A culture of deleveraging

Deleveraging.  I heard the word used twice last week to describe how people are approaching the "new economy."  Savings are on the rise and prudent frugality is the new badge of honor.  As Mohamed El-Arian states in this week's Newsweek cover story by Daniel Gross, "We've gone from an age of entitlement to an age of thrift."

The question everyone associated with colleges and universities is asking, or at least thinking privately, is how will this culture of deleveraging impact college selection come May 1.  There is no question about the investment value of a college education, but the unknown is at what price. It is a question that college prospect Isaac Yoder wrote about in Sunday's Wall Street Journal. Isaac notes "With college being as expensive an investment as it is, it's scary that we don't know what we are paying for." His father Steve offers another perspective of concern: "This doesn't mean we won't let Isaac choose a college he wants to go to. But should it be the college he wants to go to?" 

The discussion keeps coming back to the question of value.  What am I getting for my investment relative to the cost I am asked to pay?

Most people are no longer willing to exercise the financial leveraging they practiced previously.  Colleges have at least five weeks to communicate the value associated with institutional price for this year's class of recruited students.  Coffee, clothing, and entertainment are easy to deleverage, but investing in a college isn't supposed to be easy to deleverage.  Now is the time to leverage your marketing efforts so that your value proposition is more clearly understood and heard.  You can still impact this year's class. And perhaps more importantly, you will have begun a very significant conversation for the class of 2010, a group of individuals who will be totally immersed in the culture of deleveraging.