Messages

I don't think you can organize an enrollment strategy around the idea of a tuition-driven bottom line AND expect to attract high-performing students. High-performing students expect to pay a reduced price in return for their attendance. What's more, a tuition-driven bottom line forces decision makers to think shortsighted. That's why the new endowment campaign is so important: If you are less reliant on tuition margins/returns, you can afford to lessen the sticker price for everyone and also attract more star students. If you send out high-powered graduates and a general population of happy customers, they are much more likely to become donors down the line. An army of 50,000 happy graduates can do much more financial (helpful) damage than 4,000 undergrads, especially if a few dozen of those graduates are able to contribute checks with two commas. I think Valpo's right on target by focusing on a robust undergraduate offerings while offering a few graduate degrees that are easy offerings that use resources we already have. The law school helps Valpo in a narrower sense (seems that a lot of students come from the region and a lot of graduates stay), and I don't think it's going to be a revenue enhancer anytime soon (see first sentence). The national trend for law school supersaturation seems to be a longer-term headwind than the undergrad's equivalent problem. I think the law school's place is a small, regionally focused school that offers flexible classes for second-career attorneys or for new undergrads with a desire to pursue service-oriented legal work. Undergrad can cast a much broader net.


endnotes:
Last year, valpo's revenue from tuition was $76 million. Endowment was $10 million. That endowment amount should at least double if the current campaign is successful.

good valpo revenue info here: https://pp-990-audits.s3.amazonaws.com/4549220161.pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAI7C6X5GT42DHYZIA%2F20171005%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20171005T215822Z&X-Amz-Expires=1800&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Signature=52207b162b083550f8d2d8a9af0dd1ee5cf10c0ed643bf0f140b2071ca71b1fb

Yes, Valpo has higher acceptance rate, lower retention rate, lower graduation rate, lower admissions yield, lower avg SAT.

https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/compare?xwalk_id=152600&xwalk_id=181002&xwalk_id=150163&xwalk_id=153269

http://colleges.startclass.com/compare/1323-1422-1442-2460/Butler-University-vs-Valparaiso-University-vs-Drake-University-vs-Creighton-University

Looks like the lower Law numbers are a direct results of Valpo Law raising standards in response to their 2016 censure: http://www.theindianalawyer.com/articles/44565-valparaiso-law-incoming-class-significantly-smaller-but-posts-higher-lsats-and-gpas

Also, looks like both Law and Grad School numbers have nearly been halved since 2013/14. Whereas Law has hit a nadir, the grad school has receded to pre-Heckler numbers after a 5-year bump (not clear if that drop was strategic/expected/intentional, like the Law School's drop, or not). Undergrad remains at a near all-time high. In addition, the professional schools (everything that's not Arts and Sciences) continue to grow: http://www.valpo.edu/institutional-effectiveness/files/2016/06/FALL01-enrollment-by-college-Fall-2017.pdf

Valpo was #234 in the same list 2 years ago: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2015/07/29/the-full-list-of-forbes-top-colleges-2015/#1051d6bc25ba

Far from a sign that Valpo is dropping the ball, that huge jump just shows that lists like this aren't worth much. If you get such radically different outputs from a test when all the inputs haven't can't change that much in such a short time span, there's something funky with your test...like perhaps the faulty premise that you can create some kind of meaningful comparison between such institutions as The University of Texas and Franciscan University of Steubenville.

I am slightly more interested in lists that compare smaller groups of institutions that are actually peers, such as USNews' regional university rankings. But even with those, the difference between #1 and #10 is probably negligible.

As far as fiscal philosophy goes, it looks like under Heckler, VU has been more willing to take on debt to fund projects. Another explanation could be that low interest rates -- not VU's philosophy -- is the factor that has changed. All that said, I'm no professional...just making educated guesses based on the following numbers:


Year: Bond liabilities (millions) / Total liabilities (millions)
2006: 25 /63
2011: 64 / 105
2014: 99 / 145




Source: Form 990 returns: http://www.eri-nonprofit-salaries.com/?FuseAction=NPO.Summary&EIN=350868125&BMF=1&Cobrandid=0&Syndicate=No

The term "regional university" is something of a misnomer. From what I understand, it doesn't have anything to do with geographical pull or significance: Instead, it is all about the kinds of degrees offered. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching developed the classification system a long time ago. Schools that are 50%+ liberal arts majors are called liberal arts colleges, schools that offer a bunch of PhD programs are national universities, and schools that offer bachelors, masters, and a handful of PhDs are called regional universities. I suppose the desire for continuity has kept the naming system going despite the confusion.

Based on the number of players who have gone on to careers in Europe, I'd say Valpo players excel at the skills needed to thrive in Euro-style offenses: Namely fast, smart movement without the ball.

It's always been my understanding that the fact that sororities are in university housing doesn't have anything to do with overprotective university policies (or some antiquated brothel law, which is definitely nothing more than a tall tale). The reason is much more straightforward: money. Sororities have not been around as long as fraternities and have only been associated with national organizations for a couple decades. They haven't had time to accumulate the resources needed to own their own houses.

Another great story about Alec, his decision to return to VU, and his performance at Nike. We're lucky to have him.

http://collegebasketball.nbcsports.com/2016/08/02/inside-alec-peters-decision-to-return-to-valparaiso/

High praise from Luke Winn at Sports Illustrated. AP was one of only a few with extended write-ups, and he also made Winn's top 5:

"Nike didn't keep stats on the scrimmages, but if they had, I'm fairly certain the lone mid-major representative, Valparaiso's Alec Peters, would have come out as the academy's most efficient scorer. The 6'9" forward made his pick-and-pop threes at a ridiculous clip—it seemed like well over 50%—and ran the floor in transition for plenty more points. When he was paired in ballscreen actions with Morris, their teams were unstoppable.

It's not as if Peters came out of nowhere: He's been one of the nation's most efficient offensive players for the past two seasons. As a junior in 2015-16, he made 43.8% of his treys, and had a 127.1 offensive rating while using 22.9% of Valpo's possessions. Still, seeing Peters thrive in this Nike setting, surrounded by major-conference competition and playing before a large audience of NBA scouts, led me to believe he'll be one of the nation's best perimeter forwards for '16-17 and a potential draftee next June. He declared for the 2016 draft but pulled his name out, and also turned down the opportunity to leave Valpo for another school as a graduate transfer after the Crusaders' coach, Bryce Drew, took the Vanderbilt job this off-season. Peters could have chosen any number of national-title contenders and been immediately eligible, but, he said, "I couldn't see myself playing anywhere other than Valpo." Peters could see himself improving after the Nike experience, though: He headed back to Valpo with four pages of handwritten notes on everything from LeBron James's speech to the campers, a film session with Anthony Davis and hands-on instruction from Rasheed Wallace."

http://www.si.com/college-basketball/2016/07/28/nike-skills-academy-college-basketball

Here are 2015 rankings (along with this year's ranking in parentheses for comparison). Generally, the worst got better, the best got worse.

YSU 649 (656)
WSU 634 (660)
CSU 641 (649)
NKU 626 (641)
Milwaukee 606 (609)
Oakland 529 (520)
UIC 355 (340)
Valpo 234 (260)

Detroit and Green Bay did not make the rankings.

Here's a local news source's follow-up on the story: http://www.theindianalawyer.com/valparaiso-law-school-reduces-faculty-class-size-to-prepare-for-a-different-future/PARAMS/article/40738


Selected quotes:

"Paul Caron, Pepperdine University School of Law professor and writer of the popular TaxProf Blog, is surprised Valparaiso is getting so much attention. He noted other schools were equally slow to respond to the changes in the market and many chose the same course of lowering admission standards to keep class sizes the same. Valparaiso is taking the right steps by accepting a smaller number of students, Caron said. But other problems may be more difficult to overcome, namely the law school's geography."

"Retired Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard, who led the American Bar Association's Task Force on the Future of Legal Education in 2013, noted the law school has made a "special contribution" in terms of accepting Latino and African-American students and giving them an opportunity. Other law schools are interested in diversity but, he said, Valparaiso has made a greater effort to bring in minorities than the school gets credit for."

"In terms of how well the law school and the university get along, Bodensteiner was noncommittal. The law school's relationship with the university varied over the years as the administrations changed, he said. It is not a terrible relationship, he said, like other law schools there is always the tension over how much autonomy the law school should have."

""I've been a criminal defense lawyer my whole life. I know how to stand up even when things look a little tough," she said. "That's what I'm doing. This place is amazing and it deserves to be here. My job is to make is possible for this school to succeed. I'm going to do that." (Bodensteiner)"

I'm talking about the Times piece on its own face. Another website's reaction to a story or a few Tweets isn't part of the original story. Choosing to admit more, lesser qualified students is something that happened. The writer didn't claim Valpo was looking to profit...they were looking to survive. It was a decision that was portrayed as difficult to make at the time--not one that executives in a backroom laughed about as they counted how much they would profit from. Looking back, some admins said they'd do it differently. Sounds human to me. And they are making adjustments because of it. An internet post, without any original reporting, about a news story, which post somehow concludes that Valpo is evil....well, I'll write that off as kneejerk.

Although I don't like being Example A, much of what the writer has to say about law school's in Valpo's position isn't off base. I think his characterization of Valpo the city is the most off-base thing about the story, but that has little to do with VU. The truth is, Valpo (or any one of the many schools the writer could have chosen to write about) isn't  able to say, "hey, you can't write about us...go away." The real story was with the students. He already found them and interviewed them. Much of the data about law schools in general, and Valpo specifically (LSAT scores, admissions data), is easily found. Valpo basically had the choice to make a few admins and professors available for interviews, or for the story to read "Valpo chose not to respond to our interview requests." The former looks a lot better. Again, I wish it wasn't us, but it's not a hit piece. It's just tough to swallow. Valpo Law isn't portrayed in the light that, say, for-profit colleges are right now. All the people interviewed come off as humane, compassionate, and passionate teachers. They love their students. They are OK giving a chance to someone who doesn't fit the traditional law student mold once in a while. They are honest about the tough times law schools are in. If VU admins and professors had come across as attempting to say everything was OK, the piece could have easily turned into a "hit piece", another example of upper education not admitting to the realities of the upper educational landscape and looking for a profit (again, the Corinthians of the world), or worse, a school with something to hide. But the story is never that. It includes all the ways the school is responding: decreasing size to maintain quality, exploring ways to become more financially feasible, recognizing past mistakes, etc. Also, the story's arc of Valpo Law included really really good times, not just presenting info in an effort to "expose" something about them.

This story was always going to be published with or without input from admins. I'm glad VU chose to be open and to participate. I think the fact that lower-tier law schools are in a rough spot is irrefutable. That applies to us. Unfortunately we landed in a story about it. Looking in the mirror is tough. But the core of who we are and what we stand for, I thought, came through.

...unfortunately, it's not good. The problem--overabundance of recent law grads, not enough new jobs--is not a problem unique to Valpo, but it's still not great to be the case study.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/business/dealbook/an-expensive-law-degree-and-no-place-to-use-it.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

Ticket sales are what other conferences probably care most about, so stadium capacity and capacity utilization are important stats. But let's also consider the "enthusiasm factor" -- that is how much support the teams drum up. That must be a factor. I've included a list of schools that show average attendance against student body population. Of course, non-student/staff support (surrounding community) is significant, but it's harder to measure. This is a starting point, at least.

                 attend.     students      %
Wright St    4,355   17,074         26%
Valpo          3,572   4,500          79%
UIC             3,166   27,580        11%
Oakland      3,097    20,519        15%
Green Bay    3,029   6,549           46%
Milwaukee    2,667   30,502          9%
Northern Ky 2,296   15,405          15%
Detroit        2,121   5,700            37%
YSU            2,013   15,058         13%
CSU            1,911   16,418         12%

Verbal Commits says Valpo has offered a scholarship to 6'7" PF Solomon Hainna, currently a JuCo junior.


http://www.verbalcommits.com/players/solomon-hainna

Per Goodman per Oren, Peters working out with Houston and Boston. Perhaps Brad Stevens brings a higher level of respect/understanding for what a Peters-type player (team-oriented fighter/winner in the HL) can bring to a team?


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Was standing right next to Peters when this tweet went out. He nodded his head. #HLMBB https://t.co/nFXGaGRKjd</p>&mdash; Paul Oren (@NWIOren) May 3, 2016
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

And with VU alums and former or current VU board members N. Cornell Boggs, Bonnie Raquet, and Fred G. Kraegel on Thrivent's board of directors, you'd think we'd be well situated for just such a partnership...

https://www.thrivent.com/governance/leadership-biographies/

Someone posted an advertisement/highlight reel on YouTube of Skara yesterday. The username has uploaded about a dozen videos, all for Euro players.

https://www.youtube.com/user/ismscout

Verbal Commits says we have made offers to two SGs. Nick Robinson in particular looks like a body that could do damage in the HL. 6'6", 185.

http://www.verbalcommits.com/schools/valparaiso

Oren says Lottich has been confirmed by "sources"

You can see the highest paid folks, academic, admin, and athletic, about midway through Valpo's last 990: http://207.153.189.83/EINS/350868125/350868125_2013_0b8e913e.PDF

[Develop and execute a funding model to construct the newRecreation Center and Athletic Field.]

I thought I was in the anger phase of grief. I suppose it's a mix of denial and bargaining, because I'm looking for reasons Bryce might have wanted to leave and/or reasons to give me hope.

Athletics strategic plan from 2013: http://www.valpoathletics.com/media/miscellaneous/2012-13/Valparaiso%20Athletics%20Strategic%20Plan.pdf

Updated plan from 2015-2016: http://files.streamlinetechnologies.com/valpoathletics/CB8F2A67-4E55-4190-BD0F-543E226D34F7/ValparaisoAthleticsStrategicPlan-2015-16.pdf

New to this year's plan...
Action Step 2.C.i: Develop program and preliminary design for a new Recreation Center
and Athletic Field on the former Porter Hospital property.
Action Step 2.C.ii: Develop and execute a funding model to construct the new
Recreation Center and Athletic Field.
Action Step 2.C.iii: Identify and prioritize additional investments in athletics facilities
that will assist in meeting Objective 3.4 of the current University Strategic Plan
Action step 2.C.iv: Develop and execute a funding model to construct those facilities.

On the plus side: That sounds like a brand new facility--not just a major upgrade.
On the negative side: Sounds like it's still in the early early planning stages.

I wish the updated plan had tracked progress on the original plan. It's possible to suss things out, but so much better if updates were included.

Statement is up.
https://t.co/AhBQAt36yB

Vague, as expected. No quotes from Bryce.