Southern Virginia’s Growth Defies National Trends. Here’s How it’s Happening.
By Sarah Brezenski
Nationwide, college enrollments are struggling. Universities are dying; one by one they’re dissipating before one’s very eyes. Except, of course, Southern Virginia University. Our Knights are enjoying exceptional growth in size and quality, making the future brighter than even administration can foresee.
Colleges and universities across the country are struggling with a decline in enrollment that is becoming common place. As reported in the Wall Street Journal by Douglas Belkin, “US not-for-profit colleges and universities are segregated into winners and losers — with winners growing and expanding and losers seeing the first signs of a death spiral.”
Winners are the institutions that have ever increasing enrollment during a time where downward trends are the norm. Winning universities are colleges are growing in their programs and academics; they are building new academic centers and residential halls to accommodate new students, while the losers are seeing steady decreases in not only size, but quality of product as well.
Southern Virginia University is one of these winning schools. Chris Pendleton, Vice President of Branding and Enrollment, said that we owe this success to the University President. “It’s President[ Wilcox’s] leadership that’s driving the growth,” he said. “I have no doubt about that.”
Since 2014, when Reed Wilcox was named president of Southern Virginia University, he has brought a vision that serves the students and invests in their future. It is because of his unique perspective and experiences and his dedication to the student clientele that is pushing the university forward and upward to new heights.
However, a bright and ever growing future is not common to most colleges. Belkin cites reasons for the general downward trend: “For generations, a swelling population of college-age students, rising enrollment rates and generous student loans helped all schools, even mediocre ones to flourish. Those days are ending.”
He continues, “The Birthrate fell, the pay advantage for college graduates over high-school graduates declined, states cut $9 billion in funding to public colleges and student debt soared. Competition from Silicon Valley in the form of technical schools that offer faster, cheaper credentials is rising.”
An article in the Boston Globe by Laura Krantz discusses the same issue. With rising tuition and lowering high school graduation rates, more and more schools are seeing declining admissions and growing budget deficits. Colleges and universities are struggling, especially, she says, small, private schools. Schools like Southern Virginia University.
But this tune of downward decay doesn’t ring true for Southern Virginia Knights. While others flounder, we flourish. After 20 years of existence, the stats couldn’t be more convincing of the university’s current and future success. “Most schools struggle to maintain enrollment,” said Bob Huch, the Vice President of Finances. “But we’ve had 40% growth in the last 3 years.”
According to Mr. Pendleton, “[This] is completely unique to [Southern Virginia]. Most small liberal arts colleges are shrinking and fighting for survival.”
Chris Pendleton credits the growth to hard work and better brand awareness. “If we continue to work hard, I believe we can break 1,000 students this fall,” Pendleton said. “I think [continued growth] is absolutely realistic with the brand and identity President Wilcox has created.”
President Wilcox is the source that behind this new identity and mission. His understanding of organizations and their internal affairs has brought new and helpful insights to the workings of Southern Virginia. Gather, Lift and Launch is moving the university to new and improved places.
This increased and continued growth ushers in a new and exciting future for Southern Virginia. One of the biggest results will be financial self-reliance. According to President Wilcox, only 15 US colleges or universities have currently achieved complete self-reliance. For Southern Virginia, coming in at 16th place would be a huge accomplishment!
Administrators hope that this will be achieved by 2020.
The vast majority of higher education institutions in America rely on government funding or other source to subsidize the costs in order to fully and efficiently operate, or they run on a deficit, as Southern Virginia has been doing for years.
The problems with running a deficit, says Mr. Pendleton, is that the school is constantly trying to play catch-up to these debts, always trying to bridge the void inherent in running the school independent of any large organization. As this deficit grows smaller, so does the burden of catching up. Pendleton emphasized the impact breaking even financially can have: “Even if you’re just making $1 of profit you can reinvest that money, but when you’re at a deficit, you’re always trying to make it up.”
Currently, the university relies heavily on donors to meet the budget deficit. Usually donors enjoy funding new facilities and other expansion projects, but currently, they are essential to cover the operational needs.
“As we get greater flexibility in terms of our cash it opens up the possibilities for us to do a lot more,” said Trent DeSpain, Southern Virginia University’s Controller. He talked about the goals the university has but simply cannot work towards presently due to the deficit, including residential hall renovations and improving dinning facilities.
A lot of those financial hopes rely on growth, explained Mr. DeSpain: “One of the major factors in our becoming self-reliant is, as President indicated, our need to grow because we’re simply sub-scale right now.”
But how big is the school planning to become? There isn’t a set goal or perfect number Mr. Pinkston explained. Mr. Huch said that the aim is around 1500. He said greater growth is certainly possible but we need to remember that small is a defining attribute of Southern Virginia University.
Of this, Pendleton said that growth will include growth of faculty, administration and facilities. He said, “Small, engaging classes are an important part of our identity, and we hope to maintain that educational model as we grow.”
The university is prepared to maximize the growth as it comes. “And from there, we’ll gage, ‘How is it working? And where do we go from here?’ That’ll be exciting,” Mr. Huch said, “really exciting.”
The start of this, of course, is over 1000 students next fall and the new buildings estimated to be operational in Fall 2020.
