New Campus Expansion Feasibility Study

What a good one includes

• A detailed local demographic analysis tracking family income levels, age distribution, and population growth trends within a realistic commuter radius.
• A competitive landscape matrix assessing local public, private, and charter alternatives, highlighting their enrollment caps, tuition rates, and waitlist sizes.
• A regulatory and zoning assessment detailing local land-use laws, building permits, parking ratios, and safety codes required for educational facilities.
• A five-year financial model featuring conservative, realistic, and aggressive enrollment scenarios alongside projected capital expenditures and operational costs.
• A staffing and curriculum plan outlining required teacher-to-student ratios, faculty recruitment costs, and immediate accreditation impacts.
• A risk mitigation framework identifying potential bottlenecks like construction delays, local community resistance, or sudden economic shifts with actionable contingency strategies.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Relying on vocal parent interest surveys rather than hard demographic data, which often leads to inflated, unrealistic enrollment projections.
• Underestimating the true cost of recruiting, hiring, and retaining qualified educators and administrative staff in a competitive labor market.
• Failing to account for indirect facility expenses such as traffic mitigation studies, ADA compliance retrofitting, and specialized athletic or lab equipment.
• Compressing the planning and regulatory approval phase, resulting in missed licensing deadlines and costly delays to the academic calendar.

Frequently asked questions