(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.