Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Breakpoint
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: St. Cloud
STATE: MN
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://highimpacttraining.net/jon-mcgee * https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-mcgee-653149a * http://www.csbsju.edu/liberal-arts-illuminated/schedule-of-events/mcgee
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2015032251
Descriptive conventions:
rda
Personal name heading:
McGee, Jon, 1962-
Birth date: 1962
Found in: Breakpoint, 2015: ECIP t.p. (Jon McGee) dataview (b. 1962;
Vice President, Planning and Public Affairs, College of
St. Benedict/St. John's University)
================================================================================
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AUTHORITIES
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave., SE
Washington, DC 20540
Questions? Contact: ils@loc.gov
PERSONAL
Born 1962; married; children: four.
EDUCATION:St. John’s University, undergraduate degree, 1984; University of Minnesota, M.A., 1988.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Administrator and writer. Department of Finance, Minnesota, budget analyst, c. 1988-92; Minnesota Private College Council, St. Paul, vice president for research and policy development, 1992-99; College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, vice president of planning and public affairs, 1998-.
MEMBER:
College Scholarship Service Assembly Council.
WRITINGS
Author of essays and white papers for Hardwick Day and the Lawlor Group.
SIDELIGHTS
Jon McGee works in higher education in the areas of marketing, institutional research, planning, and state and federal government relations. Previously he worked for the state of Minnesota as a budget analyst and then in research and policy development for a private college council. Throughout most of his career, his work and writing have focused on higher education and public policy, especially in relation to demographic and economic trends. In his first book, Breakpoint: The Changing Marketplace for Higher Education, McGee addresses what he sees as a seminal period in higher education due to demographic, economic, and cultural transitions that will ultimately affect the mission, market, and management aspects of higher education.
McGee is especially interested in what higher education needs to do to preserve the quality of colleges. He points out that colleges must be viewed in a different paradigm, one that sees them as large business enterprises. According to McGee, many college administrators and faculty resist this idea. In an interview with Inside Higher Ed Web site contributor Kellie Woodhouse, McGee said the paradigm of colleges as businesses has been around for quite some time, noting these institutions’ vast number of students, employees, and services. “The days of informal structures and casual leadership have long since passed,” McGee told Woodhouse. He went on to assert that it is still important to maintain the traditional values of colleges, telling Woodhouse: “At the same time, though, the scale and complexity of operations at most colleges and universities today demands much greater emphasis on strong decision-making leadership skills. The speed of change has accelerated, the needs and expectations of our students have grown, and the pressure to satisfy a remarkable array of interests has increased.”
McGee points out that higher education was once a luxury, but since World War II a college education is seen as a necessity by most families. They expect a college education to help people get good jobs and establish successful careers, especially since colleges have become extremely expensive in the twenty-first century. McGee estimates his own children’s college careers could cost in excess of $1 million. Despite the costs, he and other parents place a high value on a college education. Nevertheless, McGee warns that colleges must, in turn, provide value in terms of addressing economic concerns. Otherwise, writes McGee, people are likely to choose differently “if they don’t see value for their money,” as McGee told Star Tribune Online contributor Maura Lerner. In addressing higher education’s pricing structure, McGee examines how pricing and financing are major challenges that need to be addressed.
Another topic discussed by McGee is the ranking system for colleges. He sees these systems as driving colleges to mimic each other in order to compete. He recognizes that such rankings are here to stay but would like to see colleges be more selective in using the rankings for their publicity efforts, presenting them as just one tool to determine a school’s value. Because the “golden age” of university admissions and expansion is gone, according to McGee, colleges must examine the effect of various forces, financial and otherwise, and identify opportunities to address the new era in terms of institutional identity, pricing, spending, and prospective students’ expectations and needs. McGee advises that not one approach is good for every institution, and that each institution must tailor their own detailed strategy.
McGee also emphasizes the need for institutions to understand their strengths and promote them, moving beyond the concept of what he calls “me-too marketing.” Overall, McGee draws from a comprehensive assessment of demographic and economic trends to examine changes in the higher-education environment and to stress the need for good leadership. In the process he provides several potential strategies for the future. Breakpoint’s “‘campus conversation’ guides will serve leaders well as they look to the future of their own institutions,” wrote Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries contributor B.J. Keinath. Writing for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Danny J. Anderson remarked: “McGee sounds an alarm … yet he makes practical proposals.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, April, 2016, B.J. Keinath, review of Breakpoint: The Changing Marketplace for Higher Education, p. 1211.
Chronicle of Higher Education, October 28, 2016, Danny J. Anderson, “What I’m Reading: Breakpoint,” p. A20.
ONLINE
College of Saint Benedict and St. John’s University Web site, http://www.csbsju.edu/ (March 26, 2017), author faculty profile.
Inside Higher Ed, https://www.insidehighered.com/ (February 16, 2016), Kellie Woodhouse, “‘Breakpoint’ in Higher Ed,” author interview.
Jon McGee LinkedIn Page, https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-mcgee-653149a (March 26, 2017).
Star Tribune Online, http://www.startribune.com/ (November 11, 2015), Maura Lerner, “St John’s/St. Ben’s Insider Ponders a ‘Stomach-Churning’ Trend as His Own Kids Head to College.”
Templeton Laird, http://templetonlaird.com/ (March 26, 2017), “Jon McGee of Counsel.”
Jon McGee
Jon McGee
vice president planning and public affairs
jmcgee@csbsju.edu
'Breakpoint' in Higher Ed
Author discusses his new book on "the changing marketplace" facing colleges and universities.
By
Kellie Woodhouse
February 16, 2016
3 Comments
How much does higher education need to change to preserve the qualities of colleges and universities that are important to students, faculty members and society? That's the question Jon McGee asks and answers in his new book, Breakpoint: The Changing Marketplace for Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press). He argues for the importance of developing plans collaboratively but also being willing to execute those plans. McGee, vice president for planning and public affairs at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University, responded to questions about the book in an email interview.
Q: You write that “colleges and universities today must be understood for what they are: large-scale business enterprises.” This is a notion that many in academe, especially faculty members, resist. How do you suggest academics begin understanding and embracing this paradigm?
A: The paradigm is not new. Colleges often enroll thousands of students, employ hundreds and sometimes thousands of faculty and staff, and provide an array of services that equal or exceed those available in small or even medium-size cities. The days of informal structures and casual leadership have long since passed. Scale and complexity are not synonymous with soullessness, however. And the acknowledgment that colleges must serve many constituent groups with numerous, and sometimes competing interests does not require that we sell out our values. High-functioning institutions hew to their mission, values and founding purposes. At the same time, though, the scale and complexity of operations at most colleges and universities today demands much greater emphasis on strong decision-making leadership skills. The speed of change has accelerated, the needs and expectations of our students have grown, and the pressure to satisfy a remarkable array of interests has increased. As a result, we have to be more attentive than ever to the ways in which we make decisions and the trade-offs those decisions demand. That does not require that we become linear command-and-control enterprises -- that has not proven to work well in American higher education. But it does demand that we adapt our shared governance and decision-making practices to different conditions to ensure that we continue to advance our values and serve students and a common good.
Q: You criticize rankings in the book, saying that because of popular ranking systems, “each of us is actively working to behave and look just like the other.” Why do you take issue with the rankings, and how does a university rise above competing with its peers based on the metrics of popular rankings?
A: Let me be clear: rankings are here to stay. We live in a culture that loves ranked lists. As it turns out, colleges and universities like them, too. In spite of complaints each year when rankings are released, most institutions like being on those lists, especially when they are on or near the top. The various organizations that rank colleges are trying to capture some audience’s attention. Though they increasingly look more and more alike, none measures or values exactly the same thing. They have become important to the college choice process because they seem to provide information objectively, they feature data easily counted and measured (even if not well understood), and they purport to condense or convey otherwise complicated or undifferentiated information. What likely attracts so much interest, though, is that rankings produce the ultimate sound bite in a sound-bite culture. Higher education’s own desire to flood the marketplace with competing and too often vague or unsupported claims provides fertile ground for their creation and consumption. Rather than simply turning the rankings into a winner-takes-all quest built on unattainable emulation, I think colleges and universities should present the lists selectively, not like a state fair ribbon, but rather as tools to help students understand what is most important and least important about what they do or don’t do. That surely will improve the quality of information students receive and help colleges to better define their point of distinction in an otherwise crowded and too often undifferentiated marketplace.
Q: You talk about the importance of distinctiveness for universities and colleges. A lot of colleges struggle with developing a distinct niche. What are some of the biggest roadblocks in this area?
A: Higher education is remarkably self-referential. We look to other institutions, peers and competitors alike, not only to validate our sense of self but also for purposes of emulation. In the end, we too often all look and sound the same: friendly, caring learning communities dedicated to academic excellence and the development of the whole person. On top of that, we all share a huge portion of an organizational genome that has developed over hundreds of years: similar missions, administrative structures, market practices, financial practices and pedagogical practices. The combination of those two conditions can blind us to a real understanding of comparative advantage. We often cannot see meaningful difference and may even be afraid to step out of what is considered normal. We need to break out of that box. If, say, 98 percent of our organizational DNA is shared with peers or competitors, then the two percentage points of difference had better make a real difference. They must be known, valued, convey value and [be] cultivated. The starting point for identifying distinction requires college leaders -- administration, faculty and staff -- to resist the temptation to be all things to all people, the lure to be “pretty good” at everything. A marketplace defined by intense competition and disruption of all sorts demand an institutional commitment to distinction and difference as a prerequisite for success. Leaders must continuously ask the question: What makes us different or better than our peers or competitors? That is knowable.
Q: How does the pricing structure of colleges today make things difficult for families and institutions, and how exactly can it be reimagined?
A: Price, pricing and financing a college education are among the most vexing challenges we face. Though they are related, each presents its own set of challenges. The only price that universally satisfies everyone is zero, an untenable option. Instead, students at any given college or university pay hundreds, sometimes thousands, of different prices after financial aid, a pricing practice that represents our attempt to meet students and families where they are. It’s ultimately a very sophisticated form of one-at-a-time pricing. And when done well, it works well for both students and institutions. Unfortunately, the leap from sticker price to post-financial aid net price is not intuitive, is often complex and is not well understood either by students and families or by people outside of the financial aid or admission office on most campuses. Irrespective of their means, families most often seek the best price possible in relation to both their ability to pay and their sense of the value of a particular college. For their part, colleges seek to manage scarce resources while also addressing ability to pay and willingness to pay. It’s a remarkably complex and angst-producing process, akin to dancing on the head of a pin. The complexity is compounded because there are not standard or even clear benchmarks and guidelines to help families prepare and plan for financing a college education when their children are young.
The Lumina Foundation’s recent paper “A Benchmark for Making College Affordable: The Rule of 10,” is a really interesting attempt to rethink college financial planning and the notion of affordability. It suggests a broader and more integrated way of thinking about financing college beyond the just-in-time issue of paying for college as the expense occurs. It ought to spur a better conversation about financial benchmarks by which families can plan and prepare over a much longer period of time. As for college pricing and pricing practice, in the coming years I think we will see a much stronger push for simplification of the financial aid process. The recent change to the use of prior-prior year income on the FAFSA is the first of what likely will be additional moves to financial aid simplification. I also believe that more colleges will experiment with price through multiyear price setting, price reductions, price freezes and program-based price differentiation as they try to improve or sustain their market position. Lastly, I’m certain we will continue to see greater efforts on campus to more tightly manage the relationship of price and cost and the rate of increase in both. The economic conditions creating pressure on campus now show no sign of changing soon and will continue to demand better fiscal management. Having said all of that, I don’t believe there is a magic elixir that will work for all institutions. As it always has, context -- including mission and values, economic circumstances, and market position -- will continue to shape challenges and opportunities and drive choices at particular institutions. One of the key messages I tried to convey in Breakpoint is “Know thyself very well.”
Q: Moody's Credit Rating Agency has predicted an uptick in college closures in coming years. Based on your understanding of the industry, what is the biggest mistake struggling colleges can avoid as they seek to remain viable?
A: I’m not convinced we will experience a significant increase in the number of college closures in the coming years. Since 2005, the number of four-year colleges that have closed their doors has averaged fewer than five per year. The net number of public and private not-for-profit four-year colleges actually increased by 68 between 2005 and 2013. Closure is rarely a sudden event. It typically plays out over a number of years, accelerating as problems grow worse and remedies fail. Over many decades, though, most colleges and universities have shown remarkable resiliency and adaptability as their operating circumstances have changed. I think the more immediate danger than closing for many colleges is the slippage toward a kind of sustained weakness, trapping the institution into an annual process akin to disease management that closes off the ability to think beyond the challenges of the present. It remains possible to stay open and afloat, but it sucks the energy and vitality out of the institution. The tyranny of the immediate rarely results in anything good. The best way to avoid that condition, which is a step toward the abyss, is to remain absolutely vigilant about changing market conditions -- demographic, economic and cultural -- and to take assertive steps either to head off problems or identify points of opportunity. Complex times require that colleges and universities continuously take their own market pulse and evaluate their course. Bad things happen when we take our eyes off the ball.
Jon McGee
of Counsel
jon-mcgeeJon McGee is vice president for planning and public affairs at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University in Minnesota. His management division includes marketing, institutional research, planning and state and federal government relations.
McGee has worked in higher education research and policy for 24 years. After earning a Master of Arts degree in public affairs in 1988 from the University of Minnesota, he worked in the state’s Department of Finance as a budget analyst, where he was responsible for executive branch planning and development of public sector postsecondary operating and capital budgets. From 1992 to 1999, he was vice president for research and policy development at the Minnesota Private College Council, where he was responsible for analysis of state and federal higher education policy, particularly as they related to education finance and student financial aid, as well as collection and analysis of institutional enrollment and financial data. Much of his work and writing focused on demographic and economic trends and their impact on higher education and public policy.
In 1999, McGee joined the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. He serves on the cabinet of both colleges and is responsible for research and analysis in support of enrollment and budget decision-making, strategic planning leadership, and leadership in support of campus visibility and marketing. He has written regular essays and white papers for Hardwick Day and The Lawlor Group and is a frequently invited speaker nationally on demographic trends, the economics of higher education and the intersection of mission, market and institutional values. He recently completed a book, Educationomics, which examines key forces of disruption in higher education and offers a framework to colleges and universities for addressing those issues. He hopes the book will be published and available in spring 2014. McGee serves on the College Board Midwest Regional Council and as a member of the College Scholarship Service Assembly Council, where he is national chair-elect.
McGee is actively involved in community work, serving on the boards of Casa Guadalupe Multicultural Community and the Stearns History Museum and Research Center. He is a 1984 graduate of Saint John’s University and lives in Cold Spring, Minnesota – a small town with a real hardware store, a small craft brewery, and a great bakery – with his wife and their four children. In two years, he and his wife will begin 14 consecutive years of undergraduate tuition payments.
about jon mcgee
Jon McGee is Vice President for Planning and Public Affairs at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in Minnesota. His management division includes marketing, institutional research, planning and state and federal government relations. He serves on the cabinet of both colleges and is responsible for research and analysis in support of enrollment and budget decision-making, strategic planning leadership, and leadership in support of campus visibility and marketing. He has written regular essays and white papers for Hardwick Day and The Lawlor Group and is a frequently invited speaker nationally. McGee serves on the College Board Midwest Regional Council and as a member of the College Scholarship Service Assembly Council, where he is national chair-elect.
In the fall of 2015, he and his wife will begin 14 consecutive years of undergraduate tuition payments for their four children.
Click here for Jon's full bio!
educationomics
McGee recently completed a book, Breakpoint - The Changing Marketplace for Higher Education published by The John Hopkins University Press, which examines key forces of disruption in higher education and offers a framework to colleges and universities for addressing those issues. Breakpoint is now available at The John Hopkins University Press!
The challenges facing colleges and universities today are profound and complex. In his book, Breakpoint, and his program, Educationomics, Jon argues that higher education is in the midst of an extraordinary moment of demographic, economic, and cultural transition that has significant implications for how colleges understand their mission, their market, and their management.
Drawing from an extensive assessment of demographic and economic trends, Jon presents a broad and integrative picture of these changes while stressing the importance of decisive campus leadership. He describes the key forces that influence higher education and provides a framework from which trustees, presidents, administrators, faculty, and policy makers can address pressing issues in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
Jon McGee
Jon McGee
Vice President, Planning and Public Affairs at College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
St. Cloud, Minnesota Area
Higher Education
Current
College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
Education
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Recommendations 1 person has recommended Jon
500+
connections
Experience
College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
Vice President, Planning and Public Affairs
College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University
1998 – Present (19 years)
Skills
Public SpeakingHigher EducationEnrollment ManagementResearchNon-profitsFundraisingEvent PlanningNonprofitsCommunity OutreachStudent AffairsPublic AffairsStrategic PlanningAdmissionsWritingSocial MediaSee 5+
How's this translation?
Great•Has errors
Education
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Master of Arts (M.A.), Public Affairs
1986 – 1988
St. John's University
St. John's University
Bachelor's degree, Political Science and Government
1980 – 1984
Recommendations
A preview of what LinkedIn members have to say about Jon:
I had an opportunity to hear Jon speak at The Central Association of College and University Business Officers (CACUBO) conference--the regional association of business officers which includes 610 member institutions/organizations. Jon’s topic was Educationomics and in it he discussed the new, challenging, and demanding marketplace for higher education and he provided a management and decision making framework for addressing the disruptive forces that are impacting all colleges and universities. Jon’s presentation was filled with candor, humor, well sourced statistics and his terrific talent for telling great stories. I would recommend Jon as an engaging and entertaining speaker.
See more
Sign up to see who recommended Jon
Groups
Catholic Campus Communicators
Catholic Campus Communicators
Friends of HEDS
Friends of HEDS
St. John's/St. Ben's insider ponders a 'stomach-churning' trend as his own kids head to college
By Maura Lerner Star Tribune
November 11, 2015 — 6:59pm
Text size
comment0
share
tweet
email
Print
more
Jon McGee has been a college administrator for two decades. So he has a pretty good grasp of why, for example, it costs so much to go to college these days.
But as a parent, it really hit home when his eldest child, now 19, started his own college search two years ago.
“I don’t just have one child, I have four,” said McGee. That means his family has just begun “a postsecondary parade that will not end until 2028,” he writes in his new book, “Breakpoint: The Changing Marketplace for Higher Education.”
By his own estimation, financing four kids’ education could cost as much as $1.1 million, “a gulpworthy, stomach-churning total by any definition,” he writes.
The book, which will be published Sunday by Johns Hopkins University Press, was meant as a reader-friendly exploration of the trends that are transforming higher education before our eyes.
Costs. Technology. Demographics.
Yet McGee, 53, who is a vice president at two Minnesota colleges (the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University), offers a distinctive perspective as both a dad and an insider.
He points out that, since World War II, college has evolved from a “luxury good” to a necessity.
“While they often have significant concerns about rising college costs, parents today overwhelmingly expect their children to go to college,” he writes.
At the same time, he warns, people will vote with their feet if they don’t see value for their money.
“Colleges and university leaders can talk about learning value to their heart’s content, but if we cannot address economic concerns in a compelling way … we risk losing the argument altogether,” he writes.
He readily admits that there is no simple fix. But “the burden of proof rests with the institutions to continuously convey the value of what they do.”
What I'm reading: 'Breakpoint'
Danny J. Anderson
63.9 (Oct. 28, 2016): pA20.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 Chronicle of Higher Education, Inc.
http://chronicle.com/section/About-the-Chronicle/83
Last March, I attended an event for new university presidents, at which two seasoned leaders gave advice. President No. 1 shared suggestions for success. President No. 2 asserted that university presidents live in denial about higher-education challenges.
Soon thereafter, I read Jon McGee's Breakpoint: The Changing Marketplace for Higher Education (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015). He melds this contradictory advice into a cogent message: Demographic, economic, and cultural trends have ended the "golden age" of late-20th-century university admissions and expansion. These trends lie beyond our control, yet they shape our choices. We must discern how unsettling these forces will be and what opportunities they will create.
Mr. McGee sounds an alarm like President No. 2, yet he makes practical proposals like President No. 1. With campus conversations about institutional identity, prospective students, pricing, and spending, we can and should plan for the future.
Two points are fundamental. First, no solution fits everyone. Each college must turn inward with brutal honesty and tailor its strategy. Second, the most powerful strategy is "differentiation": We must know our unique strengths, ensure that they are valued in the market, and promote them persuasively. Either dwell in a leadership prison of "me-too marketing" or accept the differentiation challenge as a leadership imperative.
Danny J. Anderson is president of Trinity University, in San Antonio.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Anderson, Danny J. "What I'm reading: 'Breakpoint'." The Chronicle of Higher Education, 28 Oct. 2016, p. A20. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA470998788&it=r&asid=9caf1cc5e114cf4ad0a0bea574070045. Accessed 5 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A470998788
McGee, Jon. Breakpoint: the changing marketplace for higher education
B.J. Keinath
53.8 (Apr. 2016): p1211.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 American Library Association CHOICE
http://www.ala.org/acrl/choice/about
McGee, Jon. Breakpoint: the changing marketplace for higher education. Johns Hopkins, 2015. 169p index afp ISBN 9781421418209 cloth, $26.95; ISBN 9781421418207 ebook, $26.95
53-3598
LB2341
CIP
The information McGee (vice president for planning and public affairs, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's Univ.) presents in Breakpoint is familiar. The demographics of college-bound students have changed, with large increases in students of color and students from lower socioeconomic status. The economics of higher education have changed. Public and private institutions are extremely dependent on tuition but have little flexibility to raise tuition. Culturally, higher education is increasingly seen as a private benefit, not a public good. To a growing percentage of college-bound students and their families, a college degree is about getting a good job rather than a valuable intellectual and developmental experience. This book is unique; McGee weaves together the demographic, economic, and cultural disruptions to present a cohesive argument that the higher education marketplace has changed forever. The "good old days" are gone. Colleges and universities that wish to survive in the new marketplace must "reimagine the future" by critically articulating their true competitive advantages for their kind of students and finding a new fiscal equilibrium that involves both pricing strategies and, notably, spending behaviors. The book's "campus conversation" guides will serve leaders well as they look to the future of their own institutions. Summing Up: *** Highly recommended. Graduate students, faculty, professionals.--B. J. Keinath, University of Minnesota Crookston
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Keinath, B.J. "McGee, Jon. Breakpoint: the changing marketplace for higher education." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, Apr. 2016, p. 1211. General OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=schlager&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA449661729&it=r&asid=88f517c0bda2231eb4d3d32621df252f. Accessed 5 Mar. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A449661729