Retention Realities

Mike Ziemski, M.Ed. – SchoolAdvancement

When I was a radio program director, one of the main tasks of the job was to increase the listening audience.  But think about it - here I am, at a station that's targeting just a small segment of the market.  How am I supposed to grow the audience when a finite number of people exist which like the kind of music that I'm programming?  If I'm at a news station, then "bad news" is good news for me, since people will tune in just to find out what's going on, hopefully like what they hear, then stay tuned.  But if I'm at a country music station, how am I going to get the person that listens to heavy metal to try lightening up a bit to steel guitar?  Now you see why radio stations have contests, thousand-dollar giveaways and two-for-one dining deals.  You're not necessarily tuning in for the music, but maybe you'll get hooked on it once you're there for a more mundane reason.

One of the best ways to build your "numbers," however, is to keep the listeners (your core audience) listening just a little longer.  That's why radio stations tell you what artists are coming up in the next hour, or even the next fifteen minutes, and tell you that the next 30 minutes of music will have no commercial interruptions.  These strategies are used to battle "tune-out," which is sometimes just caused by circumstances.  It's not so much that you hear a commercial and tune out (although that happens), but you might be listening in your car and reach your destination; you might be listening at work, and get called to a meeting; you might be listening on your portable device and your battery dies.  There are enough "natural" tune-out experiences - the goal is to keep the audience you have for as long as you can.

Of course, sometimes, the audience can no longer grow, even though "numbers" remain constant.  This is a key point to remember - when audience declines, or when there is stagnation for an extended period of time, it's time for a change - and the format of the radio station changes.  Or, the format may remain the same, but the delivery changes.  The "Continuous Country Favorites" that included Merle Haggard and Dolly Parton are dropped in favor of "Today's Country" stars like Taylor Swift and Tim McGraw.

Let's shift those ideas to our schools.  A change in delivery?  Think textbooks to technology.  A change in format? Think blended grades.  Keep the audience for just a little longer?  Think keeping your 4th and 5th graders through 8th grade.

The same strategies apply to education in private and faith-based schools  Recall that enrollment strategies and retention strategies are two completely different things - even though some schools group "Recruitment and Retention" together as a parent support committee.  There are actually four things happening in that group, since Marketing leads to Enrollment, Enrollment leads to Retention, and Retention leads to Asset Management.  Many schools think that if we just focus on "Recruitment and Retention," have another group that deals with "Development," and a third that deals with "Finances," we'll be OK.  They won't.

Each of the three groups is probably working in a vacuum, doing their own thing.  That's dangerous, especially when what they decide and do as a group will impact what the other groups decide and do.  Sadly, many of these groups are simply "advisory," sharing with the school what they think should be done.  Then it's up to the school to concretize some type of plan based on those recommendations - which may go in three completely different directions.

To come to grips with retention, you must remember that "The Experience" is a driving force that affects parents of currently enrolled students.  What is their current experience of the school?  Will they recommend it to their friends?  Or are they always complaining about what's going on, feeling left out of the decision-making process, and the school is unresponsive to their concerns.  Remember too that parents talk to parents, whether in the school or out of the school.  Today's parents want to be validated.  They want to have a say.  Even though you might decide that something completely different is the correct decision, the parents have said their peace.  They need to be heard.

You might say, "Why?  After all, restaurants I go to don't ask me if I mind if they raise their price."  You're absolutely right!  And what happens if you think that price is too high?  You don't visit the restaurant anymore, and then you tell everyone about the increased prices so they won't visit either.  The same thing happens with your school, since parents are your customers.

Why are today's parents of this mindset?  It's because of the characteristic traits of their generation, which is probably the point where where recruitment and retention overlap.  The parents we're trying to attract to our schools are members of Generation X...the "ME Generation."  It's one of the three main reasons that recruitment efforts are so difficult at this point in history (the others being the systemic nature of our schools, and the school's vision - and you thought they were demographics and economics).  We want them to be a part of our "family," but their experience of family may include a father that deserted them, a mom that worked two jobs to make ends meet, and spending time after school by themselves to the point of making their own dinner and putting themselves to bed (where no one said prayers with them).  After reading this, does a lot of "what's wrong" with our culture today start to make sense?

It's also the main reason why it's so difficult to keep students in our schools.  We think it's all about the tuition (primarily because that's what we're told in exit surveys).   However, money is usually "the last straw."  There have been other issues brewing, conversations happening, or concerns mounting that began the "we might have to leave the school" thought process.  "We're raising tuition" is usually the statement that swings the decision to the "leave" column.

While "The Experience" is the overarching key to retention, here are five strategies that you can use to help your retention efforts:

1) Case - "Why" is your school is the educational venue for their child?

2) Community vs. Cliques - How's your "Welcoming" factor?

3) Financial Aid & Scholarship - Are you assigning the proper name to "tuition reduction" funds?

4) Invoicing - How do you distribute that first tuition bill of the year?

5) Incentive - What's going make a parent want to keep their child in your school from Kindergarten through 8th grade?

Case

If you're doing any type of development work, you need a case statement.  Donors need to know why they should support your cause.  Similarly, parents need to know why it's important that their child should be enrolled in your school.  If you can't articulate the remarkable things that are happening at your school, then you have some homework to do.  Frankly, if all you're saying is that students receive a faith-based education, it's going to take a lot more than that to persuade a parent to enroll their child there.  Remember that if you offer a discount, parents will come to expect that discount every year - it's part of the "entitlement" mindset.  You can offer a discount with a car because you only buy one every 5 years, give or take.  Tuition is a decision that has to be made every year.  If you use "discount" for an enrollement strategy, parents will expect it as a "retention" strategy.  Besides, you're probably discounting your tuition relative to the cost of education already.

Also, look at how the words are bolded above.  You need to speak to parents with this type of emphasis.  To members of Generation X, their child is special because it's their child...not because it's "a" child.  We may be tempted to speak in generalities because we want to see more children in the school, but parents need to be spoken to in specifics.  If it's the "right fit," the parent will appreciate the personalized attention they and their child are receiving.  You need to make it be the right fit.

The case for enrollment is also the case for retention.  What that means is you need to walk the talk.  It does no good for a child to have a great experience for one year with a teacher that understands the importance of realizing what a special place your school is, and have the child be promoted to the next grade where there is a teacher who is looking forward to summer the day after the school year begins.  I've walked into classrooms in September, and there on the teacher's desk is a calendar with red "X"s through completed days, surrounded by photos of the beach.  Such an attitude could be why a child doesn't return - the parent will tell you that tuition is the reason since they "really don't want to get anyone in trouble" (a function of our society that's quick to contact an attorney).

Community vs. Cliques

Are new parents welcomed, introduced, and mentored into the community, or do they have to crawl over groups of current parents that sit together at meetings to get a seat, or when they sit at a table with current parents, they receive menacing looks from current parents rather than smiles of hospitality.  We're here to spread the Good News to everyone, and hospitality is the way to encourage growth.  Cliques are closed groups, and area not conducive to retaining parents, and therefore, not retaining students.  Remember the example of the Red Sea and the Dead Sea.  Members have to be able to come in, stay a while, and then flow out.  When they're not permitted to enter, as well as when they stick around for a long time after their children have left, the dynamic dies.  Parents that wish to stay involved when their children leave might be part of another organization that you form - it might be a great way to start a bridge to an alumni group which can support the school in new ways that a parent's group can't.

Financial Aid vs. Scholarship

I've spoken with many schools that are shifting their financial aid strategies to "need-based" aid.  That's a great strategy for the 21st Century, but it can also be taken to an extreme.  For instance, if you have a family that has the ability to pay the full-cost of tuition, and the child is advancing wonderfully in the classroom in addition to taking on coordinating a service project for a cause she is passionate about, is it wrong to offer the child a scholarship to help offset the cost of education?  Of course not - colleges do it all the time.  However, it's important that you have such policies detailed in your schools policy handbook which parents read and agree to abide by.  If it's not a policy, then it can look like favoritism, and, at worst, payment for work that is supposed to be done with service in mind.

When considering Financial Aid vs. Scholarship, also consider "Low Ability to Pay" vs. "High Ability to Pay," and map it out on a 2 x 2 matrix.  The following diagram provides an example of what financial assistance may be called, amd if it's appropriate.

Invoicing

I don't know how many schools I've spoken with that can't believe that children just don't show up on the first day of school.  I then ask school administration, "Do you send tuition invoices home?" to which they reply, "Of course."

And that's why they leave.

If your tuition is $3,000 a year, and there are two children in the school, you are asking parents to pay $6,000 a year for their children to be educated in your school.  If a development or advancement profession goes to ask someone for $6,000, that's an "eyeball to eyeball" conversation - it's a major gift to the institution.  Why would you treat your parents any differently?  Invoice distribution needs to be done personally.  When I've told some schools this, they've said, "Oh, that's a lot of work for us to do.  Do you realize how long that would take?"  My response is to get members of the administration team (principal, pastor, senior teacher, finance manager, etc.) and split the work up.  Include financial aid awards, if possible.  While in the personal conversation, you can then break what you're asking them to pay down to the cost per day, and the cost per hour to educate their children.  Many will then agree that they could be able to pay that amount and find a way to do it.  Still others will say the cost will be difficult for them to bear.  This is good to know right up front.  If all families express their concerns up front in this type of environment, the additional "need" can be calculated to see what additional assistance can be offered.

This practice should be instituted because the school is a community, which is a living system.  The action of one parent will affect the other parents.  If you allow parents to make the decision in the privacy of their home by mailing out an invoice, they are only aware of how their decision affects their family, and not how it will affect every member of your school community, and, ultimately, the school itself.

Incentive

What is the "carrot" that's going to make parents keep their child enrolled in your school from one year to the next?  Just as your school has to have a vision, parents have to be able to see what type of education their children are going to receive.  While it's important for the Kindergarten to be an inviting environment with an excellent teacher, it's necessary for schools to have programs that will keep children "engaged" in learning, as well keep parents "engaged" regarding their involvement with the school.  It's easy to see this demonstrated on the secondary level, but the elementary level is a different story.  Service projects are important, but meaningful service projects can be things students look forward to.  For instance, it's one thing to bring canned goods to an event to help the local food bank, but if the fifth graders have a project where they go around to senior citizens' homes and rake leaves during the fall, that's an event they can "own," be recognized for, and look forward to.  In a curricular context, some schools have a pre-engineering program in place for 7th and 8th graders.  One school I know of, looking for ways to increase their middle school retention, bought netbook computers for their 6th through 8th graders.  If they stay through 8th grade, they get to keep the computer when they move to high school.  After the first year, students coming to the 6th grade would be the only ones needing netbooks (and perhaps several that transfer in to 7th and 8th grade).  That's not just incentive, that's remarkable - and remarkable attributes are what's going to keep parents interested in your school, and keep enrolling students there.

© Michael V. Ziemski, SchoolAdvancement, 2009 (original publication date: 20091020)

For a more detailed treatment of this subject, see "Retention: A Systems Approach to Growing Enrollment."  Visit http://tiny.ly/3mF9 to order your copy.

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