It’s no secret that families across the United States are feeling the pinch of high college tuition costs. Nonetheless, the nation’s colleges and universities have been experiencing a hypercompetitive environment that few commercial businesses would envy. Join us when Laurie Leo, CFO of Roberts Wesleyan College of Rochester, New York, explains the competitive dynamics that are leading institutions of higher learning to adopt a new financial mind-set—one that requires CFOs to help their institutions to find new competitive footing.
Listen to the Episode Below (00:38:47)
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“To say that higher education is a competitive environment would be an understatement. Projected numbers for high school graduates are declining in certain regions of the country and particularly in the Northeast, where we’re located. What’s interesting about New York State is that we graduate approximately 200,000 high school seniors every year. Of these, just under 70 percent go to college. And of those who are going to college, about 20 percent go out of state. This leaves about 100,000 students, and in our state, we have about 300 institutions of higher education. So the math just tells us that the landscape for recruiting students is hypercompetitive.” –Laurie Leo, CFO, Roberts Wesleyan College