Antioch's Closing Is Lesson for Enrollment Management

Angela Januzzi

June 26, 2007

Once boasting one of the most infamously rebellious campuses in the country, Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, will close its doors temporarily starting July, 2008. The financial failure of the school is blamed on several contributing factors:

*A small endowment of alumni contributions and gifts.

*Dwindling enrollment. Only 330 students are enrolled for Fall 2007, versus 557 in just 1997. In the 1960s, the school held over 2,000 students.

*Lacking appeal of curriculum and school environment to student market.

*Lack of school-offered financial aid. A year’s tuition is $26,492, but alumni grants and scholarships cannot assist in aiding enough students’ costs.

School President Steven Lawry stated that if sufficient funds are raised over the next four years, a new Antioch College will offer improved facilities and a curriculum "strongly attractive to a larger number of students and based on Antioch's traditional educational values."

Those in enrollment management can use Antioch’s plight as a precautionary tale in strategy: appeal to students with a curriculum and atmosphere that is competitive enough to address student interests and needs, and be cautious that the conventional values of a school do not overshadow any necessary strategic changes that must be made. However, the college experience for students must be unique, gratifying, and specific enough that graduating students value and appreciate their specific alma mater, while pragmatically preparing students for the career world well enough to allow their participation as contributing and interested alumni.