I really enjoyed hearing about the financial side of Elon University and how it acts as a business. Elon has really come a long way since 1993 with its construction and acceptance standards. A lot can be learned by seeing how Elon functions. And as we learned today, there are universities watching and copying Elon’s future plans because they know that we are very up and coming and that our applications continue to increase annually.
Elon University’s success can be guided by its mission, which is based on its founders’ vision of an academic community that transforms and inspires its students minds, bodies, spirits, and encourages freedom of thought and liberty of conscience. Elon University has four ways it tries to fulfill its vision. The first is stated,  “We nurture a rich intellectual community characterized by active student engagement with a faculty dedicated to excellent teaching and scholarly accomplishment.” Next, Elon explains, “We provide a dynamic and challenging undergraduate curriculum grounded in the traditional liberal arts and sciences and complemented by distinctive professional and graduate programs.” Then Elon integrates learning across the disciplines and put knowledge into practice, thus preparing students to be global citizens and informed leaders motivated by concern for the common good. Elon also fosters respect for human differences, passion for a life of learning, personal integrity, and an ethic of work and service.
Elon’s main customer is its students. Since the university does not have a large endowment, it really relies on the student’s tuition to pay the bills and help the campus run and grow. Another group that supports Elon and its new projects are fundraisers. Our speaker today told us that Elon had a project requiring $100 million. Thanks to the generous fundraisers, the university raised $105 million.
Elon’s students value a high-quality education, close teacher relationships, small classrooms, a beautiful campus and much more. An Elon degree earned today is more valuable than a degree from twenty years ago. Thus, an Elon degree earned twenty years from now will be even more valuable than it is today. Elon students value the concept that Elon is up and coming and that it will continue to grow academically, in recognition, popularity, and more.
Elon has had fantastic results. Each year, the number of applications received increase. Plus, the campus has succeeded in buying land and expanding its number of buildings and living spaces. The amount of land has over doubled, growing from 900,000 square feet now to 2,450,000. The number of employees has grown to 1,321 from the 1993 total of 410. Also, the level of students has improved drastically over the twenty year period the freshman SAT scores have gone up over 800 points and the percent of students who were in the top 20% of their high school class has gone from 18% to 63%.
Elon has many plans to continue to expand the campus. There are ideas of expanding the library, building a rec center for the danieley area, adding onto McMichael, expanding the downtown area, and more. Elon has already finished projects such as the multi faith center, the global apartments, and more. The current project is the new admissions building, which is projected to be finished in 2015. Therefore, Elon’s plan is to continue to grow, and make the campus more beautiful and accommodating for students. I am very thankful and proud to attend this university.
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