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The “cliff” is on the horizon, and we need to attract not just traditional transfer students, but post-traditional students as well. The working adult student, with full-time employment, child and/or eldercare responsibilities, and financial responsibilities needs to be a focus.  The veteran student who is has major life experience and does not want to be in a classroom with traditional undergraduate students needs to be a focus.  There are over 6 million individuals in the state of California alone, with some college coursework.  Moorpark College has developed a thriving PACE program (accelerated associate degrees for working adult students) and Oxnard College is adding one.  The blueprint already exists.  With financial and human resources focused on recruiting, marketing, designing curriculum that speaks to the working adult learner, robust online and in-person offerings, this program can really take off and be the gold star in our region and beyond.

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What if we became a carbon neutral campus. I believe this would invite both students and faculty to join CLU. We could develop programs that educate and support our carbon neutral campus.

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There are only 14 DPT programs in the entire state of California.  All these programs have capacity limits forcing large numbers of aspiring physical therapists to go out of state to prepare.   CLU has an extraordinary exercise sciences programs and with the addition of the new science facility, it seems the time is right for a doctoral level physical therapy program (DPT).

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California Lutheran has an exceptional reputation for preparing educators for the P-12 school system.  Decision makers at districts throughout the County will attest to their preference for hiring CLU prepared educators.

We know that there is a teacher shortage in our state(more than 5,000 emergency permits were issued to fill classrooms last year) and CLU is well positioned to make a difference.  The areas impacted the most include, Special Education, deaf and hard of hearing teachers, World Languages, bi-lingual teachers, math and all sciences.   Our award winning programs, and award winning p-12 partnerships can be expanded to improve teacher residencies and encourage those with STEM experience to become teachers.  This is an area where CLU is known and can make an impact with more resources.

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Be a leader as a private faith based institutions in Ethnic and Race studies and DEI

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Be a leader as a private faith based institutions in Ethnic and Race studies and DEI

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Ethnic and Race Studies Certificate for in service teachers and future teachers as a respond to the Ethnic Studies requirement in K-12 and Community Colleges 

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Ethnic and Race Studies Certificate for in service teachers and future teachers as a respond to the Ethnic Studies requirement in K-12 and Community Colleges 

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Invest in Ethnic and Race Studies as a model program.

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The CLU NSSE 2020 Respondent Profile indicated that almost 21% of surveyed students identify as LGBTQ+. In an age where many LGBTQ+ youth are alienated in their homes and churches, providing a theology and christian leadership program that is explicitly identified as pro-LGBTQ+ has great potential for attracting LGBTQ+ students, and those wishing to serve those communities. This serves the mission of the university and the ELCA. The very fact of having such a forward program can identify CLU as a "gay-friendly" campus (if it is... I would hope that is on the forth-coming campus community survey), and draw many students to attend.

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CLU is well suited, particularly as an HSI, for folks to earn some kind of certificate, minor, or even double major in something like "Spanish for Health Professionals." The same could be said of an option for folks to do the same with "Spanish for Business and Management," etc. Something like this could be practical (there is a need), versatile (applying to multiple majors), and consistent with our mission (serving the under-served/ HSI). It has an added benefit of strengthening both the liberal arts and the sciences/ business professions.

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Education Credential & Master's Programs

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Education Credential & Master's Programs

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As others have mentioned, the need for teachers and counselors in K-12 continues to be a pressing need, particularly given the high retirement and burnout rates currently experienced in the field. One opportunity would be expanding our current programs more into the Los Angeles County area. Right now, we have some programs offered at the Woodland Hills campus, but if there was an opportunity to be more targeted and build partnerships particularly with LAUSD, there may be an opportunity for continued growth in this area. Additionally, there are opportunities for new programs to be created as well. For example, some area schools are focusing in on anti-racist education. There may be opportunities to create joint programs between the Ethnic/Race Studies program and the GSOE to build programs focused on social justice and equity in education or faculty who could teach courses at both the graduate and undergraduate level on such curriculum.

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Don't take the "Arts" out of Liberal Arts

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Don't take the "Arts" out of Liberal Arts

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Cal Lutheran distinguishes itself by sticking to its strong liberal arts tradition. In an uncertain and changing world, the insights, critical thinking skills and broad education we deliver are more relevant than ever.

As we look to the future, programs in the arts and humanities should not be overlooked as superfluous, but as an essential ingredient to a great education. While many will advocate for focus on vocational programs, let us not lose what makes Lutheran higher-ed unique.

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The teacher shortage in the nation is reaching a crisis level, with recent data showing more teachers leaving after just one year than at any other time period in the past three decades. Although statistics vary by region, current research has shown that 37-48% of K-12 teachers leave the profession within the first five years of their career. There is a tremendous opportunity for us at Cal Lu to increase the number of under-represented populations in our path to credentialing program and support them through to a successful completion of their credentialing program.

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Re: the post "Keep and Build on the Successful Students You Have"

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Re: the post "Keep and Build on the Successful Students You Have"

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I can certainly understand why the suggestion that we focus on programs that have a high return on investment may not appeal to some because we want to believe that students should follow their purpose or passion, but the increasing burden of student loan debt, availability of tools for calculating return on investment for college programs, and online delivery models that are far more affordable, agile, and responsive to employers' needs in certifying knowledge and skill areas for an ever-changing workplace will have a net negative impact on traditional higher ed institutions in the near future. The halcyon days of parents willing to send their kids to a private college "for a $184k college experience" to earn degrees that will keep them in debt for many years will soon give way to new free or low cost business models where students can engage in true experiential learning and be paid for that learning while attending college, while expensive private universities will be left to justify their tuition by providing programs that have a demonstrated return on investment.

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Practical experience gives students an advantage when they leave Cal Lutheran to begin their careers. While there's no doubt we are a liberal arts university at our core, we need to make a little more room for helping our students apply what they have learned in pursuit of their vocations. Requiring an internship would be a wonderful way to do this.

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Open a satellite campus at The Oaks Mall. It would be especially useful for our professional students. So may of our students visit The Oaks, so a satellite would be useful for them, too. Enclosed shopping malls were undergoing a transformation even before the pandemic. It's much more common to see service-oriented businesses in a mall. There's even an art gallery at The Oaks.

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With the number of traditional college-aged students attending college right out of high school declines and students are either needing to go directly into the workforce or find alternative ways to achieve an education (i.e. trades, etc.), it is time we look at ways to serve post-traditional populations. The Bachelor's Degree for Professionals program is an ideal program for students who have had to join the workforce, cannot attend a traditional daytime class schedule or they simply are not interested in the more "traditional" college experience. Veterans, caregivers, working professionals, etc. can all benefit from the flexibility that the Professionals Undergraduate program can provide. With more resources and understanding of the program and it's benefits as well as more resources towards recruitment, I believe that the university can be known for this additional "track" option to obtain a Bachelor's Degree and thus attract more students.

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In line with the new GE proposals for areas of distinction, I’d like to see CLU become known as a center of social and environmental justice in the 21st century. I think this would attract many young idealists to our campus. It is rooted in our mission. We could also become known as a center of applied religious progressivism, where students learn how to practically implement their values in the world.

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Lets break down the silos. Instead of building, maintaining, and housing individual masters level analytics programs across different departments, lets build one, an MS in Data Science with 3-5 specializations such as Analytics & Modeling, Analytics Management, Artificial Intelligence, Data Engineering, General Data Science, etc. Students love flexibility, and wouldn't it be great if a student could enroll in an analytics program and have the freedom to pursue one of many tracks. Lastly, to attract students, I think we need to use the phrase Data Science in the name of the program, it is what is attracting students and that's what most want to learn.

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Fast-growing new minor could grow into major that attracts more pre-med/nursing/PA students to Cal Lu.
Also, climate/environmental science courses connect to public health, so could be attractive option for those interested in the intersection between environmental impacts and the health of communities

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It would be highly beneficial to have a Performing Arts Center and program that supports students with the latest technologies and facilities.

The community would also benefit by having a place to come to to attend events/hold concerts/lectures/workshops etc. The facilities could even draw outside organizations to sponsor the space.
This could be similar to Utah, with their universities being a home base for their symphony etc.

Echoing the comment above, we have so much to draw on being so close to LA; the entertainment capital of the world.

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The current political climate, extreme polarization of views and perspectives, and the escalating tension between the powerful and less powerful countries has had a destabilizing effect on our sense of safety and security throughout the world. With concerns about climate change, global pandemics, escalating tensions between developed and developing countries, human rights violations, and toxic social media and political environments, rates of anxiety and depression are climbing across the globe. Younger generations are worried about what the future holds for them. The conditions for peace are becoming rapidly more fragile and unpredictable in the face of emerging superpowers and new threats to human life and well-being. The focus on human happiness is quickly being replaced by a more relevant need for human safety and security. I feel that Callutheran is uniquely positioned to create a Peace and Conflict Studies program that prepares students to understand the conditions for peace and to dedicate their lives to conflict resolution, activism, and realizing global peace.

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Build on the demand for technology programs

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Build on the demand for technology programs

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Cal Lutheran did have a Masters program in Computer Science (https://www.callutheran.edu/news/69.html) which was folded into the MS Information Technology program at the end of the 2014-15 academic year. It also had a B.S. Bioengineering program that was dissolved during 2013-14.  Enrollments were reasonably strong when the programs were cancelled.

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MS CS and BS  Bioengineering Fall Enrollments

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By 2050, the United States will be the country with the most Spanish speakers in the world. Hispanics in California are already the biggest minority group in the State, Internationalization is embedded in Callutheran's mission statement and we are a HSI. We are not helping our students if we are not preparing them to a globalized market place where they can differentiate themselves from other job applicants with the same degree as them.

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Students appear to be attracted to research opportunities. Although we can not offer some of the research opportunities that large state schools offer, we can offer more opportunities per student then the state schools. More precisely, we can market that a larger percentage of our students participate in undergraduate research than UCLA.

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Undergraduate Research (OURCS) and Experiential Learning

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Undergraduate Research (OURCS) and Experiential Learning

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Undergraduate Research is an invaluable experience for our students and an excellent recruiting tool for students to have easily accessible and rigorous research opportunities working alongside faculty. This should be supplemented by continued support in the ALLIES in STEM office to promote diverse cohorts of researchers from traditionally underrepresented groups.

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Engineering, Science, Technology and Design Thinking

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Engineering, Science, Technology and Design Thinking

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Innovation is currently the primary driver of every economy, and the future of innovation is centered in engineering, science, technology and design thinking. If a School of Engineering does not make it on the list, then I recommend focusing our efforts on creating a world-class science, technology and design thinking track.

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The American spirit of entrepreneurship and ecosystem that enables it is still the envy of the world. We could offer a certificate for online students around the world and perhaps offer hybrid and in person courses where there is significant demand.

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Our Master's Degree in Quantitative Economics (MSQE) program is in essence also a data science program. MSQE enrollment is small, but perhaps by offering more general data science degree, we could expand its size and influence. The MSQE faculty is highly regarded in its field and is an authority on the importance of Latino contributions to USA GDP.

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Several other comments mention Computer Science, Data Analytics, AI, Machine Learning, etc.

Our M.S. Information Technology, post-grad I.T. Certificate, and undergrad computer science programs teach these skills, but domestic enrollment is incredibly low for those programs despite them being the hottest skills for career marketability. We need to do a better job getting eyes on these programs and emphasizing the skills being taught there.

The comment about giving CS/Engineering its own school is a great idea, too. It would help align our undergrad and graduate technology programs so there's a clear path to the graduate level for undergrads in STEM.

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From its inception, our Center for I&E has pursued a path toward distinguishing itself in its field. That path has by and large been successful and has much more potential. Pre-pandemic, Cal Lutheran faculty presented regularly at conferences. The Center Director is on the board of the Society for Arts Entrepreneurship Education (SAEE) and hosted one of the first online conferences during the pandemic. The Center is the beneficiary of one of the largest single gifts in CLU history. There's lots more potential for the Center that could distinguish CLU.

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Rather than starting a law school, acquire the Santa Barbara & Ventura Colleges of Law, https://www.collegesoflaw.edu. SOM already is talking to them about a partnership. There's not a lot of data about their financial health, but for this to work, the acquisition price would have to be a bargain.

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California Law School: J.D., M.L.S. & Hybrid | The Colleges of Law

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The Colleges of Law offers affordable J.D., M.L.S., and Hybrid law degrees located in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and online. Learn more today.

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Home

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The City of Thousand Oaks recently completed a master plan that sets the stage for development of a proper downtown. See https://www.toaks2045.org. If we really are planning to grow to 5,000 students, it might be nice to have a sister campus nearby with proximity to restaurants, shopping and affordable housing (also part of the plan). This makes more sense than sprinkling small satellite campuses throughout the region.

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Welcome!

Welcome to the Thousand Oaks 2045 General Plan Update! We hope it serves as a useful tool for you to become familiar with and get involved in the Citywide effort to update the General Plan.

The Thousand Oaks community is creating a new guiding vision, goals, and policies for the City. This exciting initiative, Thousand Oaks 2045 General Plan: Rooted in Community, will result in a planning and policy document that maintains the wonderful and unique character of Thousand Oaks, while creating opportunities for future improvements on just about everything in our City, from housing to health, to economic development, conservation, safety, open space and more.

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Welcome to the Thousand Oaks 2045 General Plan Update! We hope it serves as a useful tool for you to become familiar with and get involved in the Citywide effort to update the General Plan. The Thousand Oaks community is creating a new guiding vision, goals, and policies for the City.

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This week, the Uplift Central Coast Coalition was announced, https://www.citizensjournal.us/uplift-central-coast-coalition-launches-to-advance-space-and-aeronautics-across-a-six-county-region/, spanning six counties, including Ventura. The goal of the coalition is to make the region a powerhouse in the aerospace industry. It's not in our wheelhouse, but, with so much funding in play, perhaps we should consider it.

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A trail-blazing coalition spanning six counties has come together to advance space and aeronautics across the Central Coast and create an aerospace technology corridor bridging the centers of industry to the north and south. This effort paints a cohesive and vibrant vision for the future of the region by leveraging existing assets and new investment to catalyze industry growth and create thousands of good-paying jobs.

Led by REACH, the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) and the Economic Development Collaborative (EDC), the Uplift Central Coast Coalition comprises a growing collection of industry, government and education partners across Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito Counties.

"Each of us in our respective markets has innovative companies shaping the future of air and space, world-class universities and other valuable assets," REACH President/CEO Melissa James said. "By connecting the dots, building a robust talent pipeline and removing barriers, we can drive transformational growth across a vast expanse of our state."

The coalition, with REACH as the lead agency, submitted a $70 million grant application under the Biden Administration's $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge for eight projects (listed in the attachment) that together would create nearly 10,000 jobs, catalyze growth for 150+ companies, spur more than $500 million in investment, train and upskill 2,000 workers per year and reach more than 30,000 K-12 students per year. The 182-page Phase 1 application to the U.S Economic Development Administration represents 13 coalition members and includes more than 90 letters of support from businesses, education, nonprofit and civic organizations, government, and elected leaders.

The coalition also expects to compete for a share of California's new $600 million Community Economic Resilience Fund, established to support inclusive and equitable regional economic development initiatives.

"This expansive coalition exemplifies the type of regional collaboration the state is aiming for in our economic recovery efforts," said Dee Dee Myers, director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz). "It aligns with our vision for both sustaining and growing California's position at the forefront of the aerospace and commercial space industries, pushing the boundaries of innovation and creating the jobs of the future."

Committed to long-term collaboration, the coalition plans to pursue a combination of federal, state, industry, and public-private partnership resources to fund a growing range of strategically aligned initiatives to:

Advance industry-identified requirements for workforce development from K-16, offering equitable pathways into the growing sector

Create two innovation districts, one for polar space launch at Vandenberg Space Force Base and one for drone and air taxi development in Monterey Bay

Build infrastructure and construction projects that will unlock business and job growth

Establish a network of three aerospace incubators to support new business formation, university partnerships and entrepreneurship.

"The global space and aeronautics industry - including next-generation drone development, rocket launch and logistics, electric air taxi innovation and other new and emerging technologies - is skyrocketing," MBEP President/CEO Kate Roberts said. "Through rigorous collaboration and strategic investment, we firmly believe this game-changing coalition can unlock billions in economic impact and many thousands of quality jobs for the region."

"This vision is not just of economic growth, but of increased economic opportunity for more than 2 million people across an area larger than 10 states," EDC President/CEO Bruce Stenslie said. "The space and aeronautics industry offers great opportunity for inclusive growth, with entry-, middle- and high-level jobs in skilled labor, engineering, and management. By prioritizing home-grown talent through new education and training pathways, our vision uplifts our residents as it uplifts the region and its contributions to the nation's economy and innovation leadership."

"The enthusiasm that has gathered around this effort in short order is truly impressive," said Micah Weinberg, CEO of California Forward, which successfully advocated for the state's CERF program. "With such widespread passion and commitment behind the vision, the sky really is the limit."
Contacts
Sally Buffalo

803.415.4150

Melaine McNulty

Monterey Bay Economic Partnership

408.464.0367

Tracie Schneider

Economic Development Collaborative

805.279.4534
About the Uplift Central Coast Coalition
The Uplift Central Coast Coalition comprises 13 partners (listed in the attached table) across industry, government and education and is expected to grow over time. The coalition is being overseen by the region's three economic development organizations, Monterey Bay Economic Partnership, Economic Development Collaborative and REACH, with REACH as the lead agency on the U.S. EDA Build Back Better grant application.
About REACH
REACH is a regional economic action coalition created to ensure the Central Coast of California is a place where current and future generations have the opportunity to thrive. With a mission to increase economic prosperity through big thinking, bold action and regional collaboration and the goal of creating 15,000 good-paying jobs by 2030, REACH serves the Central Coast region spanning San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. reachcentralcoast.org
About Monterey Bay Economic Partnership
Monterey Bay Economic Partnership (MBEP) is a regional nonprofit member-supported organization consisting of public, private and civic entities located throughout the counties of Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz. MBEP's mission is to improve the economic health and quality of life in the region. mbep.biz
About Economic Development Collaborative
A private nonprofit, the Economic Development Collaborative was founded in 1996 with funding from the County of Ventura, the 10 cities in the county and key private-sector companies to provide a pathway to business growth, economic prosperity, and high quality of life for all. Today, in partnership with the Small Business Development Center, the EDC is a regional asset for economic vitality in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles counties, giving businesses, community partners and civic leaders the resources they need to succeed. By leveraging public and private funds, the EDC has become a key player in delivering business consulting, funding and strategic initiatives that support the region. edcollaborative.com

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Uplift Central Coast Coalition Launches To Advance Space And Aeronautics Across A Six-County Region

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A trail-blazing coalition spanning six counties has come together to advance space and aeronautics across the Central Coast and create an aerospace technology corridor bridging the centers of industry to the north and south. This effort paints a cohesive and vibrant vision for the future of the region by leveraging existing assets and new investment to catalyze industry growth and create thousands of good-paying jobs.

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We prize our student athletes and offer programs that serve their interests: exercise science, psychology, sports management, entrepreneurship, hospitality. We are one of the few universities to host  a professional sports team. A few miles from campus is Sports Academy, https://sportsacademy.us, a facility that caters to professional athletes and amateurs alike. I agree with many of the posts that propose health science-related programs, but I think that a sports science focus would distinguish us more.

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High School Pre-Season Training Camps

Up your game heading into your high school basketball season with our Sports Academy coaches! Our expert skills trainers will send you into the season with a set of new tools in your kit during our High School Basketball Preseason Training Camps. These short-duration camps will provide focused, skills-based training to make a real impact on your game.

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Home | Sports Academy | Train the SA Way

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High School Pre-Season Training Camps Up your game heading into your high school basketball season with our Sports Academy coaches! Our expert skills trainers will send you into the season with a set of new tools in your kit during our High School Basketball Preseason Training Camps.

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I heard from a community member that there is an insatiable demand for social workers. This kind of program sounds like a wonderful complement to GSoP.

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Grad Program for Computer Science & Engineering

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Grad Program for Computer Science & Engineering

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While it would be great to have a comprehensive undergrad school of engineering, it seems unlikely that we can raise the money to make that happen ($500-750M to do it right). A graduate school of computer science and engineering is within the realm of possibility, though. The lab space is less complicated, and we already have an undergrad CS program. The model for this kind of program is CMU Silicon Valley: https://www.sv.cmu.edu. it offers a limited number of degree options, but every one of its graduates walks into a high-paying job. We could offer the same service in the LA area.

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When the pandemic forced CMU Silicon Valley to operate remotely, the student affairs team created a virtual immersion program to provide students with professional and social opportunities to keep them engaged.

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When the pandemic forced CMU Silicon Valley to operate remotely, the student affairs team created a virtual immersion program to provide students with professional and social opportunities to keep them engaged.

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The Creator Economy is a hot topic, e.g. https://signalfire.com/blog/creator-economy, and appears to be a secular trend. Especially since we are so close to one of the global centers of the entertainment industry, this could differentiate CLU. It has a bunch of inter-disciplinary potential: media design, comm, music, music production, art, film, business, entrepreneurship, hospitality, sports management.

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What is the creator economy? It's defined as the class of businesses built by over 50 million independent content creators, curators, and community builders including social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers, plus the software and finance tools designed to help them with growth and monetization.

The three top trends in the creator economy are:

Creators moving their top fans off of social networks and on to their own websites, apps, and monetization tools

Creators becoming founders, building out teams and assembling tools to help them start businesses while focuses on their art

Creators gaining power in the media ecosystem as fans seek to connect with individual personalities rather than faceless publishers

More than 50 million people around the world consider themselves creators, despite the creator economy only being born a decade ago. It's become the fastest-growing type of small business, and a survey found that more American kids want to be a YouTube star (29%) than an astronaut (11%) when they grow up.

We've created a crash course on over 100 of the top startups and tools built to help influencers, so whether you're a creator seeking help, a founder identifying opportunities, or an investor looking for the next rocketship, this market map will give you both a broad and deep view of the creator ecosystem. I promise that the next 10 minutes of your reading will not be interrupted by ads. No premium membership required.

Using platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitch, TikTok, Substack, Patreon, and OnlyFans, content creators can earn money through:

Advertising revenue shares

Sponsored content

Product placement

Tipping

Paid subscriptions

Digital content sales

Merchandise

Shout-outs

Live and virtual events

VIP meetups

Fan clubs

If you are a founder building something special in this space, SignalFire would love to hear from you! We've funded tools to help influencers operate and monetize like credit card Karat, and led the seed round for YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley's new company GreenPark. We fund both early and mid-stage startups, and help them with recruiting, advising, go-to-market strategies, and PR. So don't be shy about sliding into our DMs or smashing that newsletter subscribe button below.

So how did creatorship grow so quickly? There's been a societal shift in consciousness towards caring more about feeling fulfilled in our jobs, having control over how we spend our time, and being our own boss. Fans see creators doing what they love for a living and aspire to follow that path that never leads to a cubicle.

Meanwhile, better cameras on phones, larger screens, faster mobile networks, and creator-focused social networks have spurred an inflection point for the industry. Now all you need to join the creator club is a phone, an idea, and a willingness to be judged by strangers. Simple? Not quite. That will guarantee you 12 views (maybe 15 if you have many cousins). And don't even dream about brand deals. To succeed, creators have to be incredible storytellers, relentless hustlers, and leaders of their fan communities.

Luckily, a ton of companies have been built to support creators, especially the 2 million people able to make a full-time career out of it (just imagine all the tools and infrastructure that are needed if the entire population of Lithuania were to become YouTubers).

How many creators are there?

Here's our bottom's up TAM (total addressable market) analysis, which adds up to 50 million creators:

Professional Individual Creators (~2M+) - Making content full-time

YouTube: Of the 31M channels on YouTube, ~1M creators have over 10K subscribers (source)

Instagram: Of the 1bn accounts on Instagram, ~500K have over 100k followers and are considered active influencers (source)

Twitch: Of the 3M streamers on Twitch, ~300K have either Partner or Affiliate status (source)

Others: including musicians, podcasters, writers, illustrators, etc total ~200K

Amateur Individual Creators (~46.7M) - Monetizing content creation part-time

Layer 1: Foundational Media Platforms. Since the late 2000s, we witnessed the birth of platforms like YouTube, Instagram, iTunes, Spotify, and more recently Snapchat, Twitter, Medium, Twitch, TikTok, etc. Platforms help creators get discovered and establish an audience by investing heavily in their recommendation and curation algorithms - they solved the distribution problem for creators. No longer were creators at the mercy of large production companies who decided what content to produce and who the audience would be.These platforms contributed to the rise of multi-channel networks like Maker and Fullscreen. They aggregated creators and equipped them with audience development tools before they were bought for hundreds of millions, while new networks like Brat TV and Tastemade emerged. The platforms also necessitated the creation of multimedia editing tools that helped creators polish their content.But platforms don't always have content contributors' best interests in mind so the smart creators learn to cross-promote and diversify their presence on different apps to minimize "platform risk". That way they're not vulnerable to one platform's decline, change in priorities, removal of features, or reduction in opportunities that can hurt them, which is known as "platform whiplash".

Layer 2: Monetizing Influencer Reach. Once top creators had built an established audience who trusted what they had to say, brands started to recognize the return on investment of paying creators to harness their on-platform reach to advertise products and services.While some platforms split traditional ad revenue with creators, others left it up to the content makers to figure out how to monetize, leading to the rise of sponsored content and companies like Niche that brokered the deals. There are now hundreds of companies in this space including influencer agencies, sponsorship marketplaces, talent representation companies, and more. According to Mediakix, the current influencer marketing TAM is ~$8bn and it's expected to grow to $15bn by 2022, making it one of the fastest-growing business sectors. Ideally, creators work with sponsors that match their personal brand, and don't sacrifice content quality to overtly push a corporate message.However, as influencer marketing grew more common and more brands started paying for it, influencers noticed a pattern: with each paid post, they'd lose some of the trust that they established with their audience, hurting their engagement and growth. Which brings us to the latest wave of creators' evolution...

Layer 3: Creators as businesses. This is where we are today! Having developed fandoms that follow them off-platform, creators can become full-fledged businesses with multiple revenue streams beyond ads. Companies have arrived to help creators earn money by selling products such as premium content, merchandise, books/ebooks, newsletters, or selling services such as fan engagement, coaching, consulting, speaking engagements, etc.This lets creators focus on delighting their biggest fans and making more unique niche content, rather than desperately seeking the biggest possible audience and making more generic clickbaity content.
The big trend we see here is that over time, creators are becoming more diversified in their revenue streams and are being funded directly by their fans.

YouTube: Of the 31M channels on YouTube, ~12M have between 100-10K subscribers (source)

Instagram: Of the 1bn accounts on Instagram, ~30M have between 50-100K followers (source)

Twitch: Of the 3M streamers on Twitch, ~2.7M are non Partner or Affiliates

Others: including musicians, podcasters, writers, illustrators, maybe a total of ~2M<

State Of The Creator Economy: A Brief History

Before we dive into all the types of tools, it's important to understand the evolution of the creator economy, which can be divided into 3 distinct layers that build on each other.

Essentially, creators have to balance the distribution potential of certain platforms with the risk of becoming dependent on them, and monetize by either earning a little off of each fan from mainstream content for a big audience or earning a lot off of deeper connections to a smaller set of fans through niche content.

Creators have shifted from being paid by platforms like YouTube with ad revenue shares in exchange for bringing in an audience to the platforms, to being paid by brand sponsors on Instagram and Snapchat in exchange for their reach to an audience they access through the platforms, to being paid by fans via patronage or tipping or ecommerce in exchange for entertainment and community beyond the platforms.

Now that we've gotten the brief history lesson out of the way, let's talk about specific subsectors and exciting companies within them! We'll also discuss the COVID-19 impacts as well as our assessment of the investment opportunities within each.

Video / Streaming: YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, Instagram Live, Facebook Live, YouNow, Vine, OnlyFans

Photography / Graphic Design: Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, VSCO
Opportunity Assessment

Pros: Once these platforms gain traction they can grow rapidly thanks to virality. There have been huge outcomes in this space.

Cons: Very saturated market with the winners in each category already identified. Difficult for new entrants as incumbents all have strong network effects.

Music / Podcast: iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, Soundcloud

Writing: Twitter, Medium, Quora, Substack

Layer 1: Birth of Media Platforms

Media Platforms

A list of all the usual suspects. No additional explanation needed, right?

COVID-19 Impact? Large tailwinds as consumer engagement in entertainment has increased. As users spend more time on these apps, they follow more creators, consume more of their content, and earn them more money. This, in turn, can grow the platforms' revenues while making creators more willing to pay for tools that help them.

Video: Streamlabs' OBS (Open Broadcaster Software), an open-source app for recording livestreamed video, Tools like inVideo and PlayPlay are mobile and web-based video editing tools that help creators format their videos into socially shareable formats on Instagram, Facebook, etc. Vochi is an app-based video editor that takes it a step further and makes really cool video effects. Other tools like Kapwing take a more horizontal approach and help with editing video, audio, and even GIFs. Apps like Trash and Quik automatically edit together short video clips with music to make mini-movies you can share in Trash or on any social network. Creators are even renting out rooms by the hour on PeerSpace and Breather so they have a place to shoot their videos.

Photography / Graphic Design: Affinity is a UK based company that has been challenging Adobe's throne. At only $50 per full access license, Affinity offers a much more affordable professional photo, design, and layout editor for creators. Other low-cost web-based photo editors include Pixlr, PicMonkey, and Fotor. Companies like Canva and Snappa focus more on being a graphic design editor for all mediums - flyers, business cards, brochures, invitations, photos, etc. Then there are also companies like Piktochart that are made for infographic design. And of course, Meitu and FaceTune let users smooth out blemishes, whiten their teeth, and even change the shape of their face to appear more attractive.Canva has recently been making headlines with its $6 billion valuation, making it arguably one of the most valuable content creation companies in recent years. Surprisingly, all of Canva's revenue comes from individuals upgrading to a premium membership, which gives users instant access to 60K templates (vs. only 8K for the free tier) and a library of 60 million stock photos, GIFs, videos, graphics, etc. What makes Canva a 10X better tool than all the others is their extensive treasure chest of design building blocks that make it easy to create something beautiful.
Investment Opportunity Assessment

Pros: Innovative tools that get adopted by creators can go viral on social media.

Cons: Adobe is a huge incumbent in this space with clear network effects (it has become such a standard of file types that enables sharing amongst creators). Point solutions for creators are tough to monetize unless it has a clear ROI for the creator / product is very differentiated and defensible.

Motion Photos: Apart from the two largest GIF creation platforms Giphy and Gfycat, a new type of media format, the "video meme", has been on the rise. Check out Pinata, which should be launching its public beta soon.

Music: There are really not that many startups in this space, probably because it's a much smaller market than some of the other media formats. Many artists use GarageBand which has most of the basic functionalities to create music. Professionals might purchase a license from one of the several large, legacy companies that sell downloadable music production software such as FL Studio and Ableton Live, or turn to Splice for music production collaboration and either buying or selling audio samples for use in songs. Meanwhile, distribution through streaming platforms, marketing via social networks, monetization through patronage platforms, the death of physical formats like CDs have eliminated many of the needs for traditional record labels.

Podcast: A hot space as the podcasting format has become more popular in recent years. One of SignalFire's portfolio companies, RedCircle, helps podcasters reach new audiences and monetize their content by connecting them with brands for advertising opportunities. Other companies that help with publishing podcasts include PodBean, Megaphone, Buzzsprout, and Anchor.

Specialized Influencer Marketing Agencies. Brands hire these agencies to identify high-performing influencers to reach specific audience demographics, negotiate influencer contracts, maintain consistent communication with influencers, launch multiple cross-channel campaigns, and conduct in-depth post-campaign analysis as well as ROI assessments. The largest dedicated influencer agencies include Mediakix, Pulse Advertising, WHOSAY, and Everywhere. Brands hire them because they don't have direct connections to influencer talent or in-house teams to work with them. But because these agencies are extremely hands-on and personalized, they are very expensive for both the brands and influencers. PR giants like Edelman and Weber Shandwick have also joined in as middlemen between creators and brands while ensuring their clients aren't besmirched.

Influencer Marketing Platforms and Marketplaces. For brands, this is a much cheaper solution to access a large database of influencers that they can filter from. The platforms typically charge a Software-As-A-Service fee plus a take rate on each campaign. While the platforms may have built-in analytics and reporting capabilities, the downside is that brands typically won't get access to the largest influencers as those usually only work with agencies. The supply is mostly on small-to-medium-sized influencers that may not have as wide of a reach and thus, ROI on marketing spend. Some influencer marketing platforms include Grin, Captiv8, AspireIQ, Tapinfluence, Klear, The Shelf, CreatorIQ, and Arthouse (formerly Niche, owned by Twitter) where brands are able to set a budget for their campaigns and search the large database of influencers who meet their criteria. Traditional Hollywood talent agencies like CAA, UTA, and WME often partner with the influencer marketing giants to make their mainstream celebrities available to brands.Platforms like The Plug take a different approach by giving influencers the power to choose which campaigns they want to work with. However, advertisers on their platform only pay on a performance basis (i.e. if someone downloads the advertiser's app). Unlike traditional brand campaigns, the influencer's pay, in this case, is directly proportional to the ROI they generate for the brand. Platforms like Pixlee help brands automatically find and curate content created by their users on social media, which can sometimes be more cost effective and authentic because viewers know that the content was generated by an existing customer.Other players in this more quantified influencer marketing and analytics space include: Collectively and theAmplify (owned by You & Mr Jones), Delmondo (owned by Conviva), and Whalar. Fans and brands alike look to the rankings on Famous Birthdays, the Wikipedia of influencers, to find stars to follow or work with. Some influencers sell creative services for conceptualizing and producing content without having to spam their followers, some focus on the low-effort business of selling distribution of existing content to their huge audience, and some do both.
Investment Opportunity Assessment

Pros: There is an opportunity to build a large, scalable business in the platform/marketplace segment given that brand marketing is still the #1 way that creators generate income. Who will be the DoubleClick of influencer marketing

Cons: There has been no major outcome in this space, with Twitter's buy of Niche and Google's acquisition of FameBit only ranging in the tens of millions. Our hypothesis is that there are several reasons why:

None of these platforms can monopolize on supply - influencers are incentivized to sign up with as many of them as possible. Defensibility is a key question.

Top influencers work with agencies, not platforms/marketplaces. These platforms typically capture a long tail of small to medium-sized influencers.

Influencers all have distinct personalities and are thus hard to manage - platforms are not equipped to do so.

CRM Tools. Since influencers sign up for multiple influencer marketing platforms and often have several brand contracts going on simultaneously, CRM tools built specifically for influencers like Tubular Labs, MoeAssist, and CloutJam have recently popped up to help influencers manage their workflow.

Content Creation Tools - Without Networks

Some platforms have their own embedded content creation tools (i.e. TikTok video effects and Instagram photo filters) but there are many companies that provide point solutions for making enhanced content. Historically, content creation tools with social networks attached have been the most financially successful.

One meaningful exception is the giant incumbent in this space, Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes Photoshop and several other famous tools like Premier Pro and Illustrator. In 2013, Adobe shifted its business model from selling individual software licenses ($1,300-$2,600 for the full suite) to selling a subscription ($52/month for the full suite). However, the majority of Adobe's customers are business creators (i.e. people who work on the marketing team of some corporation) as opposed to the individual creators who publish on the social platforms.

Some platforms have made acquisitions to become an "all-in-one" destination for discovery, creation, and monetization. In 2017 Spotify acquired Soundtrap, a music production software developer, so it could offer ways to make music rather than just distribute it.

Ad Hoc Project-Based Funding. We're all fairly familiar with the big crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe. Creators use these platforms to publish their one-off books, comics, documentaries, short films, albums, etc. These platforms typically charge a 5% take rate.

Subscription-Based Funding. The concept of "subscribing $10/month to your favorite creator" was created by none other than Jack Conte and his startup Patreon, based on the need for consistent financial support for his band Pomplamoose and their music video production studio. More recently, media platforms like Twitch and Youtube Channel Membership have started to build infrastructure for their creators to charge a subscription fee directly on their channels. But some creators can be annoyed if platforms constantly try to cross-promote other content makers to their fans which could increase the first creator's subscriber churn.

Tip Jar Concept. Instead of setting up a recurring donation to your favorite creator, you can also make one-time donations, which is much lower friction for fans to get involved. Platforms like Ko-fi and Buy Me a Coffee gives creators the platform to ask fans for $5 here and there. These platforms can let creators reach their maximum audience by not requiring upfront payment, while still offering a way for fans to voluntarily support the creator financially. Some larger social networks also offer ways to tip creators, especially during livestreams, in exchange for shout-outs from their favorite streamers or special badges and added visibility to other fans. This "economy of recognition" can let creators focus on making niche content designed to get their biggest fans to pay, and is advantageous for platforms as they can earn a cut while attracting creators without much work.
Investment Opportunity Assessment

Pros: Integrated platforms like Twitch or YouTube can charge a high 30-50% take rate because they can leverage the consumer engagement they already have to provide creators a ton of value on building an audience.

Cons: In contrast, standalone companies have a low take rate of typically 5% because they don't have additional value add and need to align themselves with the creators. Given that the largest platforms in this space have under 500K creators, a 5% take rate off an average of $10/month donation will be tough to build a large business.

Today, it's common for creators to cobble together multiple tools for editing and earning money off their content they then share on social networks. For example, Instagram creators might finance a shoot with Karat, record in Snapchat, edit with inVideo or Pixlr, then post to Instagram where they monetize on platform with Grin or Captiv8, earn money off-platform with Teespring and Cameo, and track their analytics with Delmondo.

Selling Fan Engagement. These are platforms that enable creators to sell some type of interaction with a fan. Cameo made flashy headlines in this space by creating a marketplace for fans to pay for personalized video shout-outs from celebrities. Cameo's success can also be attributed to how easy it was for creators to get paid $50-100 for making a short 30-second video, which rapidly helped them grow their supply side. Starsona takes a slightly different approach by allowing creators to sell all kinds of interactions with fans - 1:1 direct messaging, Q&A, create a playlist for your party, critique a photograph, create a ringtone, etc. Camelot allows YouTube and Twitch audiences to pay for what they want to see (i.e fans can request that streamers "win with no armor", "add a heartbeat monitor to the stream" or "play a cover of Hey Jude").

Selling Online Courses / Webinars. Platforms like, Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific, and Podia are online course builders with a full suite of products that enables the creator to market, engage, and monetize their courses. Other companies like Monthly curate their own creator-led courses. Tools like Lu.ma, Airsubs, Stream.club, Via.live, Reach.live, and Mixly let creators sell access to webinars via video chat mediums like Zoom. These are very popular for creators who have a valuable skill to share, such as watercolor painting, cake making, or producing electronic music. These creators often build a large following on one of the social media platforms by sharing tidbits of their skills in ad hoc videos and then redirecting the most engaged learners to their separate online course page.

Selling Newsletters / ebooks. Substack allows writers to monetize their newsletters. It allows journalists and others to build independent audiences and set a subscription fee for their newsletters. Top writers are able to make $50-100k/year with Substack. All you need is 400 subscribers paying $10/month or 800 subscribers paying $5/month. One such top writer is Luke O'Neil and his popular newsletter Hell World, where he reports the distressing day-to-day American life with a unique stream-of-consciousness style.

Investment Opportunity Assessment

Pros: Companies that can build a robust business model in the entire creator economy should be ones that help creators generate additional income.

Cons: Will need to examine the business model on a case by case basis. For example, selling merchandise has become commoditized and really tough to scale as a business given that it is so operationally intensive.

Selling Merchandise. The largest players in this space are Fanjoy and Teespring, which help creators sell apparel and officially integrates with YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch. Others include DFTBA, Represent, and CrowdMade. There are many other companies in this space that do not integrate with the large platforms like MerchLabs and Instaco. While super-fans may buy merchandise from time to time, it is often not a reliable source of income for the creators because it is not something that fans will repeatedly purchase.

A breakdown of content creation tools by type of media:

COVID Impact? Large tailwinds as more people are staying at home and either becoming creators for additional sources of income or existing creators have more time to devote to their creations.

Layer 2: Emergence of Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing

There are several types of companies in this space:

COVID Impact? Minor tailwinds as corporate and brands cannot do in person professional shoots so they are reaching out to creators for user-generated content, but other brands have largely paused marketing efforts to conserve cash.

Layer 3: Creators as Businesses

With the long tail of amateur influencers at 50 million and growing rapidly, there is a lot more competition for brand deals amongst influencers, which forces them to seek alternative ways of generating an income.

Patronage Platforms

We start by exploring the various donation platforms that allow fans to donate to their favorite creators. There are a few different ways this takes place:

COVID Impact? Net neutral. Supply has increased because COVID has encouraged many people to become creators in order to generate additional income streams. For example, Patreon added 30K new creators on their platform in the past 2 months. Patrons who are still financially stable are opening their hearts and wallets with bigger payments for ceators. However, this is partially offset by a decrease in demand because as unemployment rises, more people will be cutting discretionary spending on things like a monthly donation to a creator.

What else can creators sell?

COVID Impact? Tailwinds. As the unemployment rate in the US rose, more creators are turning to these platforms to supplement their income.

Community Engagement Tools

Several startups believe that increasing the engagement within the fan community as a first step before targeting them for various sales is crucial to increasing conversion rates. Community helps creators collect fans' personal phone numbers while DSM is able to message fans across different social media platforms via a single porta, and Zebra lets creators build a dedicated community space for their fans. These platforms aim to create a more direct or efficient mode of communication from the creator to his fans. Vibely allows creators to create regular "challenges" for her fanbase, thereby increasing engagement within the community. Fourthwall on the other hand, creates a dedicated Shopify-like ecommerce page for the creators and enables them to send a personalized video shout-out to fans who've made a purchase.

While all these tools have substantial adoption from creators to-date, the way they help creators ultimately monetize a more engaged community is via the selling of merchandise, which as discussed earlier, is not the most reliable source of income.

Finance Management Tools

As creators begin to diversify their income and become more like small-to-medium-sized businesses, they will need more tools to help them manage their finances. Creators also don't plug well into the existing banking infrastructure because they are very difficult for banks to underwrite - they don't have W2s and instead have many sources of income that are unpredictable. SignalFire recently invested in Karat, a banking solution for creators. Karat gives creators the ability to aggregate all sources of income onto a single platform, offers income smoothing for creators on a week-to-week basis and provides instant loans based on predictable future income.

Are you building something for creators?

At our early stage venture capital fund SignalFire, we believe creators and the startups that support them are vital to the future of entertainment, advertising, education, and commerce. That why we've invested in startups like Karat's credit card for influencers and HoloTech Studios' FaceRig for livestreaming motion capture avatars.

Founding a creator-focused startup? We'd love to hear about it. You can reach out here or to any of our team members. SignalFire brings to the table our Beacon technology for predictive recruiting and market data analysis, our talent team that can ensure you score your dream hires, in-house experts on PR and go-to-market, and our network of 85+ invested-advisors including founders and executives from YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Adobe, and many more that help support our portfolio companies. Those value-adds are why 85% of our portfolio founders rank us as their most helpful investor. SignalFire can help creator-led startups skill up as entrepreneurs with our programs to assist with fundraising and board construction, while assisting experience founders building creator tools to hire swiftly to seize these new opportunities.

Creators are the new founders

We're at an inflection point in history where becoming a professionalized creator is one of the most desired jobs. Creators become creators because they love to create. As they grow their audience and expand their revenue channels, the burden of managing the day-to-day of their business grows heavier. Startups that will dominate the next stage of this evolution are ones that are centered around empowering creators to seamlessly monetize while staying focused on what they already love - creating content.

Being a creator today requires evolving from being an artist to being a founder. The job has come to encompass product management, design, community engagement, ecommerce, and data science along with being an entertainer. You have to build a team of experts and vendors to help you manage the tools to build a diversified business across platforms.

But with that diversification comes resilience. Creators become less vulnerable to shifts in priorities of the tech giants or their algorithms by owning the direct relationship with their fans. Each creator can assemble a different balance of revenue streams to match their style, no matter how niche. That's a big win for everyone, because creators catering to each of our esoteric interests can build a sustainable career. Instead of just homogeneic, lowest-common-denominator prime time sit-coms, we get content tuned to every sub-culture in the rainbow. Now there are finally enough creators to support a whole ecosystem of startups helping them turn their passion into their profession.

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What is the creator economy? Influencer tools and trends | SignalFire

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The creator economy is the class of businesses centered around 50 million+ independent content creators, curators, and community builders including social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers, plus the software and finance tools designed to help them with growth and monetization.

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Analytics, Communications, Finance, Accounting 

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Analytics, Communications, Finance, Accounting 

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But with any program decided, it will only work if we invest in the infrastructure to make the program distinguishable which means technology, software, funds for students to compete in academic competitions, professional mentoring, faculty (at market rates), staff, facilities, etc. We cannot continue to be asked to do more with less and charge students more for the same or more for less.

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We should have 5-7 programs that students can finish in 3 years or 3.5. Tuition is not going to decrease but we can offer options for students to finish in less than 4 years (without summer sessions) to lower the cost base for their education. We can require that students declare these majors upon applying. We could offer similar pathways for transfers in select majors with a 1.5 year completion. With COVID, an increasing number of high school students have dual enrolled at CC to either increase their chances to get into impacted colleges or decrease their time to attain college degree. There may be an opportunity here...

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Employers are accelerating their use of data and analytics to drive value for their customers and organizations. Its impacting every job and its also leading to an increased divide in earnings and wealth between those who have strong analytical skills and those who don't. I believe we need to do more across all of our programs to develop our students' analytical skills. To attract students, we also need to build more courses and programs around analytics, machine learning, and AI. We are one of the few universities that haven't invested in growing these type of courses/programs and its putting us at a disadvantage because its no longer a "nice to have", its a must have.

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One of the treasures at CLU is the faculty commitment to community-engaged student learning. We take learning in and out of the classroom and connect with community resources and problem solving on the ground--across UG and Grad, across disciplines and fields. THIS kind of engaged learning is what we do best.

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One of the treasures at CLU is the faculty commitment to community-engaged student learning. We take learning in and out of the classroom and connect with community resources and problem solving on the ground--across UG and Grad, across disciplines and fields. THIS kind of engaged learning is what we do best.

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We have many and various writing classes, but we don't quite have one writing program (yet). A writing program won't just assign writing to students; a well invested and administered university/college writing program can significantly students' transition to college, first-year experience, disciplinary identity development, scholarly inquiry and pursuit, professional communication, and 21st century literacies, etc. Wouldn't it be nice to hear people spreading words about how successful CLU graduates are in writing and communication?  and we can say, "that's just the basic you can get from CLU."

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It's fine to focus on core areas.. but it has to be conistent with mission.  If you do data science, it should be paired with the Lutheran mission of vocation and purpose.... specializing in how to do what you want, but with "vocation and purpose".... a minor in "ethical game design" or a minor in "data science for human rights" rather than just trying to compete with institutions that have 10x our endowment.

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It's fine to focus on core areas.. but it has to be conistent with mission.  If you do data science, it should be paired with the Lutheran mission of vocation and purpose.... specializing in how to do what you want, but with "vocation and purpose".... a minor in "ethical game design" or a minor in "data science for human rights" rather than just trying to compete with institutions that have 10x our endowment.

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Demand for mental health professionals is at an all-time high (https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-21-437r) with no signs of slowing. Cost-per-student in the undergraduate psychology major is very low compared to other in-demand disciplines. This is an area of significant growth potential.

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All the programs that provide undergraduate research and other forms of experiential learning epitomize the high-impact student learning that is provided to TUG students. We can and have been able to deliver/provide high quality academic and life experiences for students through mentored research, internships. off-campus studies, travel seminars, etc. I think it needs to be highlighted more often and better. For example, Festival of Scholars is an annual event but many of us mentor student research year round, including the summer. Much of this research happens off campus at conferences but we focus/celebrate mostly the on campus FOS. It would be useful to consider hosting an FOS away from any of our campuses, and invite community members, donors, regents, etc. Also, there should be more made of presenting/publishing with students in off campus venues. CLU needs to elevate its profile externally not internally. Also, we should create university-community collaborations for research, public service, and civic engagement. CLU is too insular in how we brand ourselves as an academic institution. We should be highlighting how our academic programs directly serve the needs of communities. For example, USC researchers work very closely with LA County and City on pressing social, political, economic, and environmental problems.  

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All the programs that provide undergraduate research and other forms of experiential learning epitomize the high-impact student learning that is provided to TUG students. We can and have been able to deliver/provide high quality academic and life experiences for students through mentored research, internships. off-campus studies, travel seminars, etc. I think it needs to be highlighted more often and better. For example, Festival of Scholars is an annual event but many of us mentor student research year round, including the summer. Much of this research happens off campus at conferences but we focus/celebrate mostly the on campus FOS. It would be useful to consider hosting an FOS away from any of our campuses, and invite community members, donors, regents, etc. Also, there should be more made of presenting/publishing with students in off campus venues. CLU needs to elevate its profile externally not internally. Also, we should create university-community collaborations for research, public service, and civic engagement. CLU is too insular in how we brand ourselves as an academic institution. We should be highlighting how our academic programs directly serve the needs of communities. For example, USC researchers work very closely with LA County and City on pressing social, political, economic, and environmental problems.  

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Focusing on high impact experiences, such as conducting undergraduate research with faculty members and doing internships can distinguish us. It is also important to focus on programs that can leverage our location in Southern California. Since we are close to the center of the entertainment industry - programs like Film, Communication and Theater can establish internships/industry links and connections. Environmental and Urban Planning could utilize the City of Los Angeles as an urban lab. Since we are located in the heart of the biotech industry, then developing and emphasizing programs within biology and the natural sciences could distinguish us.

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It doesn't only matter what program areas we focus on, but it's also important that we do it in the right way - ranging from the delivery method (in-person, online, hybrid) do the didactics (experiential learning and applied teaching) and other innovative formats (eg co-op programs).

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Post Baccalaureate programs for pre-health professionals are in high demand. Many students across the nation enroll in these programs to fulfill admission requirements for medical school, PA school, nursing school, etc..  Given the recent experiences of our science faculty in teaching remotely during the SARS CoV2 pandemic, it should be possible to develop a robust online post-bac program for pre-health students that would provide a healthy revenue stream by serving students in diverse geopgraphical areas, including across the SoCal region.

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We have made great strides over the past two decades in delivering experiential opportunities for students to engage in the process of science (observation, hypothesis development, experimental design, analysis of data, and communication of findings).

We need to continue and increase faculty support in order to stand out in this area. It should be noted that student admission to top tier professional and graduate schools is strongly correlated with undergraduate research experiences at CLU. Recent examples include (among others) Tufts, USC, UC Davis, U of Washington, Ohio State, Columbia, U of Michigan, UCLA). These research experiences also help our graduates in gaining employment at SoCal regional Biotech companies (see the regional environment post).

Although STEM undergraduate research is pricey, we have the opportunity to become among the best in the SoCal region at providing these experiences for our students. In this regard, our aspirational institutions should be Pomona College, Harvey Mudd, and Chapman. Further investment in STEM undergraduate researchers and their faculty mentors at CLU will maintain and increase dividends in the success of our science graduates, which will in turn bolster our reputation and our fundraising.

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Many studies show that participating in undergraduate research is an excellent way for students to build skills they need in graduate school and careers. These skills are not just lab-based but also include skills that most employers would find valuable, such as communication skills, critical thinking, and working with a team.

The CLU approach to undergraduate research is unique compared to our competitors (like CSUN or UCSB) in that our faculty work directly with undergraduate students as research colleagues and collaborators. At other universities, faculty treat undergraduates merely as research assistants, and students primarily work with graduate students and rarely see their faculty.

Additionally, the overall cost associated with a robust undergraduate research program pales compared to the costs associated with other high-impact co-curricular learning.

Undergraduate research is a relatively low-cost, high-impact program that has huge potential to set CLU apart from its competitors.

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Instead of departments owning minors, it would be useful to develop a more generalized minor in data science that pulls from relevant data-driven courses across departments. Would benefit students tremendously to have this training and distinction.

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Appears to be one of the fastest growing and popular majors at Cal Lutheran, attracts a diverse group of students and many transfers. Strong record of post-grad employment in CJ-related as well as other related social service fields, law schools, and graduate programs. Strong alumni ties and adjuncts are professionals working in the field.

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The entertainment industry is one of the largest in California. Many alumni work on stage, in front of and behind the camera, in promotion and related fields. The strong history of the performing arts at Cal Lutheran-with minimal facility and and budgetary support speak to performing arts' value to the university and to the broader community. Arete, Music Production, Kingsmen Shakespeare have already proven the importance of the connection between the academic and the professional world. With the addition of the Film and Television major, the performing arts have the potential of attracting students. That is, if commitment and investment in a Performing Arts Center is made.

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Can we pay health professionals to teach?

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Can we pay health professionals to teach?

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I like all these points about the health care field, but I'm not sure it's realistic for us to hire professors in this area.  We're struggling to pay fair wages to the employees we currently have- can we afford to pay a premium to someone that can make way more at a more specialized medical school?

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Focus on our region and people, not on generic popular majors

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Focus on our region and people, not on generic popular majors

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CLU should consider adopting new majors as new fields of study emerge, but we can't win by running toward the same balls that everyone else (UCs, Cal States, etc.) might be. I would favor a more thematic approach that aligns with the opportunities in our region and would involved multiple departments working on a focus area that can be highlighted and perhaps this effort generate interdisciplinary majors. Some possible focus areas could include gerontology (Psychology, Exercise Science), aerospace/high tech (Computer science, Physics, Entrepreneurship), sustainability (Environmental Science, Business Administration) and internationalization (Political Science, languages, Religion). These are just a few of the major that could contribute and it is easy to imagine many others participating in focus areas.

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Keep and build upon the successful students you have

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Keep and build upon the successful students you have

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Among current programs for which there are enough graduates to collect statistics, the best early career earnings for CLU grads are (in order) 1. Computer Science, 2. Accounting, 3. Business administration, 4. Communication (https://medium.com/@ThirdWayTweet/how-could-we-use-a-price-to-earnings-premium-in-higher-ed-65ff93a6b8a8). I do not favor the approach of highlighting a few signature programs as I was at an institution where this approach failed. However, if this is the plan I would highlight areas of demonstrated success and leave aside programs that might be popular, but do not have demonstrated strong career outcomes or do not align strongly in some other way with the mission of the university.

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by Michael Itzkowitz

Last month, we introduced a new measure designed to get a better look at the economic value instiutions across the United States are providing to their students. The new metric - called a Price-to-Earnings Premium (PEP) - compares the cost that students pay out-of-pocket to attend an institution versus the additional amount of income they eventually could earn by doing so. It assumes that any additional earnings beyond that of a typical high school graduate in their state could then be used to pay down that net cost, providing prospective students and lawmakers with an estimate of how long it will take to recoup that educational investment.

Given the growing uncertainty that students now face when applying to college, it is more important than ever that they understand which institutions can provide them with a good return on investment. Below is a snapshot of the how students, institutions, and policymakers could use the PEP metric to help them make better-informed decisions about where and how to spend their time - and both personal and taxpayer dollars.

Each year, nearly 20 million students attend an institution of higher education, most with the primary purpose of increasing their employability and gaining long-term financial security. While there are also many intangible benefits that students can gain by attending an institution - better informed and engaged citizenship, social networks, and personal development, to name a few - there is a widespread belief that students should at least be able to earn enough to pay down their college costs in a reasonable amount of time after they complete their credential. If a student is considering a handful of options of where they want to go to school, a PEP can help clarify which institutions are more likely to offer a better economic investment.

For example, take two institutions, both located in Boca Raton, Florida: Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and Lynn University. Both of these institutions predominately offer four-year degrees, have similar admissions requirements, and offer similar fields of study. Furthermore, they are only 1.3 miles from each other, making their location a non-factor for prospective students considering both institutions.

While these two institutions may look quite similar on paper, the PEP metric tells us a different story, with students at FAU recouping their educational investment about four times faster than students who attended Lynn.

Here's how we know. The annual net price to attend FAU is $12,605. Therefore, if a student earns a degree in four years, it will - on average - cost them $50,420 to do so. The typical student who attends FAU earns $43,200 ten years after initial enrollment. Since FAU students' wage premium is approximately $20,000 beyond a typical high school graduate in Florida ($22,752), it would take them approximately two and a half years to recoup the total net price of $50,420 to earn a four-year degree from that institution. However, the institution right down the road - Lynn University - shows a higher cost and lower earnings premium, meaning it will take students substantially longer - more than eight years of wage premium - to recoup their educational costs.

Being that postsecondary education is one of the largest financial investments that students and their families will make in their lifetimes, a PEP can help them weigh the costs of attending versus the financial returns they can expect down the road.

Just as students can use a PEP to better inform their college choice, administrators can also use the metric to evaluate the effectiveness of their institution and target resources toward programs that show good outcomes for those who enroll. While an institution-level PEP can provide administrators with a birds-eye view of how they are doing for their students economically compared to similar institutions, a program-level PEP can help identify which fields of study either cost too much, lead to insufficient earnings, or both. The US Department of Education (Department) could produce this information for institutions - building on its recent release of program-level data - or administrators could gather it by collecting employment information from former students.

A good example of how a PEP metric could be used by institutions to increase their return on investment for students stems from the release of Gainful Employment program-level data, which motivated institutions to voluntarily close approximately 300 failing programs, even before any sanctions were enacted. Similarly, a PEP could help institutions identify program offerings that show limited value relative to their cost. By eliminating programs that show students consistently earning too little to pay down their cost of earning that credential, institutions could better ensure that a higher proportion of students can recoup their educational investment shortly after leaving the institution. Not only would this lead to better outcomes for students who enroll, but it would also boost overall institutional performance.

Over the last decade, lawmakers have considered better ways to ensure that federally funded institutions and higher education programs deliver value to the students they enroll. Currently, the main federal law in place to try to provide some protection for consumers - known as the Cohort Default Rate - is easily gamed and hardly affects any institutions. The other main rule - known as Gainful Employment - was put in place in 2014 to ensure that career education programs leave their graduates earning enough to pay down their educational debt. Yet, the Gainful Employment rule has since been rescinded and re-upping it is seen by many as a political non-starter. This leaves a gaping hole in measuring return on investment that a PEP could help fill, either through additional measures of transparency or by using it directly to more efficiently target federal dollars toward effective college programs and institutions that deliver good outcomes for their students.

Providing Greater Transparency: There are several steps that policymakers could take to provide students with consistent and usable information about their likely economic return throughout the college search process.

1. Include a PEP metric on the College Scorecard: Right now, the Department provides a website for prospective college students where they can compare costs, graduation rates, and employment outcomes at institutions across the United States. Still, with all this data available, there is no information about how long it takes the typical student to pay down their educational investment after earning their credential. Adding a PEP metric to the College Scorecard could be done by the administration immediately, making it all the easier for students to compare the likely economic return at the institutions they are considering.

2. Require institutions to publish PEP information in their promotional materials: Another way to help prospective students would be to provide them with the same data points throughout multiple phases of the college search process. One way to accomplish this goal would be to require institutions to make outcomes information (including a PEP metric) visible through any promotional materials they send out to students and accessible on their website as it's often a first stop for students considering where to enroll.

3. Enhance the FAFSA with a PEP metric: In order to become eligible for federal grants and loans, students fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The Department could update this form so that students can see the PEP for each institution they choose to send their FAFSA, giving students more information earlier in the process about whether a college is too expensive, its potential earnings are too little to warrant its cost, or both.

4. Add a PEP metric to the College Financing Plan: In 2012, the Department introduced the College Financing Plan - formerly known as the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet - which is a standardized consumer tool that participating institutions use to notify students about how much they can expect to pay out-of-pocket to attend a given institution. Adding a simple metric such as a PEP to this form could help students more easily compare institutional outcomes alongside cost. Requiring all institutions to use this standardized award letter - including a PEP metric - would also go a long way toward ensuring that students can easily compare acceptance offers no matter which institution they are interested in.

Targeting Taxpayer Dollars: Beyond providing students with more information during the college search process, lawmakers could also use a PEP measure to better ensure that federal dollars only flow to institutions that are shown to pay off for the students who enroll.

1. Target future COVID-stimulus funding to institutions that show an economic return: Last month, the federal government allocated $14 billion in grants directly to institutions of higher education. While half of the total disbursement was intended to help institutions transition to online learning, the remainder was reserved as emergency grant aid, an allocation that was meant to be distributed to students who may be reliant on federal grants for living expenses. While this immediate funding was necessary to keep colleges afloat during these uncertain times, hundreds of millions may have inadvertently flowed to institutions that have demonstrated no return on investment in the first place. For future funding packages, lawmakers can use a PEP to better target these funds to institutions that have previously demonstrated a good return investment, rather than taking the risky bet that low-performing institutions will somehow improve student outcomes when transitioning their classes online.

2. Limit Access to Federal Student Aid: One possibility to more efficiently target taxpayer dollars would be to only allow access to federal funding (grants and loans) if an institution shows the majority of their students earning more than those who have graduated high school but have never attended college in their state. The federal government provides approximately $1.9 billion annually to schools that currently fall below this threshold, a substantial amount of taxpayer funding that could instead be targeted toward sending students to institutions that show a better return. Policymakers could also provide institutions with some time to improve before imposing any sanctions that would remove their access to federal grants and loans. For example, for the 16% of schools that either show no return on investment (ROI) or where it takes longer than 20 years for the typical student to earn enough to pay down their college costs, policymakers could allow three to five years for institutions to improve these outcomes before any federal actions are taken.

3. Ensure students are getting an instructional bang for their educational buck: Some federally funded institutions show less than adequate outcomes for the students they enroll. Yet, there's often a different reason for why this happens: some choose to spend the tuition money they receive on a continuous effort to recruit the next batch of students, while others struggle due to a lack of resources. In fact, some institutions that receive the most federal money spend the least on actual student instruction. Lawmakers can use a PEP to identify institutions that show little to no return on their students' educational investment. Then, if too much tuition money is spent on activities outside of actual student instruction, Congress can then deny access to federal funds, as marketing and TV ads simply won't improve students' post-college outcomes.

Practically, an institution should provide its students with the ability to pay down the cost that they paid to earn their credential within a reasonable amount of time. Weighing costs and future earnings in a single measure - as the PEP does - provides a way to evaluate which institutions provide students (and taxpayers) a strong bang for their educational buck. Just as Wall Street investors use a price-to-earnings metric to judge the value of stocks, students should similarly be able to assess their postsecondary options based on their likely return, and institutions should use the PEP to provide better offerings to their students. Likewise, lawmakers should also be able to assess how well institutions serve their students before allowing billions in federal dollars to flow to schools that may provide limited economic returns for those who enroll.

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How Could We Use a Price-to-Earnings Premium in Higher Ed?

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by Michael Itzkowitz Last month, we introduced a new measure designed to get a better look at the economic value instiutions across the United States are providing to their students. The new metric - called a Price-to-Earnings Premium (PEP) - compares the cost that students pay out-of-pocket to attend an institution versus the additional amount of income they eventually could earn by doing so.

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Spans business, engineering, creatives, etc.

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Programs or program areas (undergraduate or graduate) Cal Lutheran could be known for in the future:

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Programs or program areas (undergraduate or graduate) Cal Lutheran could be known for in the future:

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1. Internationalization efforts
2. Entrepreneurship
3. Financial literacy
4. HSI-related programs.

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Open architecture to offer courses regardless of the degree status. This could open door for corporate training dollar especially at graduate level. We need to be adaptable in the "new normal." People wants to receive education experience differently today. Too much focus of return to "old normal" is not sustainable for CLU.   

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Open architecture to offer courses regardless of the degree status. This could open door for corporate training dollar especially at graduate level. We need to be adaptable in the "new normal." People wants to receive education experience differently today. Too much focus of return to "old normal" is not sustainable for CLU.   

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Diversity
It would be nice to see more diversity like this in other areas of education. But Counselor Education has done an amazing job of this.

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Climate Science, Technology, Diplomacy, and Wellness

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Climate Science, Technology, Diplomacy, and Wellness

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The challenge for all of us will become increasingly clear each year: it is to address the impacts of our life on earth due to our climate crisis. As people of this century, we have no choice but to solve this problem in order to continue to have an earth that is inhabitable. Any university who can give students an education in which they become equipped to lead---through learning technologies and science, political knowledge and diplomacy skills, educational techniques---in this arena will be a successful and cutting-edge university. We simply need to recognize this pivotal issue and prepare ourselves to educate our students to be leaders. At the same time, we need to nourish our students with a curriculum that brings them wholeness and joy. These are tough times, and tough, global-level challenges will continue. And we can educate resilient students with peace and confidence in their beings. It is a gift that we have a ministry program (PLTS) that is now part of CLU because we need spiritual leaders who are in tune with these times. Finally, we need to help our students to be spiritually grounded and strong in wellness in the new ways that this time calls for.

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From what I can tell, no other colleges in the region offer a sports management major. Less competition = more students.

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We have wonderful credential programs with an alarming rate of hire before our students complete their credential programs. We need to focus on recruiting diverse students to become teachers and counselors. There is a high need for teachers throughout California and if we can begin to recruit our own undergraduates and from other universities in our area, we can begin to diversify our programs, especially our teaching credential programs.

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Bachelor's Degree for Professionals Program

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Bachelor's Degree for Professionals Program

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The Professionals program is an accelerated program for post-traditional learners (i.e., working adults). This is a growing population in the U.S. and there is a great need for programs that offer flexibility and accessibility to students who are managing work, life, and school responsibilities. The Professionals program is an asset for individuals in our community. With greater focus and resources, the program could offer more courses and majors, as well as more classroom formats (e.g., online, hybrid, hyflex, weekend intensive, competency-based courses, etc.). This should be appealing to post-traditional, and even traditional aged, students and lead to increased enrollment.

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Comprehensive Health Programs: All levels Nursing to Physician Assistant (PA-C)

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Comprehensive Health Programs: All levels Nursing to Physician Assistant (PA-C)

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We are already well-known for our education program. And our community needs teachers from diverse backgrounds, especially in STEM. We should be building on what we already do well.

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With our proximity to L.A., it's a shame we don't have a performing arts center and a more robust performing arts program.

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MBA Program.  The Life Sciences industry is booming all around us.  These companies hire many staff members with science and operations backgrounds who will eventually need business education to rise to the next level of their careers.  I see an opportunity for us to partner with Life Sciences and other science-based companies to make this happen.  

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MBA Program.  The Life Sciences industry is booming all around us.  These companies hire many staff members with science and operations backgrounds who will eventually need business education to rise to the next level of their careers.  I see an opportunity for us to partner with Life Sciences and other science-based companies to make this happen.  

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these fields were most impacted by changing employment during the pandemic - likely openings, demand/need for these fields, and possible higher interest going through pandemic and current societal-tech booms

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Nursing and an undergraduate program in financial planning.

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Nursing and an undergraduate program in financial planning.

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Data Science, Statistics, Machine Learning, AI

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Data Science, Statistics, Machine Learning, AI

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There is a high demand of Nursing programs everywhere. Plus, all Nursing programs are impacted. To add to the growth of the institution, Nursing should be considered as a major.

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All predictions regarding industry and the labor market point in the direction of engineering and technology, including service intensive sectors such as healthcare. Cal Lutheran needs to invest in these areas.

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About one third of our graduates live in the area, and most of the others would love to stay after graduation - if they could afford to live here and have the skills to get hired. Cal Lutheran programs should integrate with the regional environment - biotech, entrepreneurship, sports and outdoors, healthcare and wellness.

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Rather than to focus on a program, we need to think about areas, fields or disciplines - for instance, rather than to single out an undergraduate major in Data Science or similar, creating pathways from an undergraduate to a graduate program to continuing education in that area would benefit Cal Lutheran and enable it to make a name for itself and to concentrate resources. Such an area also wouldn't have to be of a technical or vocational nature, but other areas - psychology, sociology, etc. could feed into it.

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Nursing is one of the most commonly requested majors at all college fairs and high school visits. Engineering is a close second. If we could support one or both of these programs, we could increase our audience of interested students considerably

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There are few LIS programs in this area that are on-campus or online. This would pair well with the Museum Studies emphasis and Information Technology degrees.

However, before any additional programs can be created the university needs to consider funding and staffing available to support ANY new programs. Higher student enrollment is great, but resources and staffing are already running on fumes. Growth in support areas needs to happen ASAP.

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Psychology covers multiple other disciplines (e.g., from bio to business) and has continuously attracted students from all walks of life to our institution. To the best of my knowledge, we are the only psych program in the area that offers students 7 areas of specializations that can be added to the major. Since we are tuition driven, this matters. Psychology has historically been an attractive program and has seen a steady growth over the past years (now being the 2nd largest UG major on campus) despite serious under-staffing. Graduating psych students are finding jobs in all kinds of fields in the private sector (business, marketing, personnel management, counseling, etc.) as well as being well placed in good graduate programs (both masters and doctorate). Psychology has actively incorporated the university mission, included experiential learning to many of its courses, offers students to work one-on-one with faculty. Furthermore, the broad umbrella of what psychology covers allows for flexibility and adaptability to ever-changing patterns in workforce and student needs. The current push by the American Psychological Association (the standard for psych accreditation) is to make DEI a center-piece of its guidelines, which eventually will become standard for all psych courses/programs.
Now all this said, I agree with many of my colleagues who have voiced concern that we are now pitting one program against the other. I'm saddened by what seems to be the decision to only highlight a select few programs at our university at the expense of all the others.

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Consider offering other technical options or certificate programs where there is prior support or resourcing in place.

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Consider offering other technical options or certificate programs where there is prior support or resourcing in place.