By Rahul Bhide, Vice President for Economic Opportunity
Higher-education institutions (HEIs) in the US are facing significant headwinds causing operational and financial sustainability challenges. Those headwinds include demographic changes, shifting sentiment on the perceived value of higher education, increased technological complexity from IT infrastructure to digital marketing, and deep competition for the right technological talent. Additionally, shifting from traditional business models to focus on non-traditional and workforce-based education continues to be a challenge.
Small and mid-market private higher education institutions, those under ten thousand students, face the brunt of these headwinds and are most vulnerable. Students at colleges that close are significantly impacted: more than 50% of students who are at a college that closes do not complete their education elsewhere, and 40M Americans have some college experience but not a degree, contributed to, in part, by closures. College closures also affect their communities; regardless of the institution size. Institutions are economic and social anchors for the communities to which they belong.
Solution
Core Education is a mission-critical operating partner and specialized services provider focused on transforming higher education institutions. Core’s integrated services span revenue diversification, technology modernization, and financial sustainability, enabling colleges to adapt to demographic shifts, declining full-time enrollments, and financial pressures.
Why We Invested
Core Education has an impressive team, led by Kamalika Sandell and Rick Beyer, supported by a senior leadership team with deep higher education, finance, and technology backgrounds, including a number of former college presidents who have successfully addressed the challenges that their partner institutions are now facing. The company has grown revenue significantly over the past few years and has operated in a capital-efficient manner.
Core’s offerings enable their partner institutions to achieve financial resilience, sharpen workforce offerings, and connect with employers. Existing solutions and players in the space are typically only able to offer point solutions or services; Core’s ability to offer comprehensive integrated solutions with sector-specific expertise is a key competitive differentiator and makes a significant difference in institution outcomes. Their results have made them a trusted partner.
Impact
Core delivers business model transformation to a critically underserved segment of higher education. The company’s institution partners are typically significantly underserved and are often regional, under-resourced, or tuition-dependent, unable to access talent and technology in the same manner as larger institutions. Core closes that gap through a fractional model, delivering embedded, high-impact capabilities typically reserved for larger institutions. Its integrated solution offerings span revenue strategy, financial modeling, enrollment performance, workforce development, and digital transformation. Their ability to help institutions engage with employers and develop workforce development initiatives enable institutions to improve potential educational outcomes for their students. Their comprehensive solution and service set also helps stabilize institutions financially, enabling colleges to continue offering quality educational outcomes for their students, and continue to contribute to their communities.