Factors that Affect School Growth

Factors that Affect School Growth

As an industry, private and vocational schools spend thousands of rupees advertising every month. If you are starting a new campus or have been forced to decrease your school marketing budget, then anyone can understand how daunting and even frightening it can feel to compete against the larger private colleges and career training schools that have dozens if not hundreds of campuses around the country.

So how do you compete with a small advertising budget so that you still effectively market your school‘s programs and keep up student enrollments?

Schools and businesses need to view their marketing plans as a combination of money and effort. Money is spent on getting quick awareness, and doesn’t require a lot of hours to complete like advertising and sponsorships. The effort requires people and time: interaction on social networks, attending industry gatherings… event hitting the pavement to pass out flyers at coffee shops on the weekend. There are multiple factors that contribute to enrollment growth and decline at a school. Some factors are highlighted below:

• Leadership

The vision, drive, and personality of the leadership (primarily the head of school) will affect the enrollment. Bennis and Nanus, leadership gurus, believe that “leadership is the pivotal force behind successful organizations” (Leaders: Strategies for Taking Charge). The same is true in a private school.

Quality School Experience

One of the most important factors in school growth is the overall quality of the experience. Parents are investing significant resources to provide the very best education for their child and because of this, they expect the best. A high quality experience must be integrated throughout your school in order to grow your enrollment.

• Vision and School Improvement

Whether it’s the addition of a new iPad one-to-one initiative or the construction of a state-of-the-art athletic complex, vision and school improvement in strategic areas can have an impact on enrollment growth.

• Faculty and Staff

Your faculty and staff should be the primary connection that a family makes with your school. These educators will be the ones to teach and mentor students. When they deliver a high-quality educational experience and personally connect with the students in a positive way, this experience will impact enrollment.

• Parent Satisfaction

When parents are satisfied, there are at least two primary results that affect enrollment. First, satisfied parents will lead to strong retention. A strong retention rate obviously leads to increased enrollment. Secondly, satisfied parents will tell their friends about your school. This is positive word-of-mouth working in your favor. You won’t be able to grow your school without parent satisfaction and positive word-of-mouth.

• Reputation

The experiences of parents, students, graduates, faculty, staff, and donors will fuel word-of-mouth, whether positive or negative, in your community. In turn, this will create the reputation, and word out on the street, about your school. This general buzz and reputation in the community will affect enrollment.

• Demographics, Location, and Price

The local demographics, the location of the school, and the tuition price will have a significant impact on enrollment. Can the families in your community afford the tuition price of your school? Are there families in your community that support the idea of a private school for their children? During the process of finding the ways to grow your school, it is important to consider your demographics, location, and price. Unless you move your school to another community, you can really only deal with the issue of price. Because of concerns with the economy and increased tuition rates in private schools, it is critical to examine your pricing strategy in light of future sustainability.

• Competition

One of the issues facing private schools today is the increased competition from other schools. Private schools face a very competitive market. Besides competition with other private schools, public schools are working to increase quality by providing specialized, magnet and I.B. opportunities. In addition, charter schools are providing a free “private school” experience. This creates competition and school shopping from our limited demographic pool in our community.

• Marketing and Enrollment Plan/Strategies

It makes sense that every school desiring enrollment growth should have a marketing and enrollment plan. Many schools do not have a plan. With an intentional marketing and enrollment plan, you will be able to implement specific strategies that will impact your school’s growth.