For years, higher education leaders have weighed the merits of prioritizing fewer, high-quality programs versus or expand by providing more programs, even at the potential expense of quality. While this debate has shaped strategic planning and program evaluation, today’s environment—characterized by limited resources, evolving student needs, and heightened accountability—makes the traditional quality vs. quantity approach inadequate. A more effective lens is to assess initiatives through the value vs. volume trade-off.

Why Quality vs. Quantity Falls Short

The traditional quality vs. quantity paradigm was useful in industrial or production-based contexts, but higher education is not a factory line. While quality is important, it is often subjective in this field. Faculty may define quality through academic rigor, administrators through various student success outcomes, and students through relevance to their personal goals. Quantity, on the other hand, can easily turn into a vanity metric. Simply counting workshops, programs, or partnerships can create the illusion of success by focusing on easily measurable outputs rather than deep, long-lasting outcomes.

Value vs. Volume: A More Effective Lens

Value represents the true impact or usefulness of our work. In higher education, value is reflected in student outcomes such as learning, persistence, belonging, equity, and engagement. Value aligns directly with the institution’s mission and avoids trendy activities that, while appearing important at the moment, do not significantly enhance student learning and development.

In contrast, volume refers to reach and scale—the number of students served, programs offered, or communications sent. While volume can amplify good work, without value, it can become mere noise.

You may be thinking, Isn’t quality the same as value? The answer is sometimes, but not always. Let’s say I go to a tailor and have a beautiful coat handmade from the finest cashmere and silk. We can safely say that this likely a very high-quality garment. Then imagine that on the way home from work on a snowy evening, your car leaves the road and gets stuck in a snow bank (I’m from Maine, this stuff really happens here!). You now have to get the shovel from your trunk and dig out your car. Do you think that your new handmade coat is a good thing to wear while doing this task? Probably not. Imagine the same scenario, but now you have a big down parka, the kind people wear when climbing Mt. Everest (again, being from Maine, mine would be made by LL Bean), another high-quality garment. Both of these coats are of great quality, but which one has the most value in this situation? This is the same issue we face regularly in our work. We may have a well-planned event, a highly functional new software, or a training that meets all of its learning outcomes, but are these what we need to accomplish our most important goals? Do they move the needle on the outcomes that make our institution successful? Do they measurably affect student engagement and persistence? If the answer is no, they may be of high quality, but not of high value. 

Practical Applications

Student Affairs Programming
Volume: We hosted 50 programs this semester.
Value: Our first-year experience program improved students’ sense of belonging and retention, demonstrating alignment with institutional goals.

Faculty & Staff Development
Volume: We trained 200 faculty this year.
Value: Faculty reported implementing new teaching practices learned from the Center for Teaching and Learning workshops, with students showing higher engagement with the course material.

Strategic Planning
Volume: We launched 10 strategic initiatives ahead of schedule.
Value: One strategic initiative transformed the advising processes, resulting in measurable increases in student persistence.

Why Value Matters More Than Volume

Students will remember Value more than Volume:

Students may not remember how many programs were offered; they remember the difference these programs made in their lives.

An obsession with Volume can lead to burnout:
Pursuing “more” without regard to impact on staff and faculty can be detrimental to both your desired outcomes and to your long term viability.  

Value can scale when done well:
Initiatives that demonstrate real value are more likely to attract resources, support, and participants, allowing for future expansion.

How Leaders Can Apply This Lens

Ask first about Value, not Volume:

Before launching a program, ask “What problem does this solve for students, staff, or the institution?” only then consider how it might scale.

Rethink your approach to assessment:

Go beyond attendance numbers. Assess the impact on persistence, satisfaction, or equity outcomes.

Anchor in your mission:

Value connects directly to institutional mission. Volume often does not. By aligning initiatives with mission, leaders ensure that the impact is meaningful and sustainable.

Closing Reflection

Higher education is at a crossroads. Budgets are tighter, expectations are higher, and stakeholders demand demonstrable results. In this environment, we cannot afford to chase numbers for their own sake. Volume has a place, but only as a means to amplify value. 

The future of higher education will be shaped by leaders who prioritize value; those who design programs, practices, and initiatives that deliver meaningful impact to students, faculty, staff, and communities. Effective leadership is defined not by the volume of activity, but by a focus on what truly matters.

I’ll leave you with two questions:

What’s the real value your work is creating today?

Where might a focus on doing more be distracting you from what truly matters?

Let’s connect if you want to make the shift from burnout-inducing volume to fulfilling work that provides true value.