In Otterbein, which enrolled about 2,600 college students final fall, Antioch discovered a companion that would function a feeder for its low-residency and on-line graduate applications, provided at a small constellation of 4 campuses situated on the nation’s coasts. In Antioch, which enrolled about 3,400 college students final yr, Otterbein discovered an establishment that provides extra alternatives for its (largely) undergraduate college students to pursue graduate levels.
“All the oldsters that join with our universities and join with larger training will likely be enthusiastic about what we’re placing collectively and beginning and launching right this moment,” John L. Comerford, president of Otterbein, mentioned throughout a information convention on his campus.
Information of mergers and acquisitions in larger training are hardly new and are more likely to enhance in quantity in coming years as many faculties grapple with falling enrollment, elevated working prices, and pressures to restrict tuition will increase.
However the mergers and acquisitions of the previous decade, usually certainly one of two varieties, have had their downsides. In a single situation, a public governing board combines two or extra faculties to create efficiencies of scale, however this results in cuts in applications and layoffs of school. In one other situation, a small, failing personal school is absorbed by a bigger establishment, however this largely eliminates the identification and autonomy of the acquired school.
The association between Antioch and Otterbein took greater than two years to develop and is supposed to outline a special sort of relationship between two faculties, a win-win that creates a largely equal partnership reasonably than a takeover. The regulatory approvals are anticipated to take a yr, in line with a information launch, and new applications may very well be obtainable as quickly as the autumn 2023 semester.
The establishments have agreed, in precept, to what they’re calling a nationwide “system,” permitting every school to retain its title and diploma applications, whereas additionally collaborating on some graduate and continuing-education applications. Additionally they plan to create a 3rd entity to share the prices of some administrative features; one change that’s more likely to end in some employees discount. The end result, school leaders mentioned, is a partnership that’s meant to supply college students extra choices reasonably than fewer.
“We method this with the notion that one plus one plus one has so as to add as much as greater than three,” mentioned William R. Groves, chancellor of Antioch, which has its headquarters, however no campus, in Ohio.
Greater-education consultants mentioned the brand new association is promising and will set the stage for different establishments to pursue an identical relationship.
The variations are complementary, mentioned David Weerts, a professor of organizational management, coverage, and growth on the College of Minnesota. The enterprise additionally is smart, he mentioned, as a result of each faculties share an identical progressive mission, primarily based on social justice and fairness, and will not be simply becoming a member of forces primarily based on geography.
For too lengthy, faculties have resisted this method, considering that their particular identification could be misplaced by any sort of partnership, mentioned Rick Staisloff, a higher-education guide with the rpk Group.
However the monetary pressures on larger training, pushed largely by falling enrollments, makes this sort of deal extra seemingly, he mentioned, in addition to extra palatable to schools: “We are going to see way more exercise like this than we are going to mergers and acquisitions.”
Groves mentioned an affiliation has been a part of his plan for Antioch since he took over as chancellor in 2016. The college, with its numerous department campuses, was the surviving half of a earlier partnership with Antioch School, a residential liberal-arts school in Ohio that closed in 2008 and reopened three years later as a separate establishment.
Whereas the college stays, it has little endowment to maintain it, Groves mentioned, and desires a gentle stream of undergraduates to assist maintain it financially.
In December 2020, a working group on the college, together with some 20 college members, recognized a gaggle of almost 250 faculties who may be potential companions, mentioned Groves. By late January 2021, that record was whittled to 60, who had been contacted to see in the event that they had been , he mentioned. Inside three months, 13 of these faculties had responded with letters of curiosity.
Michael Theis, The Chronicle
The college additionally engaged the Affiliation of Governing Boards and the Royal Financial institution of Canada to verify the potential companions had been a very good match financially and had an identical mission.
They weren’t about to take simply anybody, Groves mentioned. Like Antioch, the companion school needed to be dedicated to social, financial, and environmental justice, they usually didn’t need an establishment that was in dire monetary straits. As well as, he mentioned, the working group set some boundaries over what they wished to protect within the relationship, together with the title of the college and their very own governing board.
“We wished a justice league, not only a enterprise proposition,” Groves mentioned.
Antioch settled on 4 finalists and met with representatives of every establishment in June of 2021, Groves mentioned, after which it continued discussions with two faculties, together with Otterbein.
One establishment was dominated out due to monetary considerations, Groves mentioned in an e-mail, despite the fact that its mission aligned with Antioch and it had fascinating potentialities for collaborative applications.
“Our concern,” he mentioned, “was the quantity of debt they carried and their declining enrollment numbers.”
Kenneth Baker, chair of Antioch’s M.B.A. program and co-chair of the school senate, mentioned his colleagues had plenty of considerations in regards to the consequence till they realized the companion establishment was Otterbein. Selecting a school that has an identical mission eased worries that they must change their enterprise curriculum from one that’s targeted on social welfare and the surroundings in addition to income.
For some Otterbein college, the introduced system is a step towards bettering Otterbein’s revenues after some lean years. “I feel the president has been clear that you would be able to’t lower your approach to success, so rising applications and innovating has been the theme,” mentioned Meredith C. Frey, a professor of psychology at Otterbein.
Frey mentioned she is happy that her undergraduates can have a brand new pathway to a graduate diploma in that discipline. “We don’t have the power to develop our personal graduate applications,” she mentioned.
Employment situations for college members will stay unchanged at every school, with tenure at Otterbein and multiyear contracts at Antioch, in line with school officers.
Conversations about these sorts of partnerships have gotten normalized amongst presidents and boards. They’re not ready for a disaster to pursue this.
A variety of work stays earlier than any new applications will be introduced. The accreditor that oversees each establishments has to approve the plans, as does the U.S. Division of Training. A system board must be established and set clear pointers about how every companion will contribute and, ideally, profit financially from the association.
There are dangers, too, mentioned Comerford, president of Otterbein, together with if the enterprise doesn’t work as nicely financially as they hoped. Each faculties are additionally involved about this association being perceived as a takeover by the opposite, he mentioned.
Greater-education advocates see the system announcement as an indication that partnerships are not seen as an indication of desperation, a measure to be pursued as a last-ditch effort to save lots of the faculty.
Certainly, different establishments are already expressing curiosity in the potential of becoming a member of. For the reason that announcement, Groves mentioned, greater than a dozen faculties have reached out to discover membership.
Staisloff, the guide, mentioned what makes this association fascinating and fairly totally different from different consortiums is that it may presumably broaden to different establishments throughout the nation.
Marjorie Hass, president of the Council of Impartial Schools, mentioned her membership has been very within the partnership between Antioch and Otterbein.
“Conversations about these sorts of partnerships have gotten normalized amongst presidents and boards. They’re not ready for a disaster to pursue this.”
