Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • April 16, 2018 • www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS: Education Yet, the 195-year-old private liberal arts college in Hartford's Frog Hollow neighborhood is not alone at that price point. In fact, several private schools across New England, including Middle- town's Wesleyan University, Amherst College in Massachusetts and Dart- mouth in New Hampshire, are all on the threshold of the $70,000 mark. "The cost of our physical plant and operations goes up every single year," said Angel Perez, Trinity College's vice president, noting that the school's costs — from housing and feeding students to providing health care and compensating a highly educated work- force — adds up. "It's like running a small city, 24-hours a day." Yet, as average tuition and fees for higher education have skyrocketed na- tionally over the past decade, American incomes have not kept pace, narrowing the affordability gap. At the same time, federal and state aid used to offset those costs is shrinking, forcing insti- tutions of higher education — both public and private — to figure out how to diversify their revenue streams. At the University of Connecticut, it's imperative given the declining trends in state support and an increasing number of enrolled students the school has seen over the past 18 years. "In 2000, about 43 percent of our revenue came from the state and cur- rently we rely on just shy of 25 per- cent," said Scott Jordan, UConn's exec- utive vice president of administration and chief financial officer. During that time, enrollment has increased from 14,225 to 23,845 this year, he said. While UConn's tuition, room, board and fees package — $28,605 for in-state residents, $50,973 for out of state — re- main lower than many private colleges, more than 90 percent of its students receive some form of financial aid, Jor- dan said. Part of that has come from an increased focus on philanthropy through the UConn Foundation, which in less than 20 years has raised, Jordan estimat- ed, nearly $400 million, the interest from which is often used for scholarships. Another revenue generator is UCo- nn's new partnership with Barnes & Noble, which has run the univer- sity's bookstores, formerly oper- ated as co-ops, in Storrs, on its regional campus- es, and at UConn Health since 2016. In its first two years, the partnership has generated $9 mil- lion, with half to date directed to scholarships and the remainder helping with renova- tions and capital projects on campus. Additionally, according to UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz, the larger selection of used, rented and digital books available through the bookselling giant has collectively saved UConn students more than $660,000 in the fall of 2017 alone, a number that's expected to grow as more come online. And it's not just books online that is changing the landscape of higher education; it's the classes too. In fact, digital learning worldwide — including higher education and certification pro- grams — is forecast to surpass $243 billion U.S. dollars by 2022, according to Statista, an online market research portal. Last year, the University of Massachusetts system generated more than $107 million in online learning revenue, which has grown 7 percent to 10 percent annually since 2012. It's a revenue stream the University of Hartford has been increasingly rely- ing on. "If there's one area where the enroll- ment and revenue have gone up marked- ly every year, it's been online education," said Greg Woodward, the university's president. "The audience that we [and other institutions] are trying to attract is changing. The average age of a college student in America is closer to 28 than 18." And they're often looking for greater flexibility and convenience as they bal- ance work, school and family life. UHart now offers 11 online graduate degrees and has expanded to include on- line certificate programs for professional competencies across various industries. It's proven to be a winning strategy, with revenue from online learning doubling annually over the past three years and now accounting for roughly 8 percent of the university's revenue, Woodward said. International attraction Relying more on international students is also smart business for Affordability Gap Amid funding crunch, CT colleges look to diversify revenue streams By Matthew Broderick Special to the Hartford Business Journal T rinity College generated headlines earlier this year when it announced that for the first time in the school's history, its tuition — inclusive of room, board and annual fees — would exceed $70,000 beginning in 2018-2019. Scott Jordan, Executive Vice President of Administration and Chief Financial Officer, UConn Angel Perez, Trinity College's vice president, said the rising costs to run a college combined with declining federal and state support is forcing institutions of higher education to look for new revenue streams. UConn's relationship with Barnes & Noble, which runs the school's bookstores, has yielded millions of dollars in new revenues. PHOTOS | CONTRIBUTED

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