Enrollment Struggling? Become Relevant.
Meeting community needs is a key to growth.
Robin Capehart
Aug 17
Higher education faces a severe crisis. Colleges are struggling with enrollment while record numbers are closing. Admissions leaders blame shifting demographics and declining high school graduate numbers. But demographic shifts are not the root cause. The real crisis is a lack of relevance.
Colleges spend millions on advertising. They spend time and money trying to stay up with competing campuses. They build modern dorms and fitness centers and climbing walls. Every residence hall needs a Starbucks. Yet enrollment keeps falling. That is because customer satisfaction is not relevance. Real relevance comes from serving the community. When a college makes itself essential to its town or region, enrollment takes care of itself.
The solution starts with a simple question that colleges must ask local employers and civic leaders: “What do you need?” But they must listen carefully to the whole answer.
The Mismatch in Workplace Skills
Most employers do not want just technical skills alone. They want capable people. Gallup and the Lumina Foundation surveyed business leaders on higher education. Only 11 percent of business leaders strongly agreed that graduates have the skills needed for the workforce. In contrast, 96 percent of chief academic officers believed their students were ready.
This huge gap exposes the central problem. Colleges award diplomas and assume that a degree is proof of competency. Employers disagree. They hire graduates who cannot write a clear memo. They get employees who struggle to analyze data. They find new hires who panic when faced with an unexpected obstacle.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) tracks what employers want most. Technical knowledge is rarely at the top of the list. Employers consistently rank critical thinking, problem solving and clear communication ahead of technical skill. They can teach a new worker how to use software. They cannot easily teach a new worker how to think.
Moving Beyond Credential Factories
To become relevant, colleges must change how they teach. They must move past traditional lectures and exams. A student does not learn critical thinking by taking a multiple-choice test. A student learns critical thinking by solving actual problems.
Imagine a struggling college in a rural town. Local small businesses lack marketing help. Regional health clinics lack efficient patient intake systems. Town leaders need data on traffic patterns. These are real problems waiting for solutions.
The college should make these problems a part of their curriculum. Students should work on local projects every semester. Business students can audit small business operations. Communications students can write grant proposals for local non-profits. Computer science students can build tools for regional farms. Faculty members can guide the projects and ensure rigor.
This approach solves two major issues at once. Local employers get valuable help. Students build real experience and proven competence. When these students graduate, employers do not need to guess if they can do the job. They’ve already seen them work.
Becoming the Regional Problem Solver
Relevance extends far beyond job training. A relevant college serves as the intellectual engine for its region. It acts as an accessible research lab for local businesses that cannot afford research and development departments.
Many small manufacturers struggle to adopt automation or energy efficiencies. They don’t have a dedicated engineering team that can do the job. A local college with an engineering program can help. Advanced students and faculty can analyze plant operations, test new equipment and suggest workflow fixes. The business stays competitive and the college becomes a valuable asset for the community.
The same logic applies to community health and public service. When local nursing shortages hit regional hospitals, the college shouldn’t take two years to adjust its programs. It should work directly with hospital administrators to expand clinical slots immediately. In addition, colleges can provide evening training for current staff. Dental hygiene students can provide free teeth cleaning for lower income families.
Proof of Competency over Seat Time
Colleges traditionally measure learning by credit hours and seat time. A student sits in a classroom three hours a week for fifteen weeks; may score as little as 60% on their tests; and earns three credits. That system tells an employer nothing about actual skill.
Relevant colleges use competency-based assessment. Students do not just earn grades on papers read only by a professor. They assemble portfolios and defend their work before panels of faculty and community leaders. They prove they can write clearly, analyze evidence and support their conclusions under questioning.
Employers respect this level of proof. It removes the guesswork from hiring. A diploma becomes a reliable seal of quality rather than just a piece of paper.
The Natural Result: Enrollment Follows Value
There is no lack of understanding that colleges have to produce more workforce-ready graduates. I see quotes from college leaders across America as well as pundits in the higher education chattering class. Presentations at national conferences recognize the problem. Yet, I seldom see clear, direct solutions to this problem. They should look at CIU.
Columbia International University is a small, faith-based institution in Columbia, SC. Last week, they broke ground for a new residence hall. The reason for new housing isn’t to try to attract more students with a nicer facility loaded with attractive amenities. No, their reason is more fundamental – they need more housing for record growth.
So, how are they bucking the national trend? Under the leadership of President Bill Jones and Dean of Arts and Sciences and Health Professions, David DeWitt, they have responded to the health care needs of the community, the region and the state.
In addition to a new apartment building, CIU is building a new 30,000 square foot building for expanded science and health care programs. Their nursing graduates have produced the highest passage rate of any college in the state for the past two years. Nearly 30% of their incoming class has declared health science majors.
CIU is relevant to both their students and their community.
When a college fixes its relevance, enrollment follows naturally. Students want degrees that lead to real opportunities. Parents want to invest in education that yields clear results. Local businesses gladly fund scholarships and donate equipment when they see direct benefits.
State legislators also notice. Public funding flows toward institutions that solve regional problems. Grants become easier to secure. Community trust grows strong.
Colleges do not need elaborate marketing campaigns to survive. They do not need lazy river pools or luxury amenities. They need purpose. They need to answer “What do you need?” with action, rigor, and genuine community partnership. That is how a struggling college revives itself. That is how higher education earns back its trust.
Enrollment Struggling? Become Relevant. – by Robin Capehart
Robin Capehart served thirteen years as president of two universities. He is currently a Senior Consultant with Collegiate Consulting.