Excelsior College Reviews

Pros

The people are friendly, the benefits package is still quite nice, the salary is higher than competition, ability to work from home for some positions, the work is meaningful and the students are deserving

Advice to Management

Take care of your employees so they want to stick around long-term. Put more time and attention into the college's relationship with the military since they are the lifeblood of our student enrollment.

Pros

Staff is generally staff to each other.

Advice to Management

Diversify

Pros

I love our students, the friendships over the years, and the former senior leadership team.

Advice to Management

After we formally tried to address concerns about our new leaders in our annual employee survey by noting a reduction in trust and moral, year over year, declining nearly 70%, there was no follow-up from the board. No one from the board came to see why we lost faith so quickly in our new executive leaders. Couldn't you have the curiousity enough to care about our students, if not for us? I'm sorry but effective marketing, IT and student experience are not strategies. They are operational prerequisites to running an institution. "The Emperor has no clothes"-- And the board seems to be condoning this dysfunction and incompetence by inaction. Were is the Board's courage? We need new leadership quickly or we will become "Profiles in a Shuttered College" before too long.

Pros

Benefits can be considered good. Generous PTO and flexible working hours (for some professions)

Advice to Management

How you carry yourself affects those who you work with. Paying attention to the needs of your employees will benefit the entire organization in a positive way.

Pros

- Work environment regarding staff is warm and friendly
- Easy going atmosphere
- Good medical benefits

Advice to Management

- Design proper organizational models within departments
- Choose managers with proper experience and not because you like them personally
- Keep the core values that Excelsior College was built upon
- Pay your employees industry standard levels

Pros

At Excelsior College, you find a fantastic group of people that are committed to help adults to accomplish their academic goals. The work environment is caring and supportive of work-life balance. Diversity and inclusion are highly valued and employees are encouraged to share and participate in College-wide discussions. The institution invests in developing staff and supports internal growth and promotions. Educational benefits for employees are highly competitive. Professional development opportunities are available for those who are willing to walk the extra mile.

Advice to Management

You are driving in the right direction: Continue acting with integrity and ensuring that the College delivers its mission.
For a great future: Take care of your employees and empower them to take care of your students.

Pros

Work and Life balance is good.

Pros

Benefits like PTO and healthcare costs are better at Excelsior than most employers. The college has unique internal policies like closing early the day before a typical holiday, which is a nice perk. The tuition benefit is also a nice benefit if you're looking to complete your degree.

Advice to Management

The board should consider how to attract executive leadership that has strong experience in online higher ed. The current team is well intentioned but doing serious harm to the institution. Morale is incredibly low among mid and entry level staff and we're tired of listening to senior and executive leaders pass the blame around to everyone but themselves for the current state of the institution. Take some ownership and accountability. The constant reorgs are a distraction from our job and the most recent ones have left large parts of the college under the direction of leaders who are either in over their head and/or have never worked in these areas. This is a disservice to our hard-working staff and most importantly our students.

Pros

Excelsior College provides people an opportunity to complete their college degrees with flexibility, by allowing to transfer their credits from other regionally accredited college's; by transferring approved credit for their military service, by earning credit- by- examination (allowing students to validate what they know), and/or by a portfolio assessment. Excelsior allows all of these flexible options for people who are working and raising their families. Without Excelsior, our graduated students may not have been able to otherwise do so. As an employee of over 30 years, I have been through the good and the challenges Excelsior College has faced, and have found that we have pulled together to meet those challenges for the good of our students. This current challenge is no different. I respect the opinions of my colleagues who have shared their opinions in this format as well. I have had challenges at times as well, however I see the college in a very different light. Management at Excelsior do care about its' staff and students and both are the main focus. There isn't any organization that hasn't had to reorganize, or go back to it's core; that what Excelsior is going through currently. The journey has been articulated by President Baldwin and he has communicated the journey. It is up to staff to work together to enable Excelsior to thrive, and to help our students to be success in their pursuit of a degree. I have benefited by earning a degree in Psychology through Excelsior which enabled me to go on to get my Master's. Not only did Excelsior enable me to get a bachelor's and master's degree, I have been able to build a career here as well. Maybe the college has to work to better communicate about what we have to offer but the options are here for students and staff.

Advice to Management

Keep the course, and acknowledge the challenges we face together so we can as a college address them.

Pros

Management could have better leveraged the expertise that once existed and listening that had already been done to improve student experiences, retention, enrollments, etc. The mission and talent were, at one time, highly competitive.

Advice to Management

If you wish to compete, and at this point survive, I recommend cleaning house of the bad decision makers at the top. Get people in place who understand higher education, quality IT, student needs/wants, and can innovate, inspire and turn things around.