Don’t Gamble with Compliance:

Recruitment Marketing Under the

New State Regulations

Stacy Snow, Director of Marketing, Mizzou Online, University of Missouri

Jim Fong, Director, Center for Research & Consulting, UPCEA

Richard Garrett, Managing Director, Eduventures, Inc.

Amy Pikalek, Director of Marketing & Communications, Continuing

Education, Outreach & E-Learning

UW-Extension

Richard Garrett

The SituationThe Situation

Jim Fong

The Future???The Future???

Key Findings from 2011 UPCEA/WCET Study

Extensive Institutional Reach. Institutions average serving students in 34 states. 46% of

institutions plan to seek approval in all U.S. states, territories and protectorates.

Many Have Not Applied. Most institutions (97%) have taken some steps to address state

authorization, but 69% of institutions have yet to apply for approval in any state.

Many Misunderstand Regulations. Of those who have yet to apply, 19% believe that the

regulation will be repealed. While this is true at the federal level, state regulations are

still in place. 10% believe that they are exempt, which seems higher than possible based

on our knowledge of the regulations.

August 18, 2011 (c) UPCEA (c) WCET

on our knowledge of the regulations.

Many Lack Funds to Address. Of those who have yet to apply, many are hampered by

budget restriction, such as lack of staff (29%) and believe that the cost is too high (15%).

The Costs are Significant. Two-thirds of the institutions have yet to estimate the costs of

compliance. For those that have estimated the costs, they estimated an average of

$143,884 and a median of $78,793. This does not include staff time.

Institutions are Planning to Pull Out of States. 59% of respondents identified states from

which they will probably not accept students. Most frequent: MA (29), MN (16), AR (15).

Key Findings from 2011UPCEA/WCET StudySignificant Revenue is at Stake. On average, the revenue generated by out-of-state

students represents 18% of the revenue for the institution’s distance education

operations. The “trimmed mean” income at stake was $2,898,595 (note: we had to

remove one very large outlier) with a median of $475,769. The amount and

percentage of total revenue that is at stake varies greatly by type of institution.

Thousands of Students Affected. 111 institutions provided estimates of how many

students they might not be able to serve because of state regulations. On average, the

institutions stated that the number of students that they might not be able to serve is

173, with a low of 0 and a high of 4,000. The institutions responding to this question

estimated that they will not be able to serve a total of about 19,000 students.

August 18, 2011 (c) UPCEA (c) WCET

estimated that they will not be able to serve a total of about 19,000 students.

Smaller Colleges May Suffer. With fewer students in a state, the cost-per-student may

have a bigger impact on smaller colleges.

Call for Action. Open-ended comments can be summarized: continued confusion about

the nuances of regulations from state-to-state; frustration with difficult processes that

seem duplicative of accreditation, unnecessary, and expensive; feeling that there is

little value added with the regulations hindering the ability to serve students; and a

call for consistency among regulations or reciprocity among states.

1 to 10

18%51+

22%

Don't

know/Not

applicable

1%

n=215

Excluding your state, in how

many other U.S. states,

territories or protectorates

do you offer online or

correspondence courses?

35

35

34

A private non-profit 4-year institution (n=52)

A public 4-year institution (n=106)

Average (All)

Average number of states

Institutions Serve Many States

Sixty percent of respondents serve students in at least 30 states, with the

average being 34 states. Not surprisingly, the largest institutions serve the

most states and community colleges, the fewest. As can be seen on the next

slide, bi-modal differences on the number of states served by institutional size

is clear in that smaller institutions serve fewer states while larger institutions

serve more states. Given the small sample sizes for for-profits, trade or

technical schools or other, they have been combined into the “Other/No

Answer” category.

11 to 20

9%

21 to 30

12%

31 to 40

14%

41 to 50

24%

August 18, 2011 (c) UPCEA (c) WCET

28

32

23

37

36

29

35

0 10 20 30 40

Under 5,000 (n=61)

5,001 to 10,000 (n=42)

10,001 to 20,000 (n=40)

More than 20,000 (n=55)

Other/No answer (n=15)

A community college (n=34)

A private non-profit 4-year institution (n=52)

1. Marketing Implications for the

Future

• Institution will need to calculate the cost of applying and complying from both a business and branding standpoint. (see ND spreadsheet for business analysis)for business analysis)

• If all 4,000+ institutions apply to all fifty states and seven protectorates and territories, an unexpected marketing advantage/disadvantage could occur.

2. Marketing Implication for the

Future: Shooting the Messenger

• [Play Audio #1 ]

3. What it might look like in print.

What it might look like in web.

The Future is HERE

Some implications of not servicing

students

• Complaints filed against the institution with

the accrediting agency or DOE.

• Blogging and viral complaints. Facebook• Blogging and viral complaints. Facebook

complaints.

• Negative impact to the brand.

Other Impacts

• Pressure from international providers?

• Marketing globally rather than to the U.S.

• Will military students be given special privilege for DE or be in the same mess as other students?same mess as other students?

• What if students move to a “non-friendly” state?

• Border students?

• Some niche programs, despite having no competition or alternatives in the state, may not be able to serve residents.

Anticipated Impact of Federally

Mandated State Authorization of DE(What could happen at the state level?)

Present

• Progressive institutions already in compliance

2 – 5 Years

• All or most institutions must come into

6+ years

• Established institutions already in compliance. compliance

• Limited applications > short processing queue

into compliance

• Flood of applications, limited staff >long queue

compliance.

• New applications only > resume normal processing queue

If no grace period,

previously authorized

institutions have market

advantage

Amy Pikalek and Stacy Snow

Today’s ChallengesToday’s Challenges

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The University of Wisconsin-

Extension:

A System-wide Response

Amy J. Pikalek

University of Wisconsin-Extension

Continuing Education, Outreach & E-Learning

䔠ϙ

Who We Are

• The University of Wisconsin System is one of the largest systems of public higher education in the country, serving more than 182,000 students each year and employing more than 32,000 faculty and staff statewide.faculty and staff statewide.

• The UW System is made up of:

– 13 four-year universities,

– 13 freshman-sophomore UW Colleges campuses, and

– statewide UW-Extension.

Who we are (cont.)

Continuing Education, Outreach & E-Learning

• One of four divisions of UW-Extension

• Enrollments in all 50 states• Enrollments in all 50 states

What We Do

• Design and Development of online synchronous

and asynchronous courses

• Academic Advanced Distributed Learning Co-

Lab: an applied research and development teamLab: an applied research and development team

• Information Technology

• Communications and Marketing

• Student Services

• Online Collaborative Degree Programs

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Why we do it

• Jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree are projected to grow at a faster rate than the overall job market.

The UW System Growth

Agenda:

• Wisconsin ranks 35 out of

The Need: Our Response:

faster rate than the overall job market.

• From 2004-14 jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree in Wisconsin are projected to grow by 18.7%.

• Wisconsin ranks 35 out of 50 states in the attainment of bachelor’s degrees.

• Goal: produce 72,000 more four-year college

graduates by 2017.

Bachelor of Science in Sustainable

Management (SMGT): A Case Study

SMGT is a collaboration among UW-Extension and

4 University of Wisconsin campuses: UW-Parkside,

UW-River Falls, UW-Stout, and UW-Superior.

Received Board of Regents approval June 2009. Received Board of Regents approval June 2009.

Enrolled the first students August 2009.

• Average age: 37

• 97% are adult returning students

• 50% male; 50% female

• Out-of-state enrollments: 25%

How Were We first Impacted by

Program Integrity Rules?

• Decisions made by UW System office

• No out-of-state marketing

– Purely nationwide was okay– Purely nationwide was okay

– Media release distribution affected

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Then and Now…

• Enrollment up 66% over ‘09

• 10 states; 2 countries

Markets included:

• Enrollment up 36% over fall 2010

September 2010 September 2011

Markets included:

• Madison/Milwaukee

• Minneapolis

• Chicago

• Nationwide (Google)

Markets included:

• Madison/Milwaukee

• Smaller WI markets

• Nationwide

(Google

Facebook)

고ϥ

Current Issues

• Media releases given the “green light”

nationally

• Marketing is state-by-state distribution

• Twitter/Facebook events are unresolved• Twitter/Facebook events are unresolved

• Blogs are unresolved

The University of Missouri:

A Wake-Up Call

Stacy Snow

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Who We Are

• The University of Missouri has one of the

largest inventories of distance programs

among our peers with more than 75 degrees

and certificates.and certificates.

• In 2010-2011, Mizzou Online served more

than 8500 students in nearly every state.

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How Were We first Impacted by

Program Integrity Rules?

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Our Approach

• A few hands on deck

• Considered the variables

– What each state required; definitions

– What each of our programs required– What each of our programs required

– Examined enrollment and inquiry data

• Authorized in 24 states by the end of the

summer (the “easy” ones); had applied for

information from all (good faith)

Our Approach

• Centralized coordination

• The guy who drew the short straw…

• Waited and watched

• As of October: moving forward with • As of October: moving forward with

authorization procedures in all but five states

(still awaiting Provost’s decision on those)

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Wake-Up Call

• The Oregon State Board of Nursing and their

Office of Degree Authorization are in

communication

• Fee and paperwork immediately submitted• Fee and paperwork immediately submitted

• Authorization granted

• Still determining the other degrees for which

we’ll pay the fees.

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Current Issues

• Most geotargeted activities had been

suspended (banner ad network placements,

adwords)

• Gave ourselves the green light in October to • Gave ourselves the green light in October to

resume activities (even though enrollment

continued throughout)

Current Issues

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Discussion: The Path Forward