Why Some Schools Struggle to Grow

Location is the number one rule of real estate success. It is critical to the success of all businesses that involve regular direct customer contact, visits, or patronage, such as restaurants, banks, churches and schools. Getting the right location for your school is a prime indicator that determines the success of your enterprise.

Some school owners base the decision of where to locate their school on what is available or affordable to them. What is affordable or available to you may not be a marketable location, which implies such school will struggle to attract new students. A person may say I have a house that has been vacant for a long time, and feel they can to turn it into a school. Starting out without giving careful consideration to the metrics and economics of the location, to determine if this location will support school growth may lead to regrets down the road.

Some locations may be best for a community library, as it quiet and located in an area with low human and vehicular traffic, with limited noise and distractions from the environs. Schools that grow fast in enrollment are usually located

1. Along roads with moderate to high human and vehicular traffic
2. In an area with high population density
3. Can be easily accessed by prospective parents and students
4. In a cluster of human urban settlement such as estates
5. Rapidly developing or growing neighborhood i.e high number of people are moving into or considering moving there in the near future

Except in cases where your school is already well known, and already enjoy a healthy enrolment from an existing location, it may be unwise to site a new school in a location that is hidden away from the view and access of everyday people.

While on a visit to Singapore, with a team of Nigerian educators to understudy the Singapore education system, I observed that city planners always sited schools next to residential housing projects. Singapore, with very limited land space is known for its clusters of high rise residential buildings. Next to these buildings will be a school, located within a walking distance from the children living in that neighborhood. There also will be a medical facility, religious worship center, sports center, and a shopping mall, all located within a walking distance from the residential buildings. In such circumstances these businesses and the schools, never experience low patronage, as children in the neighborhood usually attend the schools closest to them.

Tips for choosing a suitable school location

New urban development

Generally schools sited in an area where lots of new parents are relocating to will likely?experience rapid population growth compared to a new school sited in an already stable community, with very few new families moving in to live there. This is because as parents move into a new community, they often to go out in search of a new school for their children. This gives your school a chance to show to them what you have to offer.

?In South Africa, my organization once organized a school visit to Curro Schools, one of the foremost and most successful private schools brands and private education franchise in South Africa. Our host at the school told us they usually sited their new schools in neighborhoods that are just developing. The owners knew these schools will start with low enrolment numbers but will gradually fill up over time as new families move in to the neighborhood. In some instances the mere presence of the school in that neighborhood is an attraction for parents to move into the neighborhood so their kids can attend that school.

Along Roads with High Human and Vehicular Traffic

Schools located in an area where parents usually commute to and from work or for their their daily activities is also key in getting parents attention. Such schools enjoy high visibility and need little advert to bring them to the attention of potential parents. Their location has already cut off advertising costs and freed up funds that would have been spent on advertising for other essential investment critical to the school’s success.?The location of these schools consistently put them in the view of parents, and there is a high chance they will be considered when they are trying to make a decision on which school to enroll their child. Schools with such locations make life easier for parents as they can easily drop off or pick up their children on their way to or from work, or even the children can easily walk to school, cutting off the need for school bus or to be picked up by parents.

Schools located in a remote and not so accessible part of the city, may be a turn off for parents, due to the work involved in trying to get their children to school. Such school for his or her child. This puts a further burden on the school owners to spend more on marketing to bring their school to the attention of potential parents. Unfortunately, however good the marketing and promotion campaign may be, it will be affected by the fact that the school is not accessible to potential parents.

Densely Populated Neighborhood

?A location with a high number of people with school age children usually holds huge potential for rapid school growth. Particularly areas experiencing influx of new residents. New residents have to find a suitable school for their children, but if your school is new in an urban community where majority of the residents have lived there before your school started, it will tough to get parents to want to withdraw their children from the schools they currently attend to your school, except in cases where they are highly dissatisfied with the state of affairs at the current school their children are at.

Competition

?The number of existing quality schools in a location can also affect the growth of a new school. If there are numerous schools within the same location offering similar quality of educational service, at a similar fee, competing for the limited number of students living in that neighborhood, newer schools opening their doors may not stand a good chance of succeeding, and will likely struggle. Struggling in this regard may mean an inability to charge sufficiently or enroll the students needed to cover the school’s running costs and other overheads of the school. As in the case where there are similar competing service in a restricted area, business tend to reduce tuition to attract customers. The economics principle of demand and supply also shows that an oversupply of any product such as educational service will always lead to price or school fees reduction, a situation that is not good for businesses.

It is important for new school owners to always assess their chances among existing school options available in the area. Where there is nothing differentiating them from the existing schools in the area, there is a high chance that they will struggle financially and fail to breakeven. It will be best to seek a new location that their school has a chance of succeeding in, than pouring scarce resources into a location where they don’t stand a good chance of succeeding.

Demographics

Demographics refers to the similar qualities in possessed by people living in a specific geographic location. The people groups may share some common characteristics such

1. ?Age,
2. nature of employment or business,
3. birth rate,
4. level of education
5. Religious inclination
6. Family income level etc.

It is important to understand the demographics of the location your school is going to be in. Research the average age of residents, education level, type of jobs they are employed at, their salary level, the kind of cars they drive, their religion etc. These items are critical in understanding the parents you will be dealing with and their likely expectations. There is no point offering facilities that parents based in Victoria Island will value to parents based in Ajegunle or Mushin, what both classes of parents value differ. One class is sensitive to quality while the order sensitive to how cheap it can spend on a product or service. The costs involved in offering quality educational service will mean that you have to charge a higher fee to cover your costs, and if parents in this neighborhood fall within the low income bracket, with limited budget for education, they may not value what you are offering them and instead take their children to schools that fit their budget, even when these school have inferior facilities. In other words, let what the market value decide what infrastructural investments or the service offerings you make at your school.

Some schools are located in an area where a predominant number of parents are petty traders or persons whose highest academic qualification is secondary school certificate, or may have learnt a vocational trade via apprenticeship. Such parents due to their limited education level may have little interest paying so much for their child’s education knowing the little role education played in their lives. Conversely, a parent with international education qualification or multiple qualifications show they value education and are willing to invest on it for themselves and their children

?????Understanding the demographics of your location will help in planning the services to offer and even the fees to charge. You get to know the values of majority of parents in the area and how they will react to certain planned policies.

Schools that are interested in branching may consider hiring the service of a very good real estate agent to help them scout out good locations for an upcoming school. Successful businesses with multiple branches like restaurants and banks have a real estate team whose job is it to consistently seek out locations that will favor the growth of the brands they represent. Ray Kroc, the businessman that bought over MacDonald restaurant from its founders, once said he never considered himself a restaurant owner, he considered himself more of a real estate person, as he could was always on the lookout for spot a location that will be suitable for a new restaurant.