SSS Leadership Forum program guide

2012 SSS By NAIS Leadership Forum Enrollment Management Strategies for the New Economy June 13-14, 2012 Georgian Terrace, Atlanta, GA To register, go to: sss.nais.org/go/leadershipforum

Early Bird Registration Deadline:

Hotel Reservation Deadline:

May 10, 2012

May 18, 2012

Table of Contents Overview ................................................................................................3 Agenda and Activities ............................................................................4 Breakout Session Descriptions .............................................................6 Leadership Forum Activities ..................................................................8 Registration and Hotel Information .......................................................9 Meet Your Presenters ............................................................................10

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Overview The 2008 recession reset the landscape for financing a K-12 independent school education, for both families and schools. As a result, the time has come to rethink some old assumptions regarding the use of financial aid to meet enrollment goals.

The 2012 SSS By NAIS Leadership Forum is designed to make it easy for you to exchange ideas with your colleagues. Together, you will find new ways to identify and manage the tools you need to use financial aid effectively in your enrollment management strategy.

Leave knowing how to: • • • •

Map out a financial aid strategy that supports your overall school mission and vision.

Build a strategy for funding a sufficient aid budget that meets your enrollment and policy goals.

Create steps, processes, and templates to create to bring your board on board.

Articulate specific approaches or solutions for discussion with key leaders.

Who should attend?

The forum is intended for key stakeholders concerned with maximizing the strategic use of tuition setting and financial aid to meet enrollment management goals such as: • • • • • •

Heads Trustees Admission directors Financial aid directors Business officers Development directors

What’s available for you at the Forum?

• • • • • • • •

General and closing sessions Four break-out sessions Networking reception A provocative pre-forum ‘homework’ assignment Small group discussions Case study Morning and afternoon coffee/snack breaks each day Lunch provided each day

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Agenda & Activities June 13, 2012 11:00 am

Registration Desk Open - Pick up your badges and any last minute items

11:30 am

Light lunch available

1:00 pm

Welcome and Introductions

1:20 pm

Opening General Session – The Multivariate Nature of Enrollment Management

Steve Robinson, Ph. D., President Southern Association of Independent School (SAIS) A successful enrollment management strategy requires the deliberate balancing of a variety of factors that schools must pay attention to, such as the school’s value proposition and its affordability posture. Some factors are internal, some are external.

Some are within a school’s control while others are not. For each school, the particular combination and weight of those factors will be different, requiring school leaders to take meaningful steps to identify the variables most critical for their own situation.

Using his experience as a school and association leader, Dr. Robinson will share his insights on the multivariate nature of enrollment management and how schools have and should embrace it for maximum outcomes.

2:15 pm

Breakout Sessions (see descriptions below)

3:30 pm

Break

3:45 pm

Small Group Roundtables (see descriptions below)

5:30 pm

Networking Reception

6:30 pm

Dinner on own

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Agenda & Activities June 14, 2012 8:30 am

Announcements and Small Group Roundtables

9:15 am

Breakout Sessions

10:30 am

Break

10:45 am

Breakout Sessions

12:00 noon Lunch 1:00 pm

Breakout Sessions

2:30 pm

Closing General Session Price, Brand, or Uniqueness: Finding Your Competitive Edge

Patrick Bassett, President National Association of Independent School (NAIS) Mr. Bassett will address the various challenges and strategies facing schools when competing for students and families. What does NAIS research reveal about the segmentation of the market among prospective parents and the messages that will appeal to them? Where should a school be on the continuum between viewbooks and digital communications? What’s the thinking on the future of mobile platforms for marketing and communicating with prospects? On what basis will your school compete in the future: on price, brand, or uniqueness? Where the “pain points” are is competing with neighboring schools, and how do we resolve them?

1. Learn the latest research on making effective use of market segmentation among prospective parents.

2. Gain strategies for identifying and communicating the “sticky messages” that most resonate with the families you’re seeking to enroll.

3. Understand ways to reconcile gaining an edge in the local marketplace while remaining collegial with neighboring schools.

3:30 pm

Forum concludes

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Breakout Session Descriptions To enable all attendees to participate in all four sessions in small “classes,” each break-out sessions will be held four times as follows: On June 13, at 2:15 pm; and on June 14 at 9:15 am, 10:45 am and 1:00 pm

1. Defining Your Financial Aid Mission – Identifying your goals and priorities for mapping a financial aid strategic plan

Facilitator: Julia Conant, Financial Aid Director, Principia School (MO) Does your financial aid office have a specific mission statement? Does it complement the overall mission of your school? In this session, learn how to map a financial aid strategic vision that connects to your school’s overall vision and mission. Identify and select key stakeholders to participate in the discussions, working cohesively and using specific processes develop a longerterm plan. Explore the steps you might take to bring your financial aid program “front and center” to better support your school’s mission and policies. After the session, you will be able to: • Build a specific mission statement for your financial aid office that fits your school’s strategic plan.

• Determine who should be involved in the process and steps to follow to bring everyone to consensus.

• Apply steps and processes learned from the session.

2. Tools and Strategies for Managing Enrollment - Picking the right tools for the job you want to accomplish

Facilitator: Christopher Tompkins, Head of School, Perkiomen School (PA) Too often the strategic use of financial aid falls to concerns about the budget, rather than understanding the various tactics necessary to successfully fill classes and improve the school’s financial bottom line. While most schools can agree on broad principles of good practice, there is often confusion regarding the many options that exist to foster a sustainable financial aid strategy that supports the mission of the school. This session will focus on reviewing various financial aid tactics and understanding the pros and cons of each, and how they may work for your school.

Recognize that financial aid is a dynamic process that does not always fit neatly into standard practices and procedures, but must fit the needs of your school. After the session, you will be able to: • Apply various discounting tactics available to schools and financial aid professionals.

• Know how to utilize each tactic to achieve the goals set out by the Board of Trustees and the Head of School.

• Structure and prioritize your financial aid budget with respect to all methods of financial aid.

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Breakout Session Descriptions 3. Funding Your Financial Aid Strategy - Determining the funding you need, and how to garner them, to meet the plan

Facilitator: Marc Levinson, Interim Executive Director, Mid-South Independent School

Business Officers (GA) Financial aid is a long-term investment that requires long-term planning and tools. The recent recession has increased demand for financial aid from current families and potential new families – what are some strategies to deal with these budget pressures? Should you budget financial aid as an expense or view it as a source of additional revenue? This discussion will look at various methods to develop your financial aid budget and to forecast financial aid next year and beyond. Come to this session with successful financial aid-targeted fundraising activities from your school to share and leave with new ideas to take back. After the session you will be able to: • Select the appropriate budgeting model to meet the funding needs at your school.

• Forecast financial aid needs with a “true demand-based” budget that fully funds everyone eligible and accepted • Utilize successful models shared at the session to create fundraising initiatives that reduce your aid budget’s tuition dependency.

4. Getting Your Board On Board - Putting your strategy into action with buy-in from your key stakeholders

Facilitator: Gretchen Reed, Senior Director, Professional Development, National Business

Officers Association (DC) Learn and share strategies for building support for your financial aid program with not just your Board, but also with other key constituents: parents, employees and financial aid recipients. Discuss sample school financial aid communication strategies. Learn what data you need to collect to make a persuasive case for your strategy. Gain ideas from other participants about what worked at their schools. After the session, you will be able to: • Self-analyze your communication strategies to ensure proper buy-in and support from key constituents and the board.

• Review and build the appropriate data to present your strategy to the board.

• Apply examples gained from the session to put into practice what you learned when you return to school.

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Leadership Forum Activities Pre-Forum Assignment Finding Your Affordability Range This assignment allows your school to explore the question of your affordability posture in your community. Do you know how much income is needed for a family to pay tuition for one child at your school? Beyond that, do you know what range of families in your locale actually earn that much? What was it five years ago and what might it look like five years ahead? Exploring these questions and data points can help position your conversations about your school’s affordability and the evolution of your financial aid investment and strategies.

Full instruction details and completion deadline will be sent to registered attendees three to four weeks prior to the beginning of the workshop.

On-Site Small Group Discussions Session A June 13, 2012 3:45 pm In this group discussion, participants work in small groups with their peers of similar roles. Groups will work through a case study regarding priorities for financial aid funding and policy directions.

Through group report outs, you’ll explore whether different roles view priorities differently, how those differences may yield different outcomes or choices, and how leveraging the different perspectives can be beneficial when tuition and financial aid strategy discussions are taking place.

Session B June 14, 2012 8:30 am Based on the results of your pre-Forum assignment, the opening keynote session, and other inputs, identify and share three key elements that are important for you to focus on as you attend the remainder of the Forum. Who are the key stakeholders at your school who need to be involved in addressing the implications moving forward?

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Registration and Hotel Information Event Registration

sss.nais.org/go/leadershipforum Fees

Early Bird Registration Register by May 10

Standard Registration Register by June 1

Individual from an NAIS member school or SSS subscriber school

$375

$475

Individual from a nonmember/ nonsubscriber school

$475

$575

Team Discount – Bring a team and get a bigger bang for the buck! Save $75 per attendee when three or more register from the same school. To receive the group discount, all attendees from your school must register on the same registration form online or on paper.

Workshop Cancellation Policy

Cancellation must be sent in writing to hayden@nais.org and received by June 1 to receive a 50% workshop registration fee refund. No refunds will be given after June 1, the standard registration deadline. However, substituting an attendee for another staff member from the same school is acceptable.

Hotel Reservation Online

sss.nais.org/go/leadershipforumhotel Georgian Terrace Hotel 659 Peachtree Street Atlanta, GA 30308 (404) 897-1991 Reservations dates: Room Rate:

June 12 – June 14, 2012 $149 + taxes

Hotel reservation deadline: Friday, May 18, 2012* *The number of hotel rooms are limited for this event; please make your hotel reservations early to get the discounted hotel rates.

Questions?

Please contact Patricia Hayden, Director, Professional Development at (202) 973-9769 or hayden@nais.org

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Meet Your Presenters Pat Bassett

Patrick F. Bassett became the president of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS www.nais.org) in August 2001. NAIS, a membership organization for more than 1,800 independent (private) schools and associations of schools in the U.S. and abroad, is the “national voice for independent schools and the center for collective action on their behalf.” Bassett began his career in independent schools in 1970 at Woodberry Forest School (VA), an all boys boarding school. In 1980, he became headmaster of an all girls school, Stuart Hall (VA), where he remained until 1989, when he was appointed head of school at Pomfret School (CT). From 1993-2001, Bassett was the president of the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS). He is an adjunct faculty member of Teachers College, Columbia University. He is a Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude graduate of Williams College (’70), and holds a master’s degree in film studies from Northwestern University (’73).

Julia Conant

Julia Conant has been the Director of Financial Aid for Principia School (MO), for the last 5 years. The school enrolls students from Pre-K through 12th grade and has a boarding program for 9th – 12th graders including international students. She has been an active participant in SSS workshops and seminars and feels the relationship building opportunities with parents, along with the financial analysis, is what makes the financial aid field rewarding as well as challenging. Prior to her work at Principia, Julia held management positions in the insurance, executive outplacement, executive search, retail and non-profit fields. In addition to her responsibilities at Principia, she has combined her love of building relationships and small business to form a coaching business focusing on solving problems encountered by small business entrepreneurs.

Marc Levinson

Marc Levinson: Interim Executive Director, Mid-South Independent School Business Officers (MISBO). Prior to accepting this position, Marc spent four years as a Director with the National Business Officers Association (NBOA). For two years Marc managed the live and web-based programs at NBOA. Prior to joining NBOA, Marc spent six years as the Business Manager at Alexander Dawson School (ADS) in Lafayette, Colorado. Before entering the Independent School world Marc spent three years as Director of Operations and Finance at Sounds True, a Spoken Word Audio Publishing company and three years in a similar position at Community Food Share, Boulder County’s Food Bank. Much of his career had been in the food service industry, owning and operating a number of very successful restaurants in Boulder and Denver, as well as providing executive direction for a natural foods grocery store. Marc recently served as the Chair of the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees of Watershed School. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and a MBA (Organizational Development) from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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Meet Your Presenters Gretchen Reed

Gretchen Reed is the Senior Director, Professional Development, for the National Business Officers Association (NBOA). Prior to that, she was the Assistant Head for Finance & Operations at Westridge School (CA) for over 10 years. She has also served as Controller and Assistant Treasurer at Occidental College, and was a Vice President in Public Finance at Chemical Bank. She earned her MBA in non-profit management from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and an AB at Occidental College. Gretchen has also holds several volunteer leadership roles. She lives in Pasadena with her husband and two teen-aged children.

Stephen Robinson, Ph.D.

Dr. Stephen (Steve) Robinson is the President of the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS). Steve has a broad understanding of both university and independent school worlds. He has previously served as the Headmaster of two independent schools, Saddlebrook Preparatory School and The Orme School (AZ). Prior to his independent school service, he served at Southern Nazarene University; Oklahoma State University; the University of NebraskaKearney; and Carl Albert State College. Steve earned a B.A. in Religion and an M.A. in General Education from Southern Nazarene University. He earned a Ph.D. in Applied Behavioral Studies from Oklahoma State University.

Chris Tompkins

Christopher Tompkins joined The Perkiomen School in 2008 after many years at Mercersburg Academy where he served as Director of Admission and Financial Aid and Assistant Head of School for Enrollment. With a career that began in 1989, Tompkins is the consummate “school person� with experience in nearly every facet of independent school life. Outside of his school duties, Tompkins has served on the NAIS/SSS Task Force and is currently on the executive committee for the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools (ADVIS). He is a founding trustee of AISAP (The Association of Independent School Admission Professionals) and also serves his alma mater as a member of the Colby Fund Committee. A published author (The Croton Dams and Aqueduct, 2000), Tompkins also wrote an article for Far and Wide: Diversity in American Boarding Schools (Avocus Press, 1997). Throughout his career, Tompkins has presented for NAIS, SSS, TABS, SSATB, AISAP, ADVIS, CAIS-CT, ERB, and other organizations. A parent of three independent school children and the spouse of an independent school teacher, Tompkins enjoys time with family and friends at his farm in Upstate New York.

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