Marketing Plan †Chancellor University Essay

Chancellor University is a for-profit secondary education institution located in Seven Hills, OH. Grounded in the traditions of business, it has multiple degrees in business and other select professions. Alumni of Chancellor University include John D. Rockefeller and Harvey Firestone. The degree selection ranges from certificates to Masters Programs focusing in business, healthcare management, global comparative studies, and criminal justice. In 2009, Chancellor switched from ground campus to an all-online format, with students spread across the United States and some countries around the world. Chancellor believes that students succeed later in life because they are taught to strive for excellence. Based on previous SWOT analysis, Chancellor has a chance to recover from the economic downturn and help it become viable as a premiere institution. STRENGTHS| WEAKNESS| SOCIAL MEDIA PROGRAM| LOSS OF JACK WELCH MGMNT TO STRAYER UNIVERSITY| COMMUNITY COLLEGE PARTNERSHIP| REPORTS OF LOSING ACCREDITATION| HISTORY| LOW STUDENT RETENTION| | | OPPORTUNITIES| THREATS| WORKING CLASS AND FIRST GENERATION COLLEGE ATTENDEES| BAD ECONOMY| CELEBRITY STUDENTS| LACK OF ALTERNATIVE FINANCING|. DEMAND FOR HIGHER EDUCATION| COMPETITORS OFFERING SIMILAR CLASSES AND FORMATS| Recently added to the Chancellor University degree offerings is the Masters and certificate program of Social Media. According to some, this addition as a Master’s Degree is not viable but the certificate program is seen as viable for specializations. The feeling is that most students would already be well versed in social media and that its best to follow a concentration in Marketing and use the social media classes within the Marketing program. The social media certificate program is great to have for the marketing major and will show a specialization of making social media relevant in the business realm. A lot of higher education facilities are starting to add courses and degrees with this specialization, Chancellor is seen as one of the firsts to make it available to their students. Chancellor recently began to offer a â€Å"Study Abroad† program that will aide in the students in getting a well-rounded education with global exposure. Chancellor has also partnered with community colleges to offer students a wider variety of courses and credits toward their Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees. Chancellor stands to continually lose its footing as a premiere institution considering the lack of alternative education financing due to its for-profit status. It makes it difficult for students to pay or obtain alternative payment plans for their education. Pell Grant is the only grant offered to the students. States cannot award students grants because Chancellor is a for-profit institution, this means that the students will bear the weight of financing and increase their loan responsibility. Reports have been continually floating around of the schools accreditation being at risk from the Higher Learning Commission in Chicago due to poor leadership, financial health, and the quality of the academic programs. Losing accreditation would mean that students could no longer utilize the federal Pell grants for their education with Chancellor. The Jack Welch Management Institute was a top notch addition to the Chancellor curriculum. With its loss to Strayer, Chancellor loses the investment money that came from Jack Welch and the prestige that came with the famous managers name and contributions to their management program. The demand for higher education at an affordable rate continues to rise. Chancellor is not offering it in their current format. Time is taken away from the leadership team developing the curriculum or focusing on the needs of the students to prepare for the commission review. This can turn a lot of students away and the retention rate will decrease. The classes are moderately priced compared to University of Phoenix and Strayer University (based on Bachelor Degree programs). Opportunities exist for Chancellor to expand. Recommendations would include: * Branching out to offer campus sites within the community colleges that they have established partnerships with. This can be obtained by offering professors a stipend to teach courses that are more difficult for students to follow with the online formats, satellite campuses have contributed to the success of Strayer University and University of Phoenix. * Establish a larger presence with social media. Offer the current students the opportunity to blog about their experiences and link the blogs to their social mediums, this increases awareness of Chancellor and their presence on the Internet. * Increase information on the Wikipedia. org page. The article for Chancellor University is more so focused on the history instead of the offerings of the institution. The page describes several changes that Chancellor has been through starting with the Folsom’s Mercantile College and can turn potential students away with the constant changes. * Work out, within the partnerships of the community colleges, to offer Chancellor students the option to take their courses as electives. This will increase the amount of electives available for Chancellor students and contribute to the satisfaction of their education experience. * Chancellor should transition back to letting the students pick their own classes, giving them a selection in each category for the general education electives. This way, the students are responsible for their education and can still study subjects of interest to them. Works Cited Chancellor University. (n. d.). Retrieved from www. chancelloru. edu Chancellor University wikipedia. (n. d. ). Retrieved October 24-26, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Chancellor_University Magaw, T. (2012, August 6). Crain’s Cleveland Business. Retrieved Octber 24-26, 2012, from Accrediting body again issues show-cause order for Chancellor U. : http://www. crainscleveland. com/article/20120806/FREE/308069957 Strayer University. (n. d. ). Retrieved October 25, 2012, from Wikipedia: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Strayer_University Strayer University. (n. d. ). University Tuition Fees and Costs. Retrieved October 25, 2012, from Strayer University: http://www. strayer. edu/financial-support/tuition-and-fees University of Phoenix. (n. d. ). Bachelor of Science in Management. Retrieved October 25, 2012, from University of Phoenix: http://www. phoenix. edu/programs/degree-programs/business-and-management/bachelors/bsm. html#tab=tuition Wecker, M. (2012, March 1). US News – Education. Retrieved October 26, 2012, from Avoid Social Media M B A’s, Some Students Say : http://www. usnews. com/education/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools/articles/2012/03/01/avoid-social-media-mbas-some-students-say.