President Gregory Dell’Omo gives comment on Credo partnership

By Gregory Dell’Omo

Several months ago, Rider University engaged in a partnership with Credo, a national higher education consulting firm, for the purpose of helping Rider create a sustainable path forward in this shifting higher education and post-pandemic environment. The engagement with Credo is critical in our efforts to create a viable and more nimbly adaptable institution in an extremely competitive marketplace. We are all invested in Rider’s long-term future and want to ensure that it is the best college for our students, staff and faculty for years to come.

Our Credo partnership is a holistic one, focused on examining all aspects of the university. This means identifying areas in which we need to invest more time, effort and resources, areas in which we should maintain the status quo, and those areas in which we need to rethink our investments. Doing so enables us to create a sustainable financial future that focuses on all facets that support student success, inspiring prospective students and their families to invest in a Rider education.

The three-pronged approach we are employing focuses on the student experience, administrative efficiency and academic efficiency. The student experience assessment has already yielded valuable feedback from Credo, allowing us to enhance and improve upon our recruitment and retention efforts,
particularly during the first 18 months of a student’s Rider journey. Collaboration by faculty, staff and students is critical to this process and we are grateful for those who have already lent their time, talent and expertise in this work, and we encourage all members of the Rider community to participate at some point
during this assessment.

Our priority is to assure that Rider University remains a competitive choice when students and families make decisions on where to invest in their education. To accomplish this, we must be open-minded and realistic that higher education must be responsive to demonstrating our value proposition to our students, their families and society as a whole. We firmly believe that our work with Credo will help transform Rider into the strongest institution possible for our long-term success.

Gregory G. Dell’Omo, Ph.D., President