(01-29-2018 11:18 AM)Tom in Lazybrook Wrote:  

(01-29-2018 05:27 AM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote:  

(01-28-2018 01:51 PM)LostInSpace Wrote:  La Salle is in serious financial jeopardy. Prior to the current academic year enrollment has been in steady decline and competition for students is gettting more challenging as high school enrollment in La Salle’s primary recruitment geography is stagnant (public schools) to declining (Catholic schools). They’re selling off art and closing their museum to raise money. However, I know for a fact that La Salle is not contemplating dropping to D3. That option was the result of the consultants making sure all options are reviewed.

La Salle is really caught in a bind. They don’t have the money to have A10 level facilities or coaching salaries which means that they are generally not competitive. That’s especially true in men’s basketball where they’ve had one NCCA bid in 22 years in the A10. Moving back to the MAAC would save them some money and they’d be more competitive. However, it would hinder their ability to increase the number of students enrolling from Mid-Atlantic states which the administration sees as crucial to the university’s survival.

I think sticking it out in the A10 is the most likely outcome for now, but this is an issue that isn’t going to go away for La Salle absent tens of millions of dollars in donations that are extremely unlikely to materialize in the near future.

What's utterly shocking to me is how invisible they are locally when it comes to advertising. You don't see them on billboards, you don't hear about them on the radio, and you don't see them on television. Go online, and they aren't popping up on ads.

Some area schools, like Widener, Wilmington, DeSales, and even Holy Family, who all struggle(d) for eyes and filling seats, started to fixate on recruiting the non-traditional populations, non-completers, and working professionals. Those were already schools like Temple and Peirce's bread and butter, as well as the county community colleges. La Salle just isn't there.

I suspect they just still believe in the traditional recruiting methods. Go to high schools, set up a booth, and talk to kids. Want a Masters? You'll find them at a booth at other schools' fairs, traditional job fairs, and the like. They still utilize some of the traditional methods for graduate program enrollment. I was looking at MBA programs some time ago, and while most of the majors still expected you to go the route of the GRE/GMAT, GPA requirements, etc., some of the others waived these requirements, including Villanova and St. Joe's...who have fantastic graduate programs and are still extremely competitive in certain disciplines. When reviewing La Salle, it was like I was back in the 90's or early 00's, and you were applying the same way for them as if you were applying to Wharton, Rutgers, or Smeal...schools who "need" the exams because their recruitment base is international, and applicant pool is massive, and STILL don't care if you're an hourly or in the c-suite, where the test can be waived based on experience.

It's not looking good there. They slashed tuition costs, but, that's not something sustainable. Next would be forcing out the lifer staff/admin employees who clog salary lines...they don't go screaming to the Chronicle to out the awful conditions of a place like the faculty do, but you don't see profs working in operations keeping the school functioning daily. It can't stay that way.

LaSalle is the THIRD most recognized Catholic school in Philadelphia. They just don't have a product that differentiates very well beyond that either. If you want a public education in Philly, you can go to Temple. If you want a private education, you can go to Nova, or St Josephs or Drexel (which, for whatever reason, has done an excellent job in gaining and retaining enrollment). LaSalle will survive as an institution, but they're really not making the case that what they provide is really unique. Completely smothered in every direction. What is their niche? What is their target market?

The real up and coming institution in that metro is Drexel.

Drexel's kind of a mess organizationally. They reorganize their programs frequently and when they do, they tend to shed faculty and administrators because they feel they're always in peril. Drexel's not the kind of place where they're getting drilled in enrollment, though they do try VERY hard to keep up with Penn, Penn State, and Lehigh, but, they seem inconsistent. From time to time, they go all-in on transfer programs and articulation agreements with area community colleges...then drop them.

Drexel's also known for being a bit of a scrooge with the kids with financial aid. They don't exactly give much of it out, and they lose quite a lot of students that way.

They seem fine now...I suspect that a decade later, they'll be working with the 2-year schools again because they did something they shouldn't have internally. That's the Drexel people seem to know around here.

The ones who are growing are Thomas Jefferson and Villanova. Oh, and Penn and Temple...but that's nothing new with those two, basically buying everything around their respective campuses. UPenn just took over Princeton HealthCare System. UPenn's the real monster.