George Fox University:

Looking Back, Looking Forward

How a small, but determined Quaker college became Oregon's largest private college ... and how that can influence our next steps forward

For its first 90 years, George Fox was a small church-related school, never enrolling more than 750 students. In 1983, with enrollment stagnant and financial problems looming, George Fox hired Edward Stevens as president in hopes of changing the future of the institution. Stevens brought a background in business and a doctorate in higher education, management and marketing. From that point forward, George Fox has undertaken a series of strategic changes that expanded the university's mission and capacity to educate and inspire students to pursue God's calling.

An Ambitious Vision

Stevens' vision (shared as he interviewed for the presidency) was for George Fox to be one of the top three or four Christian liberal arts colleges in America. Achieving his vision – and restoring the college to financial stability – would take ambitious goals and a series of aggressive strategic moves.

Read excerpts of the 1983 strategic plan (click arrow)

Highlighted goals from the Century One Planning Committee Report (1983)

Increase student body to 1,000 FTE
Increase diverse characteristics of the student body ... while preserving Friends Church heritage
- Maintain at least 70 percent of undergraduates as residential students
- Increase recruitment of Friends students
- Increase number of international students
- Provide special financial aid to achieve goal of diverse student body
Develop a curriculum to reflect the commitment to be a liberal arts institution that integrates Christian faith and learning
- Promote use of computers in appropriate disciplines
- Increase awareness and appreciation of global issues and cultural differences
Develop programs offering graduate credit in Christian ministries, teacher education and business
Provide year-round continuing education and lifelong learning
Develop a program to increase annual funds and endowment income to a level which will replace diminished federal and state assistance
Continue to recruit and maintain a diverse and competent faculty, staff and administration, and provide for their professional development

Determining a Criterion of Success

Given the spiritual mission of the school, measuring effectiveness was difficult for Stevens. As he wrote in the 1985-86 Annual Report:

“As a high school and college coach and while in business it was never difficult to determine the criterion of success. Win or lose! Profit or loss! Frankly, I find it a lot more difficult in Christian higher education. Is a balanced budget the most important measure? If 200 graduate per year – is that twice as good as 100? Does 75% of faculty with PhDs indicate better education / teaching than 50%? It can be a little confusing. It can also be a little discouraging because you are never sure if you are ‘winning or losing’.”

Serious challenges: Enrollment Decline, Debt, Economic Recession

Between 1980 and 1986, George Fox's enrollment declined 26 percent, falling to 549 students. The Quaker student population – historically the base of the student population – had declined from 225 in the mid-1970s to just 89.

Challenges the college faced included:

A national economic recession
Decreasing government funding for private schools
Debt that annually consumed approximately $1 million of the $6 million annual budget

An Entrepreneurial President Takes a Strategic Approach to Expand the Mission

Soon after taking office, Stevens made several painful belt-tightening moves, including consolidating administrative positions, encouraging early retirement and cutting some faculty positions from full time to three-fourths time. After enrollment fell to 549 in 1986, Stevens made several strategic (and controversial) moves to ensure the sustainability of the college. Many of his changes can be viewed in the marketing strategy framework of the Four Ps (Product, Price, Promotion, Place) developed in Edmund Jerome McCarthy's book, “Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach.”

President Stevens felt there were three possible avenues to putting George Fox on solid financial footing: endowment, donations and student revenue. He put his emphasis on increasing revenue through enrollment growth and relied on three criteria measures for evaluating prospective moves:

Purpose: Does it (program /approach) fit within / extended / enhance our Christ-centered, liberal arts mission?

Performance: Can we do it with excellence?

Profit: Will the program or approach at least “break even” in three years?

Adult Degree Programs: A New Market

After Stevens saw the success of degree-completion programs at a similar institution in the Midwest, he pointed George Fox toward a new and large group of adult students who wanted a new type of college education to meet their needs. In 1986, George Fox became the first Oregon university to offer a degree-completion program for adults. The education of working adults would provide much-needed revenue and became a university skillset that smoothed George Fox's jump into other new programs.

Read more about the Adult Degree Programs (click arrow)

The Adult Degree Program allowed students who had two years of college credit to complete their bachelor's degree with 15 to 17 months of night and Saturday classes. The program was controversial with some faculty, who feared the school was straying from its mission and credit would be given too cheaply.

The average students were much different from the typical high school graduates that George Fox had previously served. On average, they were 37 years old, had attended two previous colleges and were working full time. They entered the program in cohorts of about 15 and had impressive graduation rates of around 95%.

A radio and newspaper advertising campaign was used to promote the degree-completion program. The campaign (which often mentioned the U.S. News and World Report's ranking of the college) is thought to have been successful in building awareness and a positive image of the college as a whole.

Because the students didn't require normal campus facilities, services or financial aid, the program was expected to generate much-needed revenue. The program became profitable in its second year.

Expanding to Additional Locations

The Adult Degree Program enrolled 120 students in its first year and opened teaching sites in Portland, Newberg and Salem. By 1989, the program had enrolled more than 400 students and had expanded to Eugene. In 1995, the program was offered in Boise, Idaho.

The first-year goal of 60 students was exceeded by three. The increased visibility and the addition of the Southern Idaho location also contributed to a greater number of traditional undergraduates in 1996. Boise-based Northwest Nazarene college – one of George Fox’s competitors for traditional undergraduates – originally passed on the opportunity to offer the continuing education program, but later offered to buy it from George Fox. The offer was declined.

The degree-completion program created a new market for George Fox and generated surplus revenues to enhance sustainability.

Competition Increases for Degree-Completion Program

In the late 1980s, the profitability of degree-completion programs drew four competing local colleges into the market. George Fox's new degree-completion student enrollment declined from 181 to 138 in 1991-92. It fell again to 129 in 1992-93.

By 1994, the number of competitors had increased to eight. Most were small colleges which attempted to penetrate the market by offering similar programs at $500 to $1,000 less. This was particularly effective because working adults tended to be more concerned about price than academic reputation. George Fox responded by not increasing tuition in 1995-96 and 1996-97. Late in the 1990s, the University of Phoenix – a massive for-profit university specializing in serving working adults – established a campus a few blocks from George Fox’s Portland Center.

Degree-Completion Adapts Offerings to Meet Student Demand

George Fox’s degree-completion program adapted frequently to meet student demand. The initial degree offered had been Human Resources Management, which was misinterpreted as a personnel management degree. The name was changed to Management of Human Resources (MHR) in 1991.

In 1996, George Fox altered the program to offer two tracks, one in MHR and the other in Management and Organizational Leadership (MOL). In 1999, George Fox added Management and Business Information Systems (MBIS) to its continuing education options. The MBIS program combined a computer technology component with the MOL coursework.

Investing in Marketing and Recruiting

In 1985, for the first time, an outside communication firm was used to develop advertising themes and admissions-printed materials for the traditional undergraduate program.

In one of President Stevens’ more controversial decisions, he chose, in the middle of the 1986-87 academic year, to outsource the college’s admissions process. The university hired D.H. Dagley Associates, an admissions-marketing firm, to recruit its students.

George Fox ended its contract with Dagley in 1993, but retained the admissions staff and many of the processes. During the period with Dagley, George Fox's incoming class of undergraduate students increased from 196 in 1986 to 491 in 1993.

Read more about the outsourcing of admissions (click arrow)

Dagley specialized in meeting enrollment objectives through better a selection of prospects, personal service and home visitations. The outsourcing decision was not popular with faculty, who feared the “headhunters” would prioritize student numbers over academic performance, bringing in a lower-quality student into the undergraduate program. Much of the criticism was silenced when a group of alumni was hired by the firm to implement the process. To afford the unbudgeted $90,000 bill, the trustees approved a deficit budget for the first time in 15 years.

Dagley brought a new emphasis on personalized recruiting in admissions. Faculty, staff, current students, alumni, board members, churches and high school counselors provided names of prospective students. Analysis of matriculating students showed referrals provided the majority of students, not advertising. Admissions counselors made home visits to meet prospective students and their families. They also continued traditional recruiting efforts with high school visits, college fairs, receptions and dinners, preview weekends, and telephone and mail contacts.

Prestige Pricing and Scholarships

Stevens saw financial aid as an integral part of student recruitment, and George Fox followed a national trend of using price and financial aid as a marketing tool. Stevens implemented a "prestige pricing" strategy to increase the perceived value of a George Fox education. In the early 1990s, the college increased tuition by more than 10% for three straight years, including an 18% increase in 1993.

By the late 1990s, George Fox was one of the most expensive colleges in the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. The higher sticker price provided increased opportunity to offer students larger and more impressive scholarships. George Fox continued to offer need-based aid, but merit (no–need) scholarships were also increased. This strategy attracted students who required less of a "discount" and increased enrollment and revenue.

Read more about the shift to using financial aid as a marketing strategy (click arrow)

In 1986, the university added two no-needs scholarships to attract students who could afford to pay the balance of their bill. In 1987, it increased scholarships and grants for students with higher grades and test scores. In response, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores and high school grades rose to new highs among the incoming students.

Stevens oversaw another important policy shift. Prior to 1987, academic scholarships were funded primarily from the endowment, limiting the amount of aid available. After 1987, at least 40% of those scholarships came from institutional funds, an unfunded discount.

In 1988, the school increased merit grants for academics, music, drama and athletics by 29%. Thirty percent of institutional aid went to students who did not have financial need.

In 1996, a consultant was hired to help develop strategies to award aid to meet enrollment goals, meet targeted net revenue goals and control the tuition discount rate. George Fox had to choose between meeting student's financial need with institutional aid or allowing the gap between demonstrated need and financial aid award to grow. Use of institutional aid cuts actual revenue, but allowing the gap to grow resulted in the loss of cost-conscious students and their tuition dollars. At George Fox the gap had grown for five consecutive years. In 1994-95 the gap was $4,200. Borrowing by students increased. Student yield rate (admitted students who enroll) had declined by 8 percent. The new financial aid model was designed to improve the yield rate and enroll students who were most likely to persist through graduation at the institution.

"We target the type of students we want," said Don Millage, CFO at the time. "The type of students who get academic scholarships ... those students tend to come from families that can afford the rest of the cost. Or (scholarships may target) other things ... Friends students or leaders in a specific school we're trying to make inroads into."

In 1996-97, a new financial aid packaging process was implemented. It was credited with improving the acceptance-to-enrollment yield (from 45 to 47 percent), and the new undergraduate student enrollment increased to 484. In 1998-99 – after new undergraduate enrollment had fallen to 345 the previous year – financial aid was again altered in an attempt to attract more students. It was successful in attracting 361 students, but also resulted in a $900,000 financial aid budget overrun. The tuition discount for undergraduates reached more than 40 percent. Revenue from the ADP and graduate programs helped cover the deficit.

In 1999, Oregon's public universities offered a new no-need merit-based scholarship for all Oregon high school graduates with at least a 3.5 grade-point average.

The move drew many Oregon high school students away from Oregon's private colleges. The impact was felt strongly at George Fox, which historically attracted more than half its students from Oregon. Instead of reaching its new traditional undergraduate goal of 500, George Fox enrolled 403.

In response, George Fox sought to increase its recruiting efforts outside of Oregon.

The International Student Market

Stevens saw the potential of the vast international student market, especially for a college situated on the Pacific Rim. George Fox opened its English Language Institute in 1987 to provide college English language courses. It was designed to serve students who did not meet the English requirement for admission to George Fox's undergraduate programs. The program increased George Fox's ability to attract international students and helped utilize campus facilities during the summer. Following completion of the language institute, students were allowed to enroll in the regular classes.

Read more about the English Language Institute (click arrow)

ELI is credited for increasing international student enrollment from four in 1985-86 to 40 (the majority from Japan) in 1989-90. In 1990-91, ELI was profitable with $185,000 in tuition revenues. However with more than 50 international students, it appeared the growth had come too quickly. Growing pains included communication problems, the enrollment of unqualified students and some students' unwillingness to perform serious academic work. When the Japanese economy crashed in the mid-1990s, ELI enrollment declined with it. The program shrunk to 15 in 1994-95.

The international student population mirrored the ELI downturn, falling to 35 in 1995, although the addition of graduate programs helped increase the total to 59 in 1998.

The university’s China initiative later brought several dozen Chinese students to campus. The university later signed a sister-school agreement with the Hunan Institute of Science and Technology in Guangdong, China, and several other universities in Asia.

Expanding Undergraduate Offerings

Through the late 1980s, George Fox began expanding its undergraduate offerings by offering additional degrees in emerging fields such as telecommunications and computer information science. The university also expanded its majors in established fields such as engineering, foreign languages, chemistry, and education.

Until it established an independent program in 1985, George Fox had offered a joint degree program in elementary education with Western Oregon University. After it became an independent program, it became George Fox's largest major, attracting nearly a quarter of all undergraduate students.

Low-hanging Fruit: Improving Retention

During the 1980s, just one-third of students eventually graduated. This hurt George Fox both with morale and financially, because it cost more to recruit new students than to keep the ones it already had. The administration created multiple programs designed to improve retention and attract new students.

They included:

Expanded academic support and orientation programs
Subsidized study abroad opportunities (Juniors Abroad)
Personal computer provided as part of tuition

Read more about retention efforts (click arrow)

Academic Support and Orientation Programs

In 1986, academic programs were developed to provide special attention to provisionally admitted students. In 1989, all freshmen were required to participate in a weekly orientation/academic counseling small-group session during the first semester. Retention of new freshmen from fall to spring increased 4.8 percent over the previous year, to 86 percent. In 1990-91, the fall-spring retention was 90.9.

Retention continued to be a focus in the mid-1990s. A survey in 1999 showed that freshman seminar and subsequent faculty freshman interaction early in the first two years may have influenced retention. Freshman-to-sophomore retention rates increased from 72% in 1995 to 85% in 1998.

Juniors Abroad

To encourage retention and to attract additional students, Stevens began an international study abroad program in 1987. The program offered George Fox students who had completed six consecutive semesters a transportation-paid, faculty-sponsored, three-week study tour outside the country. Participation in the program increased from six students in 1987 to 90 in 1992-93. In 1998-99, 150 participated (out of an eligible class of about 240). The university would become a national leader in percentage of students who studied abroad before graduation.

Computers-Across-The-Curriculum

In 1991, George Fox began its Computers-Across-The-Curriculum program, another recruitment/retention initiative. George Fox gave a computer to every incoming freshman, which students were free to keep upon graduating. If a student left early, he or she returned the computer or paid a prorated amount.

Each faculty member also received a computer. The program helped meet three objectives: It allowed George Fox to increase the computer resources on campus, improve the computer proficiency of its students, and establish a software standard. It also provided a unique marketing tool.

The program was discontinued in 2011 after surveys showed most freshmen already had computers and the new computer no longer was a significant factor in enrollment.

Brand Building: Improving the Positioning of the University

Stevens' goal was to position George Fox as the school for students who wanted strong academics and a strong emphasis upon Christian faith. He had a survey conducted and found George Fox was viewed as strong in both academics and distinctly Christian." Most of its rivals were high in one or the other, but not both. He invested significant efforts in positioning the university, including:

Moving the university into a more academically prestigious athletic conference
Changing the name from George Fox College to George Fox University
Recruiting U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield (photo) to the faculty
Taking leadership roles in national academic circles

Read more about brand positioning efforts (click arrow)

Positioning the University by Athletic Affiliation

In a move calculated to change the perception of George Fox, the university changed athletic leagues in 1994, leaving a league of small public and church colleges and joining the Northwest Conference, a group of the Northwest's more prestigious private colleges.

"As president, I view it as critical to our "position" in the marketplace of higher education," Stevens wrote in 1996. "Much of a school's academic reputation comes from the athletic association." Stevens compared the value of George Fox being a member of the Northwest Conference to the improved perception of Oregon State University because of its membership in the Pac-10.

Soon afterward, in a move that was greeted with dismay by the coaching staff, George Fox and the conference left the little-known National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and joined the better-known, but non-scholarship Division III of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The move affiliated George Fox with a more prestigious national association.

University Status

Early in his tenure, Stevens attempted to change George Fox from a college to a university, but his efforts failed. When the college merged with Wetern Evangelical Seminary in 1996, he pushed through the name change to George Fox University. The change was made to reflect the addition of graduate degrees and as a marketing tool for international (who often understood college to mean high school) and domestic students (who generally considered a university more prestigious than a college).

Recruiting Senator Hatfield

When former Oregon governor and longtime U.S. senator Mark Hatfield announced his retirement from politics, Stevens was the first university president to contact the well-loved statesman about his retirement plans. Stevens was rewarded with Hatfield's acceptance of an offer to be a part-time George Fox professor in 1995. The university received significant media attention when Hatfield held a press conference to announce his intention to teach at George Fox. Stevens told staff he considered the addition of Hatfield to the faculty to be more important to George Fox than the name change from college to university.

National Reputation

Stevens was a gregarious and confident personality. He was active in regional and national meetings of university presidents, and his presence provided a boost to the university's reputation. He was elected president of the NAIA, the national athletic association George Fox was a member of at the time. In 1998, he was in line to become president of the American Association of Presidents of Independent Colleges and Universities.

When U.S. News and World Report started ranking universities in 1987, the magazine determined academic reputation by a poll of university presidents. In the first poll, George Fox ranked 12th out of 184 regional liberal arts colleges. In 1999, George Fox ranked No. 2 overall in its category. The ranking was heavily used by the public relations and admissions offices.

PsyD, an Unexpected Entry into Graduate Education

George Fox began planning to move into the graduate school market in the early 1980s. The initial goal was to establish master's degree programs in teacher education and business management. Surprisingly, neither business nor education was George Fox's first graduate program.

In 1990, George Fox was offered an existing doctor of clinical psychology program by Western Conservative Baptist Seminary in Portland, which felt the program didn't fit its own mission. The transfer cut significant market entry costs. The library resources, 73 students and four professors transferred to George Fox. The limited number of PsyD programs taught from a faith perspective gave George Fox access to a sustainable market niche.

Graduate Teacher Education

Graduate programs in teacher education were launched as a reaction to changing market demand. In 1989, a legislative-appointed state advisory committee (which included a George Fox trustee) recommended Oregon no longer credential undergraduate teacher education programs and move toward professional training in graduate programs.

George Fox moved proactively to offer a master of arts in teaching program that would provide the required professional degree. When the state later changed requirements for current teachers, the university also added the master of education degree.

Read more about the entry into graduate education programs

Product: Master of Arts in Teaching

Building upon its undergraduate strength in education, George Fox added a Master of Arts in Teaching for non-education majors in 1992. It increased each year to 73 graduates in 1998-99. At the time, George Fox's MAT differentiated itself from the competition by offering a packaged program with fixed starting and ending dates.

In 1999, George Fox reacted to student desires and added a 20-month evening MAT program. It enrolled 98 students. The 11-month day program attracted 58 students.

Master of Education

An Oregon law requiring current teachers to obtain a master's degree by 2002 energized another education market for George Fox. In 1994, the masters in education program was offered for teachers with basic licenses and teachers with expired or out-of-state licenses. To many students, earning an MEd resulted in a salary increase. The program was tailored to offer the majority of course work in the summer.

George Fox also worked with school districts to offer the courses in their local area if the districts could get enough teachers together. The MEd enrolled 55 students in 1999.

MBA: Expanding Offerings for Working Professionals

George Fox offered an MBA in 1990, building upon its experience in marketing to and serving working adults. The program used a similar cohort model for working adults in Portland. The worker-friendly format and a print advertising campaign were thought to be keys to the programs' success. The program built upon its existing relationships with previous customers by marketing by direct mail to alumni of the degree-completion Management of Human Resources program. The MBA program graduated between 32 and 39 students from 1996 to 1999.

Seminary Acquisition

In 1996, George Fox merged with Portland's Western Evangelical Seminary, gaining 300 seminary students, 17 faculty members, two major academic graduate programs, significant debt and a valuable new Portland facility.

Read more about the seminary merger (click arrow)

One seminary master's degree was discontinued because of low enrollment. Another was converted to an emphasis within an existing program. One George Fox master's degree was discontinued because it competed with a seminary program.

Much of the administrative services, including financial aid, registrar and student accounts were cut and transferred to George Fox's main Newberg campus. The merger provided a building, allowing George Fox to stop renting facilities for its Portland-based degree-completion programs.

The merger did not happen easily and was nearly called off a number of times. The cultures of the two institutions did not easily mesh. Probably because of damaged relationships in the seminary constituency, the seminary enrollment declined in the following years. It operated with a $235,435 deficit in 1998-99, in part, because of debt servicing of nearly $400,000.

The seminary retained its name until 1999, but because George Fox's name was thought to have a stronger reputation, the name was changed to George Fox Evangelical Seminary.

Online Education: Early Efforts Falter

As the Internet grew in use, George Fox administrators saw distance education as a way to reach a massive new market of prospective students. George Fox invested a half-million dollars in developing an online distance education program in 1996.

Five online undergraduate courses were developed as a pilot program by faculty. Stevens brought in an executive from Apple Computers to launch the program.

"It never got off the ground," said Don Millage, the CFO at the time. "It was a mistake from the start. It was one of the few mistakes Ed (Stevens) made. He thought there was an untapped market for undergraduates. He thought full-time undergraduate students at public schools would want to take a course or two from a Christian perspective."

As it turned out, there was almost no market.

George Fox eventually offered the Adult Degree Program in an online format in 1999, but not enough signed up to start the program. It wouldn't be until 2010 that the first ADP major would be successfully offered in a hybrid online format. In 2018, all majors were offered in hybrid format.

Meanwhile, other programs (especially in education, business and the seminary) were expanding their online options. In 2015, the Master of Education program became George Fox's first program offered fully online.

A Change in Leadership

On June 7, 1997, Ed Stevens suffered a stroke, caused by a brain tumor. He did not return to office before dying in 1998. He was succeeded by H. David Brandt (1998-2007) and Robin Baker (2007-present). Both presidents oversaw expansion of academic program offerings on the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Continued Expansion of Academic Programs

“Ultimately, I’m a program person,” said Brandt, who oversaw the addition of 15 undergraduate programs and nine graduate programs. Two of the new programs – engineering and nursing – became among the top-five-largest majors on campus. The graduate student population grew to nearly half of the overall student body. Both the MBA and the master of arts in teaching programs enrolled more than 200 students by 2007.

Read more about new program additions (1998-2007) (click arrow)

Undergraduate programs added, 1998-2007

Accounting
Allied health
Athletic training
Economics
Engineering
Health administration *
Music education
Nursing
Organizational communication
Philosophy
Political science
Project management *
Social and behavioral studies *
Social work
Theatre arts

* adult degree-completion programs

Graduate programs added, 1998-2007

Doctor of education
Doctor of management
Doctor of ministry
MA in Christian ministries
MA in ministry leadership
MA in organizational leadership
MA in school counseling
MS in school psychology
MA in spiritual formation

A Successful Formula: Faith-friendly Accredited Graduate Programs in 'Helping Professions'

George Fox found early success offering graduate programs in the education field that were provided from a Christian faith perspective and also led to professional licensure. The MEd, MAT and administrative licensure programs continue to be among the largest graduate programs at George Fox.

The university found the formula worked in other helping professions such as social work and counseling. The counseling program came to George Fox as part of the 1996 seminary merger and reached 313 students in the fall of 2020. The program has found a niche between public and secular private colleges that are uneasy with religious worldviews and smaller Christian colleges that focused on Christian counseling but not professional licensing. The counseling program also created specializations in play therapy and trauma response.

Maintaining a Christ-Centered Culture

As the university grew larger, the leadership sought to maintain the university’s Christ-centered mission. One significant effort was a faculty orientation program, in which new professors took classes in Christian theology and how the Christian faith relates to different academic disciplines. At the end of the program, professors each wrote a paper explaining how they integrate faith into their teaching.

Continued Emphasis Upon Marketing and Branding

Brandt and Baker both made marketing a university priority, championing integrated marketing campaigns that changed the public face of the university. In the early 2000s, the university replaced its 30-year-old institutional logo and longtime athletics logo, created new recruitment materials, revamped its stationery package, redesigned its website, and converted its university tabloid to a full-color magazine, Journal.

Be Known Promise

The "Be Known" brand promise was introduced in 2010, and the promise that students would be known academically, personally and spiritually has been embraced across the university.

Embracing a Data-Informed Approach to Marketing and Admissions

In the early 2000s, George Fox's marketing and admissions teams were successful at generating large numbers of inquiries from across the U.S. However, an analysis of student data determined that the vast majority of enrolled students came from just four states on the West Coast. Advertising and staff resources were being spent on recruiting low-yielding groups of students. This led the university to shift resources from national to regional advertising in 2009. Market research also identified the declining influence of print advertising on prospective students.

The university shifted to outdoor (billboard) advertising for graduate and the adult degree programs, building significant brand awareness for the university in Oregon. George Fox also moved to invest budget and staff time in digital marketing. Another bold change came when the newly formed data analytics department took over the previously outsourced technical back end of admissions' complex direct-mail campaigns that accounted for more than half of the university's enrolled undergraduates.

Developing an Ethnically Diverse Community

George Fox University has worked (with mixed success) for decades to encourage ethnic diversity on campus. In 1961, the college hired Mildred Ellis, its first Black employee, as chair of the division of fine and applied arts. In 1990, the university began offering scholarships designed to attract students of color. In 1998, the university hired a director of multicultural services to assist in recruitment, retention and diversity programing.

Act Six Leadership and Scholarship Program

Launched in 2007, the Act Six program annually provides multicultural student leaders with four-year all-expense scholarships and leadership training. Through a partnership with Portland Leadership Foundation, Act Six is designed to equip participating students to be leaders on campus and in their home communities.

When the undergraduate admissions office shifted its messaging in 2012 to clearly articulate the large academic scholarships available to prospective students, George Fox saw a significant increase in its Hispanic student population. The number of Hispanic students on campus increased nearly 60 percent from six years prior.

The university continues to invest in staffing and programming to make the university a more welcoming place for students and employees of color. In fall of 2020, students of color made up one third of the university's incoming traditional undergraduate class. Many of today's campus diversity efforts can be viewed on the university's diversity website.

A Changing Student Population

Undergraduate Ethnicity 2004-2020

(to view animation, hit refresh on your browser)

Traditional Undergraduate Program: Changing Competitor Set

For many years, Oregon State University and Seattle Pacific University were George Fox's top competitors for undergraduate students. Seattle Pacific has dropped out of the top five in recent years, while Linfield University has moved up, likely because of proximity and competing nursing and athletics programs.

Colleges "most seriously considered" by enrolled traditional undergraduate students
(Fall 2020 survey of enrolled first-year students)

1. Oregon State University
2. Linfield University
3. Portland State University
4. University of Portland
5. Concordia University

Read more about the reasons undergraduate students say they choose George Fox (click arrow)

Five themes emerged when enrolled freshmen responded to the question: "In your own words, what are the three most important reasons that you chose to attend George Fox?" Themes in the order of the frequency of which they were mentioned:

1.) Community/Be Known Promise. Mentioned by 63% of students. It is clear that students understand that they will be cared for at George Fox. Other words associated with this theme would be safe, caring, supportive, small, friendly, close.

2.) Major/Academics. Mentioned by 57% of students. This category breaks into two sub-categories. The biggest segment of this group mentions the presence of the major they wanted and the perceived quality of that major. The second and smaller segment mentions academic quality/reputation.

3.) Christ-centeredness. Mentioned by 56% of students. Just slightly below academics is Christ-centeredness. While the majority of our students still find this to be a primary reason for choosing us, in year-over-year comparisons we have seen this slip slightly.

4.) Location. Mentioned by 47% of students. When students mention location, they either talk about its proximity to their home (i.e. "close to home" or "just far enough away from home"), or they specifically mention the feel of Newberg and the draw of how Newberg sits in proximity to all of the features of the Pacific Northwest.

5.) Athletics. Mentioned by 23% of students. For many student-athletes, their ability to play their sport defines their college choice sets, and other factors help define their final decision.

A Shift Toward Professional Programs

George Fox has provided professional preparation in fields such as education and business for decades. In the last 20 years, it intentionally stepped further beyond its liberal arts roots to expand its engineering and healthcare offerings. Engineering was expanded from a 3/2 transfer program to a four-year major in 2000 and has expanded to offer several concentrations. Recent analysis of student persistence showed that incoming students who declared a major in engineering were the most likely to eventually graduate.

Expanding into Healthcare

A statewide shortage of nurses helped encourage George Fox to add a nursing major in 2005. The traditional undergraduate BSN has become one of the university's largest majors and a major draw for prospective students. On the other hand, an RN-to-BSN hybrid program was launched in 2019 but failed to find a sustainable market and will be phased out in 2021.

Launching into Graduate Healthcare Education

George Fox again expanded its mission early in President Robin Baker's tenure when it began looking at high-barrier/high-demand graduate programs. These degree programs had high student demand but required significant resources to start that few local competitors would be able or willing to offer.

Doctor of Physical Therapy

In 2012, George Fox added a doctor of physical therapy program, just the second accredited PT program offered in the state. The program required significant investment in faculty and facilities to achieve accreditation. The new program immediately became the university's most competitive for students, with acceptance rates around 10%.

Physician Assistant Program

The university is following a similar high-demand/high-barrier strategy with the addition of a physician assistant (PA) program in spring 2021. Even before receiving full accreditation, the program saw 650 applications for its initial class of 20.

Investing in Undergraduate Programs and Amenities

Over the last two decades, George Fox has continued to invest in the in-person traditional undergraduate experience. Highly visible additions include Canyon Commons, Hadlock Student Center and new facilities for intercollegiate athletics.

Increasing Opportunities in Athletics

Adding intercollegiate sports – football, lacrosse, golf and swimming – has allowed the university to reach a student population that otherwise might not have considered George Fox. Football, in particular, was viewed as a strategy to bolster a declining male student population. As a member of NCAA Div. III, George Fox is not permitted to award scholarships on the basis of athletic talent. Student-athletes receive financial aid similar to the general student body.

Introduction of Honors Program

Despite a marketplace and university shift toward professional preparation, the liberal arts continue to hold a place of significance in the undergraduate experience. The university expanded its offerings to traditional undergraduates with the 2014 launch of the honors program. The "Great Books" program replaced most of the general education courses for participants and proved to be an attraction for prospective students.

Read about significant new facility investments since 2000 (click arrow)

The following Newberg campus facilities have been constructed or undergone major renovation since 2000.

- Academics
  1. Roberts Center renovation
  2. Wood-Mar Auditorium renovation
  3. Hoover Academic Building renovation
  4. Klages Center/Maker Hub renovation
  5. Medicine and Health Science Center (Werth Boulevard)
- Student Life
  1. Canyon Commons
  2. Hadlock Student Center
  3. Stoffer Stadium/Duke Athletic Center/Morse Field/Austin Sports Complex
  4. New residence halls and renovation of campus houses
  5. Chehalem Aquatic Center renovation (donation of $500,000)
- Administration/Plant Services
  1. Stevens Center
  2. Thomas Center

Shifting Resources

Becoming more sustainable has not always meant adding revenue-generating programs. The university leadership also has made difficult decisions to cut or reduce investments in programs and locations that were not financially sustainable. Examples include cutting ties with Tilikum Camp and Retreat Center, closing the Boise Center, moving the Salem Center to a lower-cost location, and phasing out low-enrollment majors and minors. Few of the decisions were simple or easy, especially those that resulted in the loss of employees.

Achieving Stevens' Vision

Stevens' vision was for George Fox to become one of the America's top three or four Christian liberal arts colleges. Arguably, that vision was achieved three decades later when George Fox appeared in Forbes' 2009 list of the top 100 "America's Best Colleges," ranking first among all CCCU institutions.

Even as the university has expanded its mission, the university's commitment to a Christ-centered education has remained consistent.

Looking Forward

As it did in the 1980s, George Fox faces a challenging higher education landscape. While the university is starting from a more stable financial foundation, we face a future where technology has changed student expectations and brought us into direct competition with universities and organizations we never would have imagined just a few years ago.

Read more of the current challenges George Fox University faces (click arrow)

Challenges facing George Fox today include:

Plateauing or declining numbers of high school graduates and resulting declines in college enrollment
Incoming students entering with college credit earned, shortening time in college and decreasing per-student revenue
Increasing utilization of online general education courses at other universities
Increasing student debt and Dave Ramsay anti-debt culture among evangelicals
Increasingly secular culture hostile to traditional Christian views of sexuality morality
Increasing questions about value of a college degree and new alternative pathways to technological careers
Increasing low-cost online and “big box” competition, including organizations from outside academia
Increasing competition even in high-barrier programs
Closures and mergers in higher education lead to uncertainty and lack of trust in private higher education
Tuition discounting by direct competitors
Students increasingly expect a seamless, personalized technological experience
COVID-19 crisis stresses all systems, especially in lower-income and communities of color
Higher education’s sudden shift to test-optional admissions reduces access to prospective student data, placing higher burden upon marketing and admissions to find high-quality student leads

Budget Projection: Course Correction Needed

As of 2023, the traditional undergraduate program generates more than half of the university's revenue. Over the next 10 years we project undergraduate revenues will likely decline while graduate program revenues will increase as we add programs in health sciences. On our current course, we anticipate expenses soon will exceed revenue unless changes are made.

T.F.W.M.T.S

In the 1990-91 report to the board of trustees, President Stevens cautioned against complacency. "In the study of management and marketing is found a common mistake of successful organizations: T.F.W.M.T.S. It stand for "They Forgot What Made Them Successful." He told the trustees that George Fox had been successful because it had employees who were competent, committed and called. George Fox faculty and staff continue to possess these traits and they are the reason we will overcome the challenges we face.

It is Time Once Again to Expand our Mission.

Our commitment to a Christ-centered education will continue to be our key differentiator in the marketplace, but to move ahead these will be our path moving forward:

Purpose: To educate and inspire students to pursue God's calling

Mission: George Fox University, a Christ-centered community, prepares students spiritually, academically, and professionally to think with clarity, act with integrity, and serve with passion.

Strategic Imperatives: (1) Christ at the center. (2) Think sustainably. (3) Be flexible and adaptable. (4) Innovation to improve outcomes.

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