Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | June 10, 2019 | Worcester Business Journal 25 Colleges need innovative leadership Avoid exclusive growth V I E W P O I N T E D I T O R I A L M ount Ida College in Newton was not the first college to close in Massachusetts, but the sudden- ness of its demise and the way the closure le students in the lurch last year have had an oversized effect on the debate about financial transparency in higher education. New England is home to a disproportionate number of colleges, including many of the nation's finest, and can draw students from all over the globe to its tree-lined campuses. Yet, for every Harvard University and MIT, Massachusetts has dozens of smaller institutions like Mount Ida lacking a significant endowment to weather a downturn. e Massachusetts legislature is working on a bill to sig- nificantly increase financial reporting requirements for private colleges. While this could deter students from enrolling in colleges lacking deep financial resources, the transparency is important for the industry moving forward. e state got surprised by the Mount Ida closure and does not want another institution to leave students scrambling. Central Massachusetts is a college hotbed with 17 different higher ed institutions with a campus in our region – 11 of those being private insti- tutions, the other six part of the state's higher ed system. ese institutions are not only major contributors to the economic development of the region, but each is an important community player in its hometown, with campuses playing a vital role in their surrounding neighborhoods. While it's hard to imagine any one of these institutions going away, the demographics of the New England region tell another story. Population declines in A s Worcester continues to develop, in large part due to the growth wave moving west from Boston, I ask these two questions 1) What does success mean to Worcester? and 2) Who does that success include? e Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce and the city's Economic Development Coor- dinating Council have begun a survey to understand why so few employees of Worcester companies choose to live in the city, with the goal of making the city a desirable place to work and live. While I appreciate the survey's efforts, we need to question whether these efforts will achieve a sustainable, inclusive and equitable revitalization. My concern with this survey is the priority placed on getting people who work here to move and live here, instead of understanding residents' views of the city; people who want jobs Worcester doesn't have. Dedicating the resources to this survey geared toward non-residents as opposed to current residents sends a mes- sage the city sees success coming from outside the current resident base. In cities like Worcester where gentrification causes concern, a survey asking about high-end housing and dog parks instead of pathways to home ownership, career mobility resources, and new job creation is easy to in- terpret its intention as focused on higher-income residents displacing those struggling in our community. One of the survey questions raises a concern regarding how we value the members of our community, asking if the respondents would prefer lower-end, cheaper housing or much more expensive, nicer housing. When it comes to housing, affordable and market rate are buzzwords not in- herently inclusive in their impact. We need to move further than housing requirements and push for creating quality, mixed-income housing in our neighborhoods. Right now, I read this question as "Poor people don't deserve nice hous- ing. Wealthy people need nice housing. We can't have both." Quality housing can be built across different pricing tiers, but it takes an intentional effort from decisionmakers to pri- oritize, incentivize, and regulate working with responsible developers who believe everyone deserves quality housing. Resources like the podcasts "Go Cultivate!", "Strong Towns" and "Experience this Podcast" have opened my mind to opportunities like revitalizing communities without gentrifying displacement; focusing on economic garden- ing (development with small, high-returning investments instead of big, silver-bullet gambles); and the importance of community pride and ownership in creating successful spaces in places like the Bronx. Parting thought: With the wave of dollars coming to- ward us from Boston, we can make every wrong decision or every right decision, and we will still experience economic growth. How might we put Worcester on a path forward to be used as a national example of a developing city enabling success for all individuals in the community? Joshua Croke is founder of Worcester consultant Action! by Design and the nonprofit Love Your Labels, which supports queer youth. Reach him @JoshuaCroke on Twitter. BY JOSHUA CROKE Special to the Worcester Business Journal Joshua Croke college-age children are projected to continue through 2030, and statewide college enrollment in Massachusetts already has dropped 6% in the last five years, according to trade organization National Student Clearinghouse. If you're an elite institution with a big endowment and a large geography to draw from, like College of the Holy Cross or Worcester Polytechnic Institute, this is not a big issue. Nor is it one for the state university system. But for smaller private colleges largely dependent on in-state students, this trend presents a challenge. Nichols College in Dudley, Becker College in Worcester and Anna Maria Col- lege in Paxton all rely on less than 2,000 full-time students, with endowments of less than $20 million. However, schools are responding to the chal- lenge. Nichols is extending the school's reach to include more non-traditional students, particu- larly those several years into their career. Becker has been differentiating itself by specializing in video-game design majors and a new e-sports program, and Anna Maria has carved out a strong niche with its criminal justice program. ese are the early years of what looks to be a long dip in college-aged students in Massachusetts. In that environment, the state does have a role in ensuring our colleges can back up their promise to students, without overreaching with its reporting requirements. Mergers and acquisitions in the college arena seem likely, but as long as college presidents think outside the box and focus on differentiating their programs and strengthening their brand, our higher education economy should be able to weather the storm. The Worcester Business Journal welcomes letters to the editor and commentary submissions. Please send submissions to Brad Kane, editor, at bkane@wbjournal.com. A T H O U SA N D WO R D S B Y D O N L A N D G R E N W W

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