Doesnt seem like this is worth the money, thus far.

http://northernstar.info/campus/niu-uses...7b06b.html

Give it a little time. Maybe the information they provide can be used by NIU staff to continue the process without the consultants.

I think the article implies there should have been a payback in 1 semester which is unrealistic. If they are creating a playbook and then can execute over the next few semester it could have a nice ROI. If I am doing my math correctly - the current tuition and fees is around $12K/year. Thus if this program costs the full $814K - this would need to deliver 68 incremental students (for 1 year) to break even. This calculation does not include any incremental revenue from the dorms and it only considers a student stays 2 semesters.

One thing to remember - the number of High School graduates are declining and will continue to decline for the next 5 years. So every university is going to be competing harder to get qualified students. Retention will be more critical.

I like that since Dr. Baker has arrived, he has put a much larger focus on retention, recruitment and student success. Is there a lot more work to do to make this happen - absolutely. However, do I think NIU is on the right track and starting to think differently - absolutely.

As Brandsxb said above - give it time. Hopefully this will help.

A more extensive article about how multiple higher education institutions are using consultants

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/2...s-for-help

At least it's not Noel-Levitz. Those guys come onto campus and seem to stay for years.

NIUSox - hopefully you will see some retention improvement in Fall 2015 and an increase in new student enrollment and retention in Fall 2016.