Environmental Scan and Strategic Review

As counsel to a wide variety of colleges and universities, Hardwick-Day is able to analyze the environment in which clients operate with a wide, deep, and unbiased lens.

The components vary from campus to campus, but typically, an environmental scan includes:

• a contextual overview of higher education, the economy, and financial markets;
• an analysis of local economic conditions and family financial circumstances;
• a customized economic landscape review comparing client institutions side by side with their competitors on measures such as trend in test scores, endowment, graduation rates, EFC, and net revenue;
• survey research with high school sophomores and juniors and their parents to help illuminate their attitudes and perceptions about college costs, the search process, how colleges present themselves, and how they plan to pay for college.

Hardwick-Day starts with a customized "landscape" presentation. The firm's principals then go on to help colleges identify strategic challenges and opportunities with a view toward strengthening market position by increasing consideration and willingness to pay on the part of families, and optimizing resources across the institution. View the 'Higher Education Landscape' presentation below for a sample of this service.