Dr. Drew Van Horn has over 40 years of higher education experience, including nine years as president of Brevard College, a private liberal arts college in North Carolina, and Young Harris College a private liberal arts College in Georgia. Dr. Van Horn is noted for enhancing student experience at a four-year liberal arts college, strengthening academic programs, and expanding a commitment to affordability and tuition transparency. Under his leadership, both colleges experienced an increase in student enrollment, developed new academic and pre-professional pathways, and increased opportunities for experiential learning, including internships and undergraduate research.
Dr. Van Horn has championed initiatives that prioritize student success, such as improving retention rates and making tuition costs clear and understandable for families. His vision emphasizes a personalized education rooted in the liberal arts and humanities and preparing students for successful careers and civic engagement in an ever-changing world. In addition to his service as a college President, he has served as vice president of institutional advancement at two Universities and as Director of the Independent College Fund of North Carolina.
In this exclusive conversation with the Higher Education Digest Magazine, Dr. Van Horn shares his insights on overcoming enrollment challenges, fostering career-oriented education, and adapting to a rapidly evolving academic landscape, offering actionable wisdom for educators, students, and institutional leaders alike.
Reflecting on your tenure at Young Harris College and Brevard College, what do you consider the most significant achievements of your presidency?
Professionally, I chose to work with small church-related private colleges. The reasons behind my choice were that I was a first-generation college student who benefited from my education at a small church-related private college and realized that these kinds of institutions served students who were similar to me. In addition, as a former college athlete, I was drawn to the challenges that these types of institutions faced.
Both Brevard College and Young Harris College faced the financial struggles that come with student enrollment and institutional debt. That said, I consider the following achievements as being significant.
Commitment to Mission: The first significant achievement was to refocus the Boards, alumni, faculty, and staff on the mission of the institutions. Both institutions had adopted the framework of becoming like another institution rather than being the best Brevard and Young Harris that they could be. We needed to focus on the type of student that we historically served and determine if this was still the mission for the institutions. In both cases, the college communities rallied around the mission of serving traditionally underserved populations. With everyone agreeing on the mission, strategic planning and implementation of the respective plans were easier.
Rallying Donors to the Mission: With both institutions dealing with institutional debt, the next significant accomplishment was to rally the support of donors to our mission. Fundraising initiatives to secure scholarship support, and debt reduction funds drove the campaigns. We were successful in increasing unrestricted giving, endowment funding, and estate gifts directed to increasing the endowment and funding debt service. The success of the respective campaigns instilled positivity in continuing the implementation of the respective strategic plans.
Focus on student persistence and graduate success: Both Brevard and Young Harris experienced low student persistence, especially with first-year students. Therefore, we focused on providing services, and academic programs that improved student persistence. The implementation of first-year programs that complimented the respective institutional missions showed great success. At Brevard, we saw first-year persistence increase from 48% to 60% and from 50% to 65% at Young Harris.
At Young Harris, we worked to demonstrate that our graduates were sought after. We focused involving Career Services from the first year on campus. As a result, we saw 93% of our graduates either employed or enrolled in graduate school six months after commencement.
Accrediting Reaffirmation: Both Brevard and Young Harris were going to have trouble clearing the Southern Association’s finance criteria for reaffirmation. I began addressing the finances of each institution and was able to see both institutions reaffirmed.
In your extensive experience as a college administrator, what are the most pressing challenges you’ve observed in higher education, both in the U.S. and globally? How can institutions adapt to address these challenges effectively?
The greatest challenge to small private colleges is enrollment, and thus, financial stability. With the enrollment cliff occurring, state institutions are working with their respective legislatures to direct as many state residents as possible to one of its institutions. To battle the enrollment challenge, private institutions must:
- Cease following the large tuition and large discount model made popular in the 90s. It behooves them to set tuition that does not keep today’s families from considering them as options. Over the previous three recruitment cycles, YHC found that families wanted to know the actual out-of-pocket cost at the front of the process. By resetting tuition to a reasonable level, small private institutions can recapture the narrative regarding the cost of higher education, but it must occur quickly to catch traction.
- Reduce, if not eliminate, non-income-producing debt. To accomplish this, small private institutions must enter well-informed fundraising campaigns to educate alumni and donors why and how support of these campaigns can shore up the future of the institution, by allowing tuition dollars and unrestricted fundraising to meet academic and student needs rather than pay for facilities that have no apparent income stream.
- Identify and commit to student success by focusing on career services early in the academic process. At YHC we revamped the traditional academic advising model to incorporate career direction. This addition allowed us to help students identify their pathways sooner and reduce the number of changes in majors, which add to the total cost of education. Success in this area provides institutions to taut student outcomes in their recruitment materials. At YHC we were proud to advertise that over 93% of our graduates were employed or enrolled in graduate programs six months after commencement. This message resonated with the parents.
- Institutions must continue to identify low-producing majors and eliminate them from their offerings. At Brevard and Young Harris, the Provost annually led these conversations with the academic community. While somewhat painful, we were able to still offer minors in some of these areas.
- Where possible, small private institutions must reduce the number of hours in the core curriculum to allow students the ability to double major and/or gain certifications that can help them secure employment.
- The members of the Board of Trustees must use their influence to encourage legislative bodies to keep private education in the conversation as positive contributors to helping the state economy and workforce.
Globally, the higher education systems have become more divergent. Small private institutions would be wise to use their international graduates to help shape their value proposition to other students in their respective countries. At YHC, we identified successful international graduates and paid them a stipend to serve as our ambassadors to prospective students when they return home. Outside of athletic recruitment, I do not see international recruitment as being a significant answer to some of the issues facing small private colleges in the U.S.
As someone deeply involved in institutional advancement, what role do you believe fundraising and alumni relations will play in shaping the future of higher education?
Today’s donors support innovation, not nostalgia. Institutions must invest in strong marketing campaigns that inform alumni and donors of societal needs and how the institution is helping to meet those needs. In my experience, I have found that honesty and clear messaging have replaced the traditional bragging points previously used in fundraising. Regarding alumni relations, institutions must engage alumni from all eras using key messaging that matters to each segment of graduates. Gone is the day of one message being used for all eras.
In my experience, I have witnessed a shift to getting alumni back on campus to meet with faculty and students as a way for them to see that the core values that alumni experience are still present at the institution. I have trained fundraisers to understand that the greatest ask of a potential donor is for their time, not their gift. When potential donors give their time to visit the campus and experience what occurs on campus, they are more open to asking how they can help us be successful.
With increasing emphasis on technology in education, how do you see the balance between traditional, in-person learning and online education evolving in the next decade?
Most small private institutions serve students from rural areas. These students do not receive an education that is technologically driven. While some of these students take early college classes that are remote in nature, they seem to have difficulty in identifying academic rigor in the classes and do not value the learning in the offerings. That said, small private institutions will see the number of students who seek a traditional face-to-face education continue to dwindle, and those who do matriculate will come with college credits which will impact the amount of revenue that the institution will receive from these students. In summary, small private institutions will see students attending with at least one year of college credit, and thus they will receive three years of tuition revenue instead of four years.
I believe that college students will begin to amass credits from different institutions and will seek a college that will work with them to combine those credits into a degree that improves their ability to secure employment.
Globalization has influenced every industry, including higher education. How can colleges and universities foster a more global perspective among their students while addressing local community needs?
For small private colleges, many of whom have difficulty in attracting minority and international faculty, they must focus on visiting lecturers and global awareness opportunities. For example, at Brevard and Young Harris, we funded international experiences for faculty members with the expectation that they would bring their awareness back to the classroom. To help improve the outcomes, we identified international experiences for faculty in the countries from which we were attracting international students. We then encourage faculty members to meet with the international students and involve them in their class program. When funding was available, we offered a travel abroad experience to the students and paid the international student to serve as a guide. By approaching globalization issues from this perspective, we were able to make some impact on our traditional students.
What advice would you offer to emerging leaders in higher education who aspire to make a meaningful impact in their roles?
Emerging leaders in higher education need to spend time understanding the governance structures with today’s Board of Trustees. Over my forty years in higher education, I have seen the governance model shift from Trustees assuring that the institution is true to its mission and doing all they can to provide the funding for the mission, to becoming more of a corporate Board of Directors where they focus on revenue generation. Tomorrow’s leaders must learn how to navigate the current Board mindset and begin to speak in corporate speak rather than academic speak.
On a personal note, what inspires and motivates you as an educator and leader, and how do you envision your legacy within the higher education landscape?
My motivation and inspiration come from observing a student’s education and personal development throughout their time at college. Therefore, I was an approachable and involved President. I spent time with students, alumni, faculty, and staff encouraging and challenging them to keep service and success at the forefront. When I retired from Young Harris College on December 31, 2024, I was recognized as one of the 500 most influential Georgians, was awarded the College’s Medallion of Honor, and received accolades from the student government association, and alumni association. Combined, this makes me feel that I impacted Young Harris College, the State of Georgia, and the lives of those who deliver and receive an education. If people remembered me, then I did something right.