Note to all Development/Sales Teams in EDUCATION.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had serious discussions on how to ‘sell’ financial aid.
Clearly, it should be a very, very compelling story!
In a recent session with a VP for Development at a college (a great guy with a terrific background but not a lot of collegiate ‘fundraising’ experience), I stated this simple distinction:
SCHOOLS PROVIDE FINANCIAL AID.
INVESTORS PROVIDE SCHOLARSHIPS.
Joe said it was brilliant. I’m not sure about that, but it is simple and clear.
Note: The other big, big, big deal when talking about financial aid or scholarships is too really, really, really DO THE MATH!
It’s actually very simple MATH:
• TUITION: $T
• COST(of Education): $C (Annual Operating Budget divided by # of Students. It’s hard to mess this up.)
• The ‘GAP’: $G (Cost – Tuition)
• DISCOUNT: $D or % (School ‘Dollars’ not funded with Real ‘Dollars’)
• AVERAGE FINANCIAL AID: $AFA
• ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP: $ES (20 x Gap or Discount or Average Financial Aid)
