People counters can also benefit your university by proving your campus provides value to students. In this chapter, we cover how a university people counting system enables you to track popularity, gauge success and prevent budget cuts.
Counting people allows your university to ensure you are providing value to the student body and to prove to the administration that facilities and organizations are valuable to the campus. Doing so is especially crucial when your university is on a tight budget and you want to combat cuts in funding.
Your campus buildings can help recruit new students and engage current students, and you can provide valuable experiences to students through your facilities and resources. Your campus’s atmosphere is what makes the first impression on prospective students. You can use your people counting system’s data to demonstrate the value you provide to students and show your administration that you should continue offering students certain programs, services and spaces.
People counter data demonstrates the popularity of certain spaces, services or programs over time. You can use people counters to track foot traffic over time to identify any changes, such as a shift in students’ opinions regarding customer service, available resources and building hours. For example, if students are dissatisfied with the reduced hours at the student union during finals week, they may go to an off-campus spot instead.
Additionally, you can use these numbers to identify an increase in foot traffic as a result of building expansion or increased operating hours. With athletics, clubs and arts at risk of budget cuts, it’s important to track the popularity of these programs to justify their continuation. If you find certain programs or facilities are not as popular as you would like, you can use the data from your people counters to generate ideas to improve your college campus.
You can also use people counter data to gauge the success of special events, such as concerts, film screenings or sporting events. To avoid wasting money, you can use people trackers to inform the programming or event planning board about which activities students prefer and what they don’t like. By gauging the success of your events with people counters, your university can get a better idea of what forms of entertainment will provide the greatest return on investment.
When you can prove your university’s success, you can continue to secure funding while keeping your tuition and fees affordable for prospective students. Doing so is essential to combat budget cuts and the resulting negative impacts on the quality of the campus and the education you offer.
College campuses often struggle to get funding for facilities. With data from a people counting system, you can prove that your university needs more staff, services, supplies, technology or increased operating hours. For example, higher education institutions typically allocate less than two cents for each dollar received to academic libraries. If you need more funding for a facility, you can use the data from your people counting system to justify your need for additional funding.
One of the best ways to improve your college campus is by preventing budget cuts. In recent years, budget cuts have impacted many universities and colleges. Budget cuts have significantly impacted doctoral universities and public institutions. When budget cuts occur, it can be difficult to know whether they will be temporary or permanent, and these cuts can force your university to reallocate funds and reduce money to certain expenditures, such as activities, programs or events.
You can use people counter data to justify spending if certain areas are very popular with students. With this data, you can prevent resources or programs from getting cut if your budget is reduced. University people counters allow you to:
If your university has been struggling to prove your campus’s worth as a cultural and learning center, turn to a people counting system that can provide the hard evidence you need to support your funding requests and program decisions. Learn more about the benefits of university people counters and how they can add value to your campus.
