Postsecondaryinstitutions have needs just like any other business, yet they carryadditional responsibilities demanded by the workplace, society, andcurrent and former students that are not placed on most businesses. Toillustrate these needs in more detail, consider the followingcomparison between higher education and an entity with similarexpectations placed upon it – the U.S. Military:

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Highereducation plays the same assumed role in preparing its members for thejob market and community as the military, but places significantly lessemphasis on creating lifelong relationships or providing life skillstraining and resources. How successful are members of the workforce andcommunity if they are struggling with debt or with the effects ofpersonal loss that was not protected by insurance? How much betterprepared for management or civic leadership are employees whounderstand financial basics such as banking, real estate, credit, orinsurance than their colleagues who do not? These are not specificskills for specific jobs such as accounting or underwriting, these arelife skills that every adult needs to know because their lives will bedirectly impacted by them.

Please note that there is a short list of schools that havealready recognized the need to provide financial literacy, and do sothrough instructor-led workshops and courses, and/or counselingservices. While this is a great first step, schools must recognize thereality of student life. Are students likely to add a nice-to-havenon-credit life skills course to their already taxed schedules? Willstudents seek workshops and counseling as a preventative to financialmishaps, especially if it means commuting to campus outside of theirstandard class schedule? Will students retain enough knowledge and keepup with materials on how to buy a house or auto financing 101 to beuseful years down the road when it is needed? Will that curriculumstill be relevant and accurate five years later? If graduates need ajust-in-time refresher course, will they be willing and able to returnto the school?

Institutional Needs
Besides the needs that society and the student population look tohigher education to provide, the postsecondary institution has concernsof its own.

Brand Promotion and Recruiting: brand sells better than degreeplans in the highly competitive world of student, faculty, andadministrator recruiting. Brands are built upon prestige andatmosphere. Students and faculty flocked to University of Chicago tolearn from the late Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman,while others are drawn to Notre Dame for its deep traditions orCatholic foundation. Aside from famous faculty, the best publicrelations instruments are consistently outstanding alumni whoindirectly sell the brand every day as positive leaders withunmistakable influence. For Division I football schools, one only needsto look at the salaries of head coaches to see the influences that awinning program can have on brand marketing. Finally, the role ofparents in the decision-making process cannot be overstated. The schoolthat successfully demonstrates to parents that absolutely nothingoutranks student safety, achievement, enrichment, and placement amongpriorities has a decided advantage over the school that strictly sellsacademic programs or prestige. Thus, in a much commoditized marketcolleges and universities need to build a brand that differentiatesthem in a positive way resulting in a competitive advantage.

Lifelong Learning: lifelong learning is becoming imperative astraining continues to be the essential remedy for performancemanagement assessment and gap analysis outcomes. As performancemanagement becomes the new standard in human capitalmanagement/improvement initiatives, employers, workforce commissions,and continuing education programs are demanding that higher educationfocus more attention on those already in the workforce. The bestrecruits for continuing education are those students who already havean existing relationship with the institution.

Giving Back: alumni associations are looking for ways to plantthe seeds of planned giving in undergrads so they understand the valueto school programs and the mechanics to get them started. Additionally,students tend to disappear after graduation never to be heard fromagain, with no way for organizations they were involved in to reachthem and little or nothing for the school to lure them back.Institutions need a reason for graduates to reconnect with their almamaters.

Regulatory Compliance: Financial education has been missingfrom both secondary and postsecondary levels with some universitiesadding instructor-led courses and counseling. Eight states have passedlegislation requiring financial course credits as a requirement forhigh school graduation with more than thirty states reviewing pendinglaws. Virginia is the first to shine this light on higher educationwith pending community college core curriculum additions. Additionally,fall-out from the sub-prime housing market has Federal Reserve ChairmanBernanke pushing for better consumer education. Finally, on-campuscredit card solicitations have been the most recent target ofregulation by state lawmakers in order to curtail what is viewed bymany as predatory lending practices. Institutions need to actproactively now or face mandatory compliance on lawmaker’s terms.

Cost Reductions and Additional Revenue Sources: Demand forhigher education is rising along with associated costs exacerbated by acontinual need for technology investments for everything from identitymanagement and security to emergency communications and podcasting.Demand is driven by the continued growth in college-bound populationsand the baby boom “echo” generation. The fastest growing high schoolgraduate population belongs to the lowest earning families, whichplaces more pressure on the US Congress to provide adequate fundingprovisions in the reauthorization of the 1965 Higher Education Act andfor schools to provide access and affordability without riskingquality. Another known factor in the demand equation is the largepercentage of faculty and administrators who are nearing retirementage. Therefore, like most businesses today, institutions need to reducecosts while identifying innovative ideas that may lead to additionalrevenue sources.