Brand Kid, or the Tuba Paradox

It's all about the Benjamins

This weekend, I took my eldest daughter, a high school sophomore, on her second college trip. We're trying to spread these out over a good period of time, so that she doesn't apply to any place she has not gotten a sense of, and that we don't rush when we get closer to a decision.

The school we visited would be a reasonable choice. It's far enough away so that commuting home on weekends seems unlikely, and as we're committed to giving her a residential college experience rather than a commuter one, that matters. One of my old college friends works for the school in IT Administration, so we got to see some stuff you don't get in the usual tour. The school does a few things very well, and if every visit is as productive as this one, this is going to be a great process.

My friend has been working in academia for most of her life, and knows a lot about, well, a lot. After quizzing my kid about her likes and dislikes, and getting to a comfort level with her overall intellect and ability to withstand direct questioning, the conversation went into a discussion that went far beyond the college we happened to be sitting in.

What my friend described was a situation where the process roughly mirrored the world of venture capital and start up businesses. The best schools may have a bigger sticker price for tuition, but they also have more to offer in terms or scholarships, grants and opportunities. It struck me as the same story and trade-off that you get by taking less money in salary to work for a more stable business, with better benefits, but potentially a worse title and chance to learn faster.

Third and fourth tier colleges are struggling to overcome demographic shifts in the marketplace to stay in business, just as third and fourth tier start ups struggle against competitors with deeper pockets and better engineering. If you are willing to go to places that others are not, or have strengths that are uncommon, your prospects are brighter -- in college and in business. While going to a bigger school might seem to put you in line with a bigger alumni and social network, small schools are frequently more tight-knit and provoke a better outcome.

On some level, it should be noted, this all seems contrary to the goals of a better society. Education should be about a meritocracy, a levelling agent between calcifying income classes, and a more or less equal playing field... and nothing described above really fits with that. But on another, it just makes sense, especially since this is likely to be one of the most important decisions my daughter makes in her life... and affluent parents just aren't going to sit idly by and not try to give their child an advantage. What's a better item to spend on?

Turning back to the conundrum that colleges find themselves in, let's say you are the dean of admissions at a school that is known for an active music program, a great English department, and a science school that hasn't been able to attract top talent. You would appreciate the registrants that want to study English... but what you really need are kids who want to study science. And if one of them happens to play the tuba, and you don't have one of those right now? You're going to make that kid your best possible offer, and do everything you can to make sure that they are part of your next class. But if the tuba trick becomes known, and suddenly there are thousands of tuba players in the market, that skill loses its magic.

It was all good information, and got my kid to stop being afraid of applying to better schools, and to not let sticker price start and end all decisions. Hopefully, it will all end with what all parents want -- a college experience for their kid that's as good or better than what they had. And the right fit for her needs.

Oh, and one last thing, in re how all of this relates to marketing and advertising?

New technologies, especially with remote learning and the Internet of Things, are just going to grease the skids for also-ran schools in the US, who were already on the very wrong side of trends in regards to population. That level of serious worry permeates the presentations of even schools that are above that tier. And as more and more information about positive outcomes after school are shared, it's going to get harder and harder for the ordinary to survive.

On some level, it was all oddly reassuring. I've spent my life being convinced that academia was a place that just raised tuition prices without regard for the pain and suffering of parents and students. Turns out, they are as subject to market forces as everyone else.

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