Students' free advice gets an A
Last year Lincoln officials wanted to rethink how they operated the Pierce House, a town-owned mansion that hosts weddings and other special events. So they advertised for a consultant who could analyze revenues, gauge the market, and suggest options. But professional consultants said Lincoln's offer of $15,000 for the job wasn't enough.
Then former Finance Committee member Mary Hartman, a Bentley College professor, suggested the town contact her colleague, Charlene O'Brien. Soon after, O'Brien assigned five students from her management consulting course to the task.
By the end of the academic year in May, the students had racked up significant real-life experience -- and the town had a free, 102-page report that a company might have charged $30,000 to write.
Colleges and universities regularly flood town halls in Boston's western suburbs with wide-eyed volunteers and interns. But other students are undertaking special projects on behalf of municipalities as part of their coursework, helping decision - makers and saving taxpayer money in the process.
"They were a great team to work with," said Lincoln Assistant Town Administrator Anita Scheipers. "At times, you forgot they were students. The town was very pleased with the results."
In the fall, Brandeis University students are planning to conduct environmental tests on an old estate that Weston is expected to purchase. As part of a professional writing course, Framingham State College students recently persuaded the town to change a traffic sign at a congested intersection. Students at Harvard University last year suggested new ways for Newton to oversee its budget. Needham is using an MIT student study as the basis of a redevelopment proposal for downtown.
"Students are using the intellectual tools they are developing in their classes and applying them to real-world problems," said Brandeis Professor Mark Auslander, who directs a new university initiative to engage more students outside the classroom.
"It's a constant highway back and forth, a constructive exchange between theory and practice," Auslander said.
Officials who worked with students were positive about their experiences.
"It was great working with the students because not only do they bring a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but they are very talented," said Sanford Pooler, Newton's chief administrative officer. "I can definitely say on a personal level I learned some things from them on how to analyze something."
Students said working for real clients gave them insights they couldn't find in their courses.
"It was amazing," said Colleen Gross, 28, who analyzed how the city drafted its Parks and Recreation Department budget as she worked for her master's degree at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. "In class we'd have our worksheets and exercises and cases. It wasn't complicated. Everything took so much longer in Newton. I really understand the process now of looking through a budget and weeding out that information."
Gross's former professor, Linda Bilmes, said she has a waiting list of 25 Massachusetts mayors who have asked her to unleash students on their offices.
Given that local governments are struggling with tight finances, it's no surprise officials are seeking free, high-quality labor. Bilmes estimated that one of the studies her students conducted in Newton could have cost the city more than $50,000.
With access to enormous research libraries, the latest technology and world-class experts, students sometimes have more resources than professional firms.
"Students have all the facilities that, to be honest, a lot of consultant teams don't have access to," said O'Brien from Bentley. "Towns and nonprofits that don't have the money can get really quality work from universities."
Municipal officials were quick to note that students don't make decisions for them. They act as regular consultants who compile information and suggest different ways a city council or board of selectmen might proceed.
In Lincoln, for instance, students suggested selling 4 or more acres of the 30-acre Pierce House property in order to raise money to invest in the facility. The town probably won't even consider that option.
"Things like that would be a difficult sell for a town like Lincoln that is so conservation-oriented," said Scheipers.
That's fine with James Lally, 30, a former Bentley student who worked on the Pierce House report. Lally graduated in May with a master's in business administration and joined an executive training program at
"Our intent was to spur conversation going forward," Lally said. "We feel that this was a pretty successful case for us." 