Why we created Edu Communities

Why we created Edu Communities

To Save Tuition Dependent Colleges using a model I created at Hendrix College Called the Village at Hendrix

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COVID created headwinds for all non-profits and unmasked the financial challenges in higher education – in particular for small privates and regional tuition dependent institutions. Cash flow pressures and declining recurring revenue, rising discount to meet the market and falling FTEs, are part of the deep hardship and raising questions of sustainability.

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Disruption and competition are intensifying because of declines in the number of high school graduates, declines in the college going rate, macro forces, and shifting public policy are creating intense competition and disruption across higher education. Tuition dependent colleges are being hit the hardest.

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For many institutions, the challenge is not temporary. Moody’s projects that over the next 10 years approximately 600 private nonprofit colleges will be forced to close. Impacts would extend beyond those directly affected, and would be devastating for many local communities and economies. At the same time, we are experiencing one of the greatest housing affordability crises in American history.

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Dubbed the "silver tsunami," 28 million boomers have already reached age 65, and 4.1 million more will each year through 2028. This trend represents the largest surge of retirement-age Americans in history. Many of these boomers do not want to retire merely to a life of leisure; they want to remain active, and be life-long learners. Rather than retirement into traditional suburbs, market research shows a preference for living in walkable, inter-generational communities with cultural amenities and learning opportunities.

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A primary focus is creating walkable, lifelong learning communities - purpose-built communities where placemaking, pedestrians, and people’s basic daily needs are prioritized over roadways designed for cars. Educational opportunities and edutainment are part of the fabric of the community.

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These communities, designed and structured in the right way, can be a living places that help fulfill the educational mission of the college. When students, faculty, staff, and alumni are given opportunities for regular social encounters, and academic programs are intentionally woven throughout, a diverse, intergenerational, lifelong learning community is created. ?

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With a strategic lens shaping the physical fabric of both new and carefully strengthened neighborhoods, the institutional mission can be served and enhanced while also helping to meet needs for housing – both in terms of affordability and the generational and demographic shifts that are underway. The urgency is now. More than the risk of doing nothing is the risk of working to solve only a narrow problem, while exacerbating others. The interconnectedness of the challenges warrants care and intentionality, and presents great opportunities if addressed with creativity, affirmation of values and mission, and experience.

#highereducation #newurbanism #dpz The Village at Hendrix

-??????? We will show you how - Tim Cloyd, Tony Sease, and Jennifer Patterson