Net Pricing in Liberal Arts Colleges and Regional Universities Charley Gillispie, Valparaiso University Susan Palmer, College of Saint Benedict William Hall, Applied Policy Research, Inc.

Introduction Applied Policy Research has studied the results of 5 National Liberal Arts Colleges and 5 Regional Universities from a net pricing perspective over an 8 year period. Bill Hall will be presenting the findings of these two case studies.

Charley Gillispie Vice President for Administration & Finance, Valparaiso University

Charley Gillispie Both strategic plans adopted by Valparaiso University (VU) since 2000 called for an increase in net revenue. 2004-09: “Increase net revenue by managing in tandem the goals of increased number of students and effective management of financial aid.” (paragraph VI.A) 2011-15: “VU will increase net tuition revenue” (objective 7.4).

Charley Gillispie The 2004-09 plan stated an explicit direction of change for the tuition discount: “Lower the unfunded discount rate by judiciously reducing the amount of unfunded aid…” (paragraph VI.A.3) The plan then called for a substitution: “….by striving to increase the amount of funded aid.”

Charley Gillispie The 2011-15 plan calls for a net revenue model “VU will develop a net tuition revenue model matching enrollment growth and tuition revenue to sustainable levels of unfunded aid.” (action 7.4.1) Once again the plan sets out the goal to “significantly increase the size of donated and endowed financial aid funds.” (action 7.4.3)

Sue Palmer Vice President for Finance & Administration, College of Saint Benedict Institutional Characteristics:

Sue Palmer College of Saint Benedict established the goal of a 3-5% average increase in net revenue per freshman for each year through 2015 in a new 5-year strategic plan. (SDC 2015) This marked a shift in how budget goals were expressed for the planning process. The plan is to let tuition discount rise from its current position (low 50’s) if a tuition increase outside of the moderate range is selected. There is a proposed sticker price tuition increase of 6.5% from the 2010-11 base for the 2011-12 year.