OCTOBER 22, 2009 ISSUE
Is Increased Enrollment the Ticket at Lees McRae College?
Interim President Scott Colley Thinks So
Lees-McRae Interim President Scott Colley
A man steeped in Shakespeare puts Lees McRae College in Banner Elk on secure path in short order.
Last spring, looking into a financial abyss and at potential systemic failures—problems weighty enough to consider closing the college’s doors—officials reached out to Scott Colley through the Registry for College and University Presidents.
According to Inside Higher Ed, Lees-McRae’s interim president “is a member of what might best be described as the National Guard for higher education, a group of past presidents and consultants who are called upon when colleges are fighting for survival.”
“People call plumbers and electricians when they need something fixed, colleges call people like me. I’m a shorter-timer, I’m here to fix. My original commitment was for two years, but,” smiling broadly, Colley said, “A search for a new president is already underway.”
Beginning on June 1, Colley implemented a restructuring process for Lees-McRae that included cutting salaries, enhancing fundraising and admissions and slashing the overall budget by 11.2 percent.
The annual budget is approximately $16 million with most money coming from the $21,000 tuition of almost 700 students. Colley said that the average student receives scholarships and grants and actually pays about half the tuition costs out of pocket. The college fundraises $4 million per year and has an endowment worth approximately $10 million.
Boiling down the financial complexities of balancing Lees-McRae’s budget to enrollment, Colley said that the college’s future success depends upon increasing the student population. He promotes adding up to 300 more students eventually. “We can handle an additional 100 students without hiccupping now,” he said. The college presently accepts around half of its annual 200 applicants.
“Presently, two-thirds of our students are from North Carolina, 60 percent are women and the college has a cosmopolitan feel because students also come from 31 countries and territories,” Colley said. “Many of the foreign students are attracted to our outstanding athletic programs.”
He went on to say that Lees-McRae—which has 440 acres—is not in the building mode.
“Lees-McRae is a remarkable learning laboratory in the midst of the oldest mountain chain on the planet,” Colley said. “This is a great little place and we are like the engine that could. We are a private institution serving the public interest.”
The interim president isn’t shy about the college’s impact on the Banner Elk community and Avery County either. “A recent study states that we have a $48 million impact upon the county. Residents benefit from our being here in many ways,” he said. The college sponsors lectures around the county, professors teach in area community colleges as well and thousands enjoy the college’s summer theatre and arts forum. Residents also use Lees-McRae’s recreational facilities free of charge.
The demographics of the Town of Banner Elk show that the 16 to 24 age group dominates the town’s population by four-to-one. Half the town’s dwellings are second homes, 25 percent are full-time residents and 25 percent are college students.
In talking with Colley, there is little doubt that he enjoys his work. He still wears the caricature tweeds of an English professor. He served as chair of the English department at Vanderbilt University before becoming president of Berry College in Rome, Ga. where he apparently earned a reputation for overcoming challenges.
As he was proudly listing the many special and noted programs Lees-McRae has, Colley said, “I’m returning to the classroom to teach Shakespeare next semester, all kinds of people want to take Shakespeare.”
Upon completion of his work at Lees-McRae, Colley plans to return home to Keswick, Va., near Charlottesville.
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