[Plsfaculty] FW: Need to message to your faculty/staff that majors still matter

[Galbraith, David W - (galbrait)]

Hi all:

This message from Mike Staten contains useful information. It was originally circulated to the HODs.

Best wishes,

David

From: Staten, Michael E - (statenm) <statenm at arizona.edu>
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2023 11:33 AM
To: Tabashnik, Bruce E - (tabashnb) <BruceT at cals.arizona.edu>; Curry, Joan E - (jecurry) <Curry at ag.arizona.edu>; Thompson, Gary D - (gdthomps) <GaryT at ag.arizona.edu>; Scaramella, Laura V - (scaramella) <scaramella at arizona.edu>; Wilund, Kenneth R - (kwilund) <kwilund at arizona.edu>; Merrell, Douglas Scott - (dscottmerrell) <dscottmerrell at arizona.edu>; Galbraith, David W - (galbrait) <galbrait at arizona.edu>; Stoner, Kathryn E - (kstoner) <kstoner at arizona.edu>; Kacira, Murat - (mkacira) <mkacira at arizona.edu>
Cc: Brandt, Rosemary J - (rjbrandt) <rjbrandt at arizona.edu>; Sinks, Cody Am - (csinks816) <csinks816 at arizona.edu>; McMurray, Rachel Lynn - (rachelmcmurray) <rachelmcmurray at arizona.edu>; Englund, Erin - (ekowalsky) <ekowalsky at arizona.edu>; Ratje, Jeffrey M - (jmratje) <jmratje at arizona.edu>; Rutherford, Janis KM - (jmathias) <jmathias at arizona.edu>; Burgess, Shane C - (shaneburgess) <shaneburgess at arizona.edu>
Subject: Need to message to your faculty/staff that majors still matter

Everyone,

I'm picking up on widespread confusion across the college (faculty and staff) as to the importance of degree majors (enrollment) going forward under the AIB model.  Many seem to have the impression that under AIB, SCH matters more than majors, to the point of redirecting our instructional growth strategy.  With this note I want to emphasize that majors still matter!

Bottom line up front:   From a purely green-eyeshade, financial perspective, each one of our majors on campus is a walking embodiment of a financial payout each year.  And AIB allows us to make a reasonable estimate of the size of that payout.  Below I will show you my back-of-the-envelope calculation that each major carries an expected payout of about $3,000 per year they are with us.  So, if you are trying to quantify the return on our recruiting (and retention) efforts, this is the most important number you should use as your guide.

Student credit hours are, indeed, the primary metric in all of these calculations, and the primary metric for determining the total volume of our teaching delivery.  Currently, a single credit hour pays out $189 for FY 24 for Main Campus courses.  (This is a useful metric to use, for example, in determining where your break-even point is on a particular course section.  For each course section, multiply enrollment x course units x $189 and compare the result to the amount of faculty salary needed to offer the course.)

Building on this logic, enrolled majors are of high value because, relative to all other students on campus, they:

  *   take more SCH with us while they are here

  *   carry a $700 annual payout ($350 for each of Fall and Spring semesters they are enrolled)

  *   pay us a $3,000 premium at graduation
Let's work through how valuable they are.

Simplifying Assumptions:

  *   enroll in the major as a first-year freshman

  *   each student takes 40 credit hours within CALES (almost certainly an underestimate)

  *   distribute those 40 credit hours evenly through the 4 years => 10 SCH per year

  *   AIB UG main campus annual payout parameters are:

     *   $189 per credit hour

     *   $700 per enrolled major ($350 per each semester enrolled, Fall and Spring)

     *   $3,000 bonus for each degree awarded.  We'll distribute this "expected" bonus evenly over each of the four years for this calculation, even though the payout only comes all at once, at the end
Per student, this works out to ($189 x 10) + $700 + $750 = $3,340 per year

Now, let's add in one extra dose of reality.  Under the AIB model, calculation of "what is a major worth" includes an important constraint:   the $3,000 premium for a degree occurs only if a student graduates.  Currently 35% of our students don't graduate in 6 years.  (Only about 50% graduate in 4 years, although an incremental 15% manage to do so in those extra two years.  We do keep earning SCH and semester payouts for each of those extra years.)  Let's assume that the large majority of the 35% who haven't graduated in 6 years won't graduate at all.

For purposes of our calculation, we'll assume that we won't receive the $3,000 "degree" premium on 35% of our enrolled students.  That erodes the estimated value of the major.  In the above calculation, let's use .65 x $3,000 as the estimated payout for attaining the degree.  This comes to $1,950 to be distributed evenly over the 4 years, or $487 per year.

This revised, more conservative (realistic) payout per student works out to ($189 x 10) + 700 + $487 = $3,077 per year

Another way to look at recruiting, then, is that each new major we bring into the college is worth over $12,000 to CALES over the time it takes to get their degree.  Even in purely financial terms, that's a pretty valuable relationship to acquire, even before considering the value in terms of tangible alumni support and the intangible, often lifetime personal relationships we build with our students.

Majors still matter.  Please, please communicate this fundamental message (distribute this email, if you like) to your faculty and anyone in your unit who plays a role in recruiting students.

Mike



[The University of Arizona block 'A' logo.]

Michael E Staten
Bart Cardon Associate Dean, Academic Programs and Career Development
Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics

College of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Sciences

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

Forbes, 211
PO Box 210036 | Tucson, AZ 85721
Office: 520-621-1932 |
statenm at arizona.edu<mailto:statenm at email.arizona.edu>

www.mikestaten.com<http://www.mikestaten.com>

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