from the line all year — they missed them.  Memphis missed 4 crucial free throws in the final 1:15 of regulation and ended up losing in overtime.  It is interesting to note that Kansas shot their free throws amazingly well in that last game.

So, how close was Memphis to cutting down the nets and winning the National Championship?  They were 15 feet away.

The analogy is how close are you to implementing a successful online lead management program with your school?  You could be just a lead scoring model away.

Are you aware that fewer than 40% of American adults have earned a higher education credential — associates degree or higher?  Compare this with the projection that by 2025 countries such as South Korea, Japan, and Canada expect 55% of their adult populations will have earned higher education degrees.   Is there need to be concerned?  You bet there is.

If the United States doesn’t want to fall too far behind educationally, it will have to hurry.  By one estimate that I read, the United States will have to increase degree production by almost 40% annually and increase the number of degrees awarded by 16 million annually over the next 17 years.  That, my friend, is a tall order.

How can this all be accomplished?  A more significant number of adults need to be introduced to higher learning.  With the recent global economic crisis along with the fact that the Department of Labor reports that 90% of the fastest growing jobs require some form of post secondary education, it makes sense for a sizable segment of adults to return to school.  Combine that with the advances and advantages in online learning and we have a recipe for success. 

If we are to remain competitive in the global market and a leader in higher education, we must be a leader in online adult higher education.  It’s that simple.

If you listened to the debate last evening you heard both candidates promise that education was going to be a priority in their adminstration.  This is good news as long as it wasn’t an empty campaign promise although I do feel that an emphasis on education will have to be a key component of any upswing to the current economic state of affairs. 

There was a great article in Time today titled, ”Colleges Get Hit By Credit Crunch” that highlights how colleges and universities are facing this current crisis.  Here is an excerpt from the article:

“American universities have long been the envy of the world, with seemingly bottomless purses to bankroll cutting-edge research, top-notch faculty and construction projects galore. And fiscally speaking, these schools have it better than most businesses in the U.S.: multiple sources of revenue, including parents willing to pay tuition through the nose amid all kinds of money trouble, have often kept these institutions insulated from economic downturns. But in a financial crisis of this magnitude, even the ivory towers are getting hit - and in more ways than one. Not only have Bank of America, Citigroup and some two dozen other lenders cut back on or stopped issuing student loans, but the market meltdown has left many colleges scrambling to come up enough cash to cover payroll and other near-term necessities.

Last week, nearly 1,000 colleges were told they couldn’t access most of the $9.3 billion sitting in a short-term fund that had been offering slightly higher returns than U.S. treasuries. To prevent a run on the fund - 12% of which was invested in mortgage-backed securities - the fund’s trustee resigned and froze withdrawals so it could liquidate the assets and distribute the proceeds in an orderly manner. The same thing happened to another 200 schools with $1 billion in an intermediate-term fund. Given that the schools will get about half of their money by the end of this year and the rest by 2011, there’s a severe cash crunch for many small schools, some of which had up to half their liquid assets in the short-term fund.”

For those wholly online colleges or those with a significant online presence, this downturn could play in their favor.   As public institutions will have to deal with state budget cuts and increases in tuition and private schools struggle with cash crunches and limited endowments, those with a strong online presence could leverage their built in efficiencies and instructional models to tap into existing markets that in the past had not considered online education as an option.