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Canisius College has a smaller enrollment and fewer faculty members. It has developed high-tech measures to track student performance and intervene if someone is struggling. It has made a series of moves – such as consolidating student academic supports into the one-stop Griff Center – aimed at better service to its existing students.

Things may not look much different on the Main Street campus in Buffalo, but they are. The college is exiting the post-recession era in higher education as a “right-sized” institution. And far from dead, its leaders are looking forward to re-establishing the narrative of a hands-on, quality education that’s worth every penny for those who graduate.

“For too long, higher ed has focused on the amenities and the student experience and I think people are starting to realize that the pendulum has swung too far,” President John Hurley said. “We’re focusing instead on the value of the experience in so far as it prepares people to be successful in life.”

Hurley was named president in Canisius in 2010 after spending more than a decade as executive vice president. His five-year contract expired this summer but was renewed by the board for another five years.

These have been lean times for higher education with the consumer impact of the recession combining with skyrocketing student debt to produce dire narratives about the future of private colleges. Even over the past year, both Time magazine and Bloomberg News have used the term “death spiral” to describe the industry in the light of high-profile closures of private colleges.

But Canisius proves the case that advocates have been making in recent years, which is that higher education is simply changing to meet new demands by consumers, or new dynamics created by technology.

“I think all these hysterical statements that all small colleges are going out of business, or that student debt is out of control, are just plain wrong,” said Richard Ekman, president of the Council of Independent Colleges, based in Washington, D.C.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of perspective. While average student debt per borrower in the U.S. crept up from about $22,000 to about $32,000 between the graduating classes of 2007 and 2014, the number pales in comparison to the difference in lifetime earnings for those who graduate from college, Ekman said.

Still, there is a pricing gap between public and private colleges. The average net price for undergraduates attending the University at Buffalo in 2013-14 was $14,546, compared to $20,505 at Canisius College.

UB has set records for enrollment the past two years, and while they are very different institutions, that trend stands in contrast to the enrollment declines at Canisius.

The college is aware that its future competitiveness is contingent on proving value. It has no problem filling spaces in its highly regarded Richard J. Wehle School of Business.

“We know that it’s an issue but we remain convinced that it’s still an incredible investment for a person to make,” Hurley said. “The problem with debt is largely with students who don’t graduate, and that’s why we’re so focused on retention rates and a quality experience.”

Other private colleges in Western New York are tackling the same issues as Canisius. Hilbert College and St. Bonaventure University underwent high-profile merger talks before concluding them without action earlier this year.

Medaille College is accepting more low-performing students and beefing up its student support system, a conscious strategy that has changed its business model.

“Families lost a lot of wealth (during the recession) and now they’re really looking at value,” said Laura Anglin, president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, based in Albany. “It was an opportunity to rethink the way that schools operate, and everyone from your smallest colleges to your largest did that across the board.”

Canisius has taken the full brunt of these forces. Hurley has said that the college, during the 2011-12 fiscal year, “encountered financial challenges that appeared quite unlike anything we had seen before.” Enrollment – which is responsible for 90 percent of Canisius’ revenue – dropped 18 percent between fall 2011 and 2014, and incoming freshmen are budgeted for a lower number again this year.

But the college has not laid dormant during these struggles, Hurley said. It hired Florida-based Pappas Consulting Group in fall 2012 and undertook a comprehensive review of its full business, from academic programs to operations.

The college is rife with examples of how it has increased efficiency, such as getting tougher about special arrangements for faculty who take time off to work on projects while their courses are taught by adjuncts. Canisius had gotten “somewhat casual” about allowing those arrangements, and its firmer stance meant more full-time faculty teaching courses, and fewer adjuncts needed, Hurley said.

About 36 faculty positions have been eliminated in the last few years, mostly through attrition. A new procurement policy has been instated. A campus-wide emphasis on student retention has been put in place.

Like most colleges, Canisius has seen an imbalance of interest as students flock to finance or STEM majors and away from liberal arts, but the college has resisted the urge to narrow its offerings. It is focused on the relevancy of those offerings, with an eye on connecting them to the new employment opportunities at work in the Buffalo region.

“When you go down to the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, it’s amazing the way that people are doing business now,” Hurley said. “It’s a challenge to us to look at our own curriculum and ask whether it’s on the cutting edge, and where the business practices and entrepreneurs are going.”

Canisius’ enrollment target this year is 620 freshmen, down from 640 the previous year and 680 in fall 2013. The college’s vice president for business and finance, Marco Benedetti, said Canisius is now “dealing with enrollment targets that are very realistic and then building a budget around those enrollment targets.”

Canisius recently had its credit rated by Moody’s Investors Service, which affirmed the college’s Baa3 rating with a negative outlook. The Moody’s report reflected the duality of the Canisius position, particularly with declining revenue and limited prospects for growth, but it noted the college’s $5 million surplus last year and its $1 million surplus for 2014-15, as opposed to the $1 million deficit it had projected.

“Canisius’ operating performance has shown improvement due to expense restructuring,” Moody’s wrote. “Our rating incorporates expectations that management will effectively adjust expenses as revenue declines continue.”

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