Dozens of nonprofit schools have closed in recent times, most frequently citing declining enrollment and monetary misery. And monetary analysts predict that personal regional schools will more and more be required to go head-to-head with public establishments for college students and assets.
Amid these headwinds, extra school leaders are contemplating a merger or acquisition and on the lookout for steering from establishments which have come out the opposite facet of such offers.
Mark La Branche oversaw Martin Methodist Faculty’s transition to turning into the College of Tennessee Southern, because the previously personal establishment joined the College of Tennessee System in 2021. La Branche shared his expertise and people of six different school presidents who led their establishments by way of consolidation within the anthology “Inside Faculty Mergers,” which he edited.
Mablene Krueger, former president of Robert Morris College Illinois and one of many ebook’s contributors, guided her establishment’s path to develop into a part of Roosevelt College in 2020.
La Branche and Krueger spoke with Increased Ed Dive about figuring out if a merger is the proper transfer, introducing the concept to stakeholders and making an attempt to keep up an establishment’s legacy.
This interview has been edited for size and readability.
HIGHER ED DIVE: When ought to school leaders start contemplating if a merger or acquisition is correct for his or her establishment?
La Branche: The time to consider doing that isn’t once you’re failing. Mergers and acquisitions aren’t an answer for everybody. However all of us must do greater than preserve if we’re actually going to satisfy the wants of the worlds that we serve.
Krueger: Sadly, there are some schools whose strategic monetary plan resides by way of their endowment for X period of time. It isn’t sustainable.
La Branche: Proper, I really feel very strongly about this. There are schools on the market who say, “We made it by way of one other yr, we’re sustainable.”
Actually? How are you dealing with your deferred upkeep? Has the standard of your program choices stored tempo? When was the final time your staff bought a elevate? You are not sustainable should you’re not capable of hold your staff at the price of residing. All of us must do greater than preserve if we’re actually going to satisfy the wants of the communities that we serve.
Krueger: This is not a fast choice. If you are going to do that, it must be with the proper companion and you need to know them intimately.
I went to each board assembly at Roosevelt College, after we entered the dialogue section and signed a nondisclosure settlement. I bought concerned. Being the acquired establishment, I needed to be in that driver’s seat as a lot as I might.
How can schools sign they might be an excellent merger companion?
Krueger: It’s a must to know your worth proposition. Increased schooling is an excellent enterprise, there’s none higher. However it’s a enterprise.
Robert Morris was a commuter establishment, and our mission was about serving the scholars of Chicago who wanted to remain native and get a job. Roosevelt did not have that market, so we might present that we have been an excellent proposition for them, for this and different causes.
La Branche: We have been capable of present the College of Tennessee that they have been dropping college students to Alabama. Martin Methodist was in an space of Tennessee that had no public college possibility for 80 miles. College students usually tend to keep near residence than they have been prior to now, they usually weren’t going to journey that distance, so that they went south as a substitute.
The president of the College of Tennessee prioritized the system’s land grant establishment mission at a time when our flagship universities are actually turning into elite establishments. If it weren’t for his ardour, our deal could not have occurred.
A merger generally is a very upsetting thought for workers. What do directors must do earlier than introducing the chance?
La Branche: You have actually bought to have a robust communications plan, and you have to have a substantial amount of compassion for folks since you’re in a liminal area for an extended time period. It is essential to anticipate potential questions from staff and make it clear you are not making an attempt to cover something from them, however you might not know all of the solutions.
Krueger: In my case, it most likely helped that I had been at my college for 40 years. Over that point, I might gone from the youngest particular person there to one of many oldest, and I employed just about everyone.
Whereas it is very important be clear, that does not imply inform the whole lot you recognize instantly — as a result of you possibly can’t. The toughest a part of this complete factor for me was not speaking about it to, say, my deans.
Martin Methodist bought greater than its title — it went from being a personal school to a state college. As its chief, what was difficult about that transition?
La Branche: It was a giant cultural change. Whenever you’re the president of a small personal, you are capable of communicate on points extra brazenly, the whole lot from sexuality to hate speech. In COVID, you made the principles to your campus.
Then, all of the sudden, you are a chancellor at a state establishment. There’s virtually a way of, “Hold your mouth shut.” [laughs] I imply, they do not say that to you. However the actuality is our selections might develop into fights within the state capitol, like whether or not or not we might require college students to put on masks.
The advantages nonetheless outweighed that disadvantage, although. For instance, our staff are getting raises yearly now.
In a merger or acquisition, there are sometimes worries a couple of lack of institutional id. Did you wrestle when integrating two communities?
Krueger: At Robert Morris, our date of acquisition by Roosevelt was March 9, 2020. We had this date queued up for 18 months. After which every week later, the whole lot in Chicago was shut down [by COVID].
In hindsight, I actually suppose that helped the scholars, college and workers develop into extra of 1 collective. As a result of everybody was digital, there was no sense of 1 group “taking up” one other’s area.
How can presidents work to protect their school’s legacy post-merger?
La Branche: We have been capable of put aside components of Martin Methodist’s endowment to keep up packages that have been essential to us, like a rural management institute targeted on the social and well being wants of our group. That endowment funding is secured and might’t actually be spent for the rest.
We have been additionally given the chance to call numerous colleges and buildings after our founder.
