A New Revenue Opportunity for HBCUs

BRONX, N.Y. - July 12, 2013 - PRLog -- Enrollment at Minority Serving Institutions like Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) is falling because of structural changes to Parent Plus loan eligibility, Pell grants, and the doubling of the Stafford rates, all of which increases the cost of enrollment. As costs rise, quantity demanded falls. Falling enrollment leads to iterative cuts in operations and indirectly lower credit ratings. Many august historical institutions have never been in such a vulnerable position in modern times. Defensively, Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) like HBCUs need to develop new revenue streams. Now there is a platform that empowers international students to select, based on their needs and interests, U.S. colleges simultaneously opening access to the international student market for these institutions without paid agents.

For years the cash international students have brought to U.S. higher education institutions has strengthened their balance sheets. Since most MSIs do not have paid recruiters pitching their schools to international students, they have been absent from this market and its benefits. We have created a tool that enables higher education institutions, unable or unwilling to pay student recruiters, to get global exposure it never had before. It’s internet-based, engagement-driven; and easy-to-use.

On 6/26 we rolled-out a new business segment: Global Mobility and introduced: College QUESTionnaire^SM (http://iercef.org/pages.php?id=18). Think of it as a way for MSIs to crack into the international student market at a fraction of the cost of sustaining commissioned, international, student recruiters. Bottom-line benefits: institutional access to international students looking for specific types of U.S. schools, a process that now they can drive more while in high school, while giving U.S. institutions an opportunity to engage with them early. College QUESTionnaire^SM empowers students and institutions alike.

We expect much from College QUESTionnaire^SM and will optimize it to be of greatest use to students and institutions. If you would like to know more about joining the Study Abroad/Global Engagement (SAGE) Partnership and College QUESTionnaire contact Earl Brown Jr. (ebrownjr@livingstone.edu) or myself at: sjones@iercef.org.