The Agile College: How Institutions Successfully Navigate Demographic Changes

by Nathan D Grawe

Product Description Following Grawe's seminal first book, this volume answers the How can a college or university prepare for forecasted demographic disruptions? Demographic changes promise to reshape the market for higher education in the next 15 years. Colleges are already grappling with the consequences of declining family size due to low birth rates brought on by the Great Recession, as well as the continuing shift toward minority student populations. Each institution faces a distinct market context with unique organizational strengths; no one-size-fits-all answer could suffice. In this essential follow-up to Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education, Nathan D. Grawe explores how proactive institutions are preparing for the resulting challenges that lie ahead. While it isn't possible to reverse the demographic tide, most institutions, he argues persuasively, can mitigate the effects. Drawing on interviews with higher education leaders, Grawe explores successful avenues of response, including • recruitment initiatives
• retention programs
• revisions to the academic and cocurricular program
• institutional growth plans
• retrenchment efforts
• collaborative action Throughout, Grawe presents readers with examples taken from a range of institutions―small and large, public and private, two-year and four-year, selective and open-access. While an effective response to demographic change must reflect the individual campus context, the cases Grawe analyzes will prompt conversations about the best paths forward. The Agile College also extends projections for higher education demand. Using data from the High School Longitudinal Study, the book updates prior work by incorporating new information on college-going after the Great Recession and pushes forecasts into the mid-2030s. What's more, the analysis expands to examine additional aspects of the higher education market, such as dual enrollment, transfer students, and the role of immigration in college demand.

Genres: Education

295 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 14, 2022

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the first part of the book is a relatively dry analysis of dire demographic trends, the rest of the book offers a fairly sophisticated and comprehensive overview of the various ways colleges can attempt their deal with the looming crisis. No easy answers of course.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dry, sobering read but required at small institutions like mine to understand where we’re headed.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone leading in a university must read this. Faculty must read this.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty amazing. Dense but also easily digestible at the same time.

[Leanna Fenneberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful and comprehensive take on the demographic challenges facing higher education and interceding efforts. There are a lot of statistics and references to tables of data which made the audiobook version a little more challenging, but I would recommend in any format. Important content and perspective for anyone in higher education.