Who's a customer? The student vs. customer debate continues as readers speak for themselves - Editor's Note

University Business, July, 2003 by Kathy Grayson

In the March UB, I penned an editorial, "I Spy a Customer," that spawned such pro/con response, we tried to run many of the letters in ensuing issues. The debate about whether students are indeed customers of a college or university rages on, however. Because the issue is such an important one and goes to the core of a school's institutional philosophy, I hereby donate this month's column to the debate, so that you can formulate or reinforce your own views on the subject. I've already shared mine!

"They are the 'customer,'" insisted Robert L. Lenington of Lincoln, MA, author of Managing Higher Education As A Business (Oryx Press, 1996). "A unique feature of higher education is that the students are both the customer and the product of the business."

But Woodard R. Springstube, associate professor of Business at Concordia University (TX) couldn't disagree more: "I always cringe when I hear students spoken of as the 'customers' of higher education. While many institutions would benefit from treating students as customers when the students have contact with auxiliary enterprises, the registrar's office, the bursar's office, the financial aid office, etc., thinking of students as customers in the classroom can only have a corrosive effect on the classroom experience. A better model is to think of students as our 'works in progress', being finished through a partnership of the student and the teachers. Our final product is our graduates, and our real customers are the advanced programs that admit our graduates and the employers who hire our graduates."

"The pastime of pondering the question of how to view students is a topic I attempted to address in a commentary I had published in On the Horizon, in 1995 [web.brvant.edu/~fsp/modules/1/investor.htm]," offered Theo. R. Leverenz, of EPPA Consulting (KY). "I personally prefer to view students as investors--with the faculty's role one of an 'investment counselor.'"

At Indiana State University, Kevin Snider, executive assistant to the president for Strategic Planning, Institutional Research and Effectiveness, offered: "[Here's] a compromise. University functions that surround student learning should absolutely adopt this mentality. Recruitment, registration, food services, facilities, marketing, housing, etc., are locked in a competitive bid to meet the immediate needs of customers. Failure to produce could lose a potential or current student and hurt the University. However, aspects of our campuses that are more directly related to student learning could do harm if students were perceived in this way. Customer satisfaction in this day and age usually refers to being able to deliver immediate gratification of needs. Many of our 'consumers' are 18- to 24-year-old students who have grown up expecting their demands to be met 'right now.' ... To convey to students that they are customers, with all of the 'rights' that implies in today's society, is misleading to them and damaging to the efforts of those directly engaged in the process of learning. The compromise is that universities and colleges should have two philosophies in their approach to students: Functions associated with meeting student recruitment, social, living, and other basic needs should regard the student as a customer. On the other hand, faculty and staff need to think of students as apprentices or novices. This distinction needs to be made clear as universities become harder pressed to deliver quality in both arenas."

Tom Sullivan, president of Cleary University (MI) had the last word: "Dr. Galioto's letter [which ran in April in response to "I Spy a Customer"] concludes that treating students as customers will lead to the demise of educational quality and academic standards. I disagree, and am always amazed how we in education consider ourselves so unique. Our customers are like those of most businesses. They bring both needs and wants to their purchases. It should be the goal of every business to help the customer understand the difference. (I want a new car that will travel at 150 miles per hour, and I want it for free. This is far different from my needs, which include a dependable vehicle, reasonable value exchange, etc.) The customers at our university need the knowledge and skills that are represented by the credential earned. They need fair value exchange. They need an institution that will offer product in a manner that makes reasonable demands on them for time and effort and one whose reputation enhances their own. They also need to be treated with respect and dignity. Universities do not have to sacrifice quality standards to accommodate customers. We simply need to understand their needs better and help them realize the difference [between wants and needs]. Through this realization, quality continuously improves and society is better served."

You can reach Kathy Grayson at kgrayson@universitybusiness.com.