By Jeanne Frawley As drops in student enrollment and retention due to the pandemic continue to cause financial challenges for higher ed, it’s time to address some root causes of these beyond the pandemic. As institutions seek to diversify the student body – ethnically, geographically, socioeconomically – we must find the gaps and align resources to provide solutions. Often, the first response to an enrollment or retention issue is to look at tuition costs. Institutions increase discount rates or reset tuition list prices but end up finding themselves in a race to the bottom as this response fails to address the educational value proposition. College tuition is expensive, and income inequality is at the highest rate we’ve seen since the 1920’s. Yet we see high-need students with full-tuition scholarships leaving our universities before graduation. Clearly, it’s not just about the money. It’s about value, resources, and bandwidth. Value is subjective.…