CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. — After years of painful annual deficits, Thomas More College is projecting a surplus.

        After years without adequate strategic planning, that vital process is under way at the private Catholic college in this Kenton County city.

        And despite stiff price competition from nearby Northern Kentucky University, Thomas More is filling freshman classes and and expects to prosper as an intimate educational alternative in a metropolitan region.

        “I'm here at a good time,” Thomas More's new president, E. Joseph Lee II, said in a recent interview.

ABOUT TMC

• 1921: Founded in Covington as Villa Madonna College for women by Benedictine Sisters.   • 1923: Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky.   • 1929: First graduating class; the Sisters of Notre Dame and Congregation of Divine Providence joined the Benedictines in college operation.   • 1945: Purchased by the Diocese of Covington, the same year it became fully coeducational.   • 1968: Moved to 60 acres in Crestview Hills and renamed Thomas More College.   • 2001: A liberal arts/pre-professional curriculum for 990 full-time undergraduates and 432 part-time undergraduates plus an accelerated MBA for 133 full-time graduate students.

        Thomas More's problems were detailed in a 1999 self-study required by the College Commission of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) for its 10-year accreditation reassessment.

        Even though it said the 1,555-student school was academically strong, SACS put the school “on warning” in December 2000, and gave it a year to sort out its problems. SACS faulted Thomas More's finances and the absence of a credible strategic plan for breaking into the black and staying there.

        Dr. Lee won't be shy about telling SACS about Thomas More's progress and he expects another year to meet SACS criteria without penalty. Meanwhile, the college is fully accredited and its degrees and credits are accepted everywhere.

        Coincidentally, Dr. Lee, a proven small college administrator, was hired to succeed the Rev. William F. Cleves, a popular professor and fund-raiser but admittedly not a strong ad ministrator.

        “He has talents and gifts that I don't have,” Father Cleves said. “I always felt that I was swimming upstream in administration.”

        Now, Father Cleves again is teaching theology of the Eucharist, Christology and ecclesiology at Thomas More. “I love being in the classroom.”

        Equally pleased is businessman Edwin “Ted” Robinson, who led the search committee in 2000 for Father Cleves' successor. A good indicator of the direction the school is headed, he said, came in September when the school broke ground on a $6 million residence hall.

        Moreover, resolving SACS' accreditation questions is moving ahead nicely, Mr. Robinson said.

        Part of the problem was the board's decision to skip a tuition increase in the just-ended academic year. That move didn't draw additional students and it produced a third straight annual deficit of $300,000 to $600,000.

        Unrestricted investment income and surpluses from previous years covered the losses but the painful lesson prompted a 7.3 percent increase this year in full-time tuition — from $12,300 to $13,200 — for the 990 undergrads and produced an additional $732,000.

        That “financial cushion” allowed Dr. Lee to raise faculty pay by an average of 5 percent. Otherwise, he froze hiring and barred new expenditures without his explicit approval. “I'm just saying no.”

        Diverse interests and commitments limit a college president's power, he explained, “But the budget is the one thing you can control.”

        He forecasts at least a $300,000 surplus when the budget year ends May 31 and hopes SACS will take notice when it reviews Thomas More's status at the group's annual meeting in December.

        As with other small private schools, Thomas More depends heavily on tuition and ever-larger freshman classes are vital to financial health.

        For the second straight year, Thomas More has enrolled more than 300 freshmen while basing its budget on about 280. This year, it was 325; last year, 304.

        But “it's cheaper to keep a student than to recruit one,” he said, so the school has reorga nized financial aid, advising and campus social life to carry more first-time freshmen into their sophomore years.

        The retention rate has been about 68 percent but Thomas More hopes to raise it next fall to the national standard of 72 percent on similar campuses.

        The new residence hall will house up to 160 students and anchor two more dorms as need arises. Fees for room and board will cover the debt but Dr. Lee wouldn't turn his back on a gift big enough to carve a donor's name over the entrance.

        “Do we want someone to name it? Sure.”

        The long-desired separate chapel building, however, must wait, he said. The current chapel is part of the original classroom facility. “We can't put a shovel in the ground until we have an endowment to maintain it.”

        Dr. Lee was recruited aggressively from Manhattan College in Riverdale, N.Y., after three previous finalists were rejected.

        When he visited in March, Dr. Lee liked what he saw, even though Father Cleves and the board were candid about their problems.

        “The group that put me over the top was the students. They all love the place for different reasons.”

        Thomas More draws about 10 percent of its undergraduates from Northern Kentucky Catholic families, the primary market that Dr. Lee hopes to further develop.

        About 80 percent of all undergrads come from Northern Kentucky but he said Thomas More does not compete with NKU or the community college that is scheduled to open in fall 2003, near Florence.

        To attain his goal of 2,000 students by 2005, he will have to attract undecided non-Catholic youngsters by selling the attractions of a small, private and inescapably costlier college with a conscious Catholic ambience.

        If anything, expanding that niche plays to his career strengths.

        “I'm a marketing person.”

        Thomas More has lacked a focused, aggressive, well-funded and consistent campaign to put its virtues before a larger public, including Ohioans, Dr. Lee said. “When we talk to people, the perception of Thomas More is quality. However, that message wasn't getting out.”

        That campaign is next.

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