Interview: George Hanbury, President

High aspirations

‘Audacious claims’ reflected in higher university ranks, fundraising targets

George Hanbury

President & CEO – Nova Southeastern University

What were some of the major factors behind your jump in the university rankings in 2020? In 2010, when I became president, I began working with faculty and staff to develop a strategy leading up to 2020. We made some audacious claims about what we aspired to be. We established matrices that would secure national rankings, increase academic undergraduate standards, and leverage our professional programs to attract the best and brightest undergraduates.

We also aimed to raise $250 million in philanthropy and $300 million in external research grants that would make us a premier research institution that attracts businesses in biotechnology to South Florida. We exceeded both these goals, having raised more than $311 million in philanthropy and $305 million in research grants. In 2020, we met or exceeded all of our goals, aside from attracting international students, which was complicated by COVID-19 and immigration policy.

We had our largest undergraduate class in history in the middle of a pandemic. We expanded our two medical schools in Tampa Bay and Fort Lauderdale, and we still had a record number of applications (more than 16,000) for our MD and DO programs combined. We have seen nothing but huge increases across all our healthcare programs.

Having met the Vision 2020 goals, what is the next step in your strategic plan? We have now extended Vision 2020 to Vision 2025 because we not only want to be recognized as a preeminent university of quality but also a preeminent university nationally ranked in the Top 100. We are already the youngest nationally ranked doctoral university in the Top 200. In addition to seeing success in higher education, that success has spread to the 2,000 students in pre-K through 12th grade on our college preparatory campus.

What does the new innovation center mean for the university and the local community? We hope to have that open this summer. The research we’re undertaking is substantial, and the innovation center will help us to attract researchers and students, as well as a knowledge-based industry. By the time we develop the academical village, we will have almost a $6 billion economic impact in the region. Auxiliary services, such as a hotel conference center, will come in and we will be the economic development engine for the Fort Lauderdale Economic Council. Our goal is to integrate the industry in such a way that venture capital companies and angel investors can come to the campus directly to hear pitches.

The largest college by number of degrees awarded in Broward County is Broward College.

( ) has often been formulaic and ineffective, though that may be changing. In one case, a five-year, $10 million initiative — bringing together both faculty and students — was established to tackle inequities. Such measures are catching on. 2020 saw a revenue shortfall followed by budget cuts at higher education institutions across the country. In the autumn 2020 semester, there was a student enrollment decline of 3.6% over the year before, for a total loss of 560,200 students. A financial analysis of 140 schools in the country found that half suffered net tuition revenue loss in the 2020 fiscal year. The resulting financial strain is a result of a combination of factors: a year-over-year 13% auxiliary decline in revenue tied to student services such as food, athletics, and other nonessential campus activities; a decline of international students; and an increase in pandemic-related safety spending. All of these factors have disproportionately affected community colleges and private institutions.

Enrollment rates, in particular, are on the decline and, in many cases, the pandemic has only accelerated pre-existing trends which had seen declining rates for the last decade. Community colleges, experiencing a 6% year-over-year drop, are bearing the brunt of this trend, followed by four-year private institutions. Former drivers of enrollment rates, such as Latino and Hispanic students, are not enrolling like they were and can no longer be relied on to cushion the blow of declining rates nationally. Unfortunately, as enrollment rates have gone down, tuition has gone up, increasing by 62% in Florida public universities in the decade preceding 2015-16.

Still, the most pessimistic forecasts have not come to pass, and analysts are surprised to see how few institutions have shuttered completely. The schools seem to be hanging on. In Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University, which has its main campus in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, has been among those reporting an increase in enrollment, for example. Enrollment at the private university climbed 11% in 2020, surprisingly building on gains made in the previous two years, although at a slower rate of growth: enrollment rose 27% and 22% in fall 2018 and 2019, respectively.

The federal government has also been doing its part by injecting stimulus money into the beleaguered higher education sector. In spring 2020, at the height of the first wave, schools received $14 billion. In the new year, thanks to the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSAA), the Department of Education received another $22 billion to allocate (though, they are currently lobbying for $97 billion more).

The lasting impact of the coronavirus on education is yet to be tabulated. Schools have been dipping into their endowments on an unprecedented level, something which has highlighted the disparities between the few very wealthy schools and the rest. To save money, public universities are halting capital projects and ending partnerships with third-party vendors that, in some cases, go back decades. They are seeking new revenue streams — such as turning to adult education — even as they cut tuition and boarding costs.

Furthermore, and more obviously attributable to the pandemic due to the restrictions on travel, international students have not been the source of revenue that they traditionally are. Among South Florida institutions, efforts will be redoubled to attract these students as the vaccine is rolled out.

Higher education Despite these troubles, life goes on. Students are still learning at a robust system overall that is composed of 228 colleges and universities; and of these, 43 are public institutions, 77 are nonprofit private schools, and 108 are for-profit private institutions. In the Fort Lauderdale region, 37% of people have a bachelor’s degree or higher,