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Gray Associates, Inc.

Program Evaluation System and Workshop

Unique Attributes Gray Associates offers the only integrated data, system, and process designed to help higher education institutions evaluate their program portfolios.

▪ Custom Market Definitions: Gray works with clients to define markets that correctly align with the areas from which they draw students. These custom market definitions ensure that the data provided specifically represent the areas served by the school, not standard counties or MSAs.

▪ Critical and Unique Data on Student Demand: Our data includes information that is not offered by other program data providers, including critical information on student demand:

— Actual Student Inquiries: Gray provides data on over 55 million student inquiries by program, location, degree level, and preferred modality (online or on-ground). This data is updated quarterly. To the best of our knowledge, no other program data provider or consulting firm offers this data.

— Google Search: Gray pulls Google search data for student searches on 200 programs, incorporating 25 keywords per program and over 3,000 counties in the U.S. This data is updated quarterly. To the best of our knowledge, no other program data provider or consulting firm offers this data.

— IPEDS Completions: Gray also summarizes data from IPEDS on completions per program. This data is widely available, but it represents decisions that were made 2-8 years ago, when students chose their majors or degree program. The Inquiry and Google search data represent choices made in the last 90 days (plus history on prior periods).

— Custom Scoring: Gray’s Program Evaluation System (PES) enables clients to develop program scoring rubrics that reflect the priorities of the institution. The rubrics allow schools to set thresholds and weights for over 40 market criteria in four categories: Student Demand, Competition, Employment, and Degree Fit.

Clients can also create multiple scoring rubrics; for example, undergraduate and graduate programs may have their own rubrics. This can be applied at a more granular level, such as to accommodate individual colleges or schools within the institution. To the best of our knowledge, competing systems do not offer program scoring.

▪ Program Scorecards: Gray has developed Program Scorecards that provide all our market data on a single page. The Scorecards allow decision-makers to quickly assess an individual program market. Competing systems may scatter results across several screens and may require repeated searches to find relevant data for a single program.

▪ Internal Data: Gray’s systems can incorporate client program data, such as enrollment and instructional cost. This information can be displayed on the Program Scorecard, with the market data. To the best of our knowledge, competing systems do not allow institutions to upload data.

▪ Portfolio-Level Evaluation: PES allows clients to score over 1,400 IPEDs programs at a time for each of their markets. In a few seconds, PES provides the institution with an internally consistent ranking of all current and potential new programs, by market. To the best of our knowledge, competing services only provide data on one program at a time, which must then be exported for cross-program comparisons. As we understand it, competitors’ program-level data is adequate for individual program assessments, but their systems are very time-consuming and error-prone when a portfolio includes dozens of programs that need to be evaluated.

▪ Multi-Location Evaluation: Our scoring system can rate and rank programs in several markets simultaneously, so schools can decide not just what programs to offer, but where to offer them. To the best of our knowledge, competing systems do not offer multi-location scoring.

▪ Facilitated Program Portfolio Evaluation Workshops: Gray has designed and developed a Program Portfolio Evaluation Workshop that enables clients to use our data and scoring to decide which programs to “Start, Stop, Sustain, or Grow.” The workshop engages participants from the Academic, Operational, and Administrative areas in a transparent and documented process. We have run over 30 workshops for schools of all types and sizes. The workshops have helped these institutions identify major growth opportunities, win millions in funding for capital projects, and reduce investment in outdated programs. The workshops have also built consensus and support for program decisions that might otherwise have divided the community. To the best of our knowledge, no other firm offers these workshops.