Insights

You’ve likely read Nathan Grawe’s Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018). If you’re an RHB client and part of the RHB book club, you should have read your copy by now. You perhaps have lost a few nights’ sleep over the data he presents. For some, the reality of…Read more

I vowed I’d not write about Varsity Blues, but this thought keeps nagging me and I feel a little guilt for not pointing it out to you. You might not have a greedy coach or a side door into your admissions office, but here’s the horrifying part you played in the VB debacle. Granted, VB…Read more

When communicating with your prospective students, you undoubtedly strive to connect your offerings with their goals, interests and values. In doing so, you emphasize the benefits of your distinctive market positon and your ability to provide an exceptional education that is supportive of your prospects’ plans, hopes and dreams. But because the goals, interests and…Read more

In a recent Chronicle article about the “crisis” of higher education, Lisa Schoenbach wrote that “the days are gone when scholars and teachers could afford to work in ignorance of or disdain for their universities’ decisions about budgets, outreach and lobbying. We need to understand the interrelations between the life of the mind and the…Read more

A few months ago, the Chronicle highlighted recent efforts by the University of Maine to centralize its processes and programs through an initiative called “One University.” This initiative not only creates system-wide efficiencies, but also breaks down barriers to student success. As Lee Gardner wrote in the piece, “bringing more students into a traditional ecosystem of individual state universities that duplicate the same sorts of programs and resources,” might tentatively improve enrollment, but it could never fix systemic issues relating to student recruitment, persistence and overall satisfaction…Read more

My goal in this piece is to help you achieve your objectives when submitting RFPs for professional services. I have to say at the outset that I don’t believe RFPs are the best avenue for securing the results you want and need from a consultant. RFPs may be great for buying staples and tissues, but not so much for buying expertise. We’ve read hundreds of RFPs in the course of our RHB history and 99% of them are problematic for one reason or another. For one, they generally fail to seek the best match between a client and a service provider. The requisites and questions aren’t crafted for a multitude of variables…Read more