A Tale of Enrollment Planning Strategies in Two University Systems
Budget Planning Breakdown
Subtitled, "Ensuring a link between financial aid and enrollment projections," Kathy Kurz, Jim Scannell, and Mary Piccioli examine the formula and methods used to project future enrollments in various categories of students, and conclude that: The process is about more than just data analysis and projections of new and returning students. It is about getting the right people in the room to ensure there is an understanding of how the numbers were derived, how realistic they are, and where the problem areas might be. Institutions just can’t afford to get this wrong! Labels: academic planning, enrollment management, resource and budget planning
Why Students Are Leaving Your College or University?
It might seem intuitive that most students leave a college or a university (without graduating) due to financial stress. But this company's research fiinds that nearly 3/4 of non-graduating students who leave, leave for "customer service-related reasons (includes pie charts). "We would have expected that financially motivated dropping would have risen significantly. That was not what we found. Though it could be argued that the major shift in “not worth it” is in part a financial decision. However the larger parts of the category do appear to be a combination of 'poor service and treatment' and 'college does not care.' These are combined with a sense of 'I am wasting my time and money.'" Labels: enrollment management, matriculation, retention, students
Well-Regarded Public Colleges Get a Surge of Bargain Hunters
As things get tough, our student body realigns itself to the realities: “The country is in the process of reconsidering the easy accumulation of debt for consumer things, and it may well be that that will be a factor that tilts people toward public institutions because of the cheaper sticker price,” said Patrick M. Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a nonprofit research and advocacy organization. A poll by the center in December showed that “people’s anxiety about paying for college is almost at an unprecedented high,” Mr. Callan said. “We’re not sure how they will respond, but we’re pretty sure they won’t respond by deciding not to go,” he added. “Middle class families understand that you’re going to be consigned to the minimum-wage economy if you don’t get some higher education or training.”
Labels: affordability, cost, enrollment management, financial crisis
$62B Over 10 Years from New GI Bill - This Could be Interesting
Our attention was caught by this last week when Ohio decided to offer in-state tuition to veterans from out of state enrolling at Ohio institutions using the new GI Bill. Elizabeth Redden - who, by the way, will be attending SCUP-43 in Montreal next week representing Inside Higher Ed, has put together this comprehensive piece about what some people and institutions are doing in anticipation of those GI Bill dollars: Yet, the progress and now passage of the new GI Bill does seem to be generating an uptick of interest in, for instance, setting up one-stop student services shops for veterans, or establishing veterans centers or lounges. A bill introduced in January by Rep. Rubén Hinojosa (D-Tex.) and Rep. Michael Castle (R-Del.) — which, according to Hinojosa’s staff, is included in compromise legislation to renew the Higher Ed Act – would authorize a federal grant program for colleges that set up “model programs to support veteran student success.” Under the terms of the legislation, qualifying colleges would establish a Center of Excellence for Veteran Student Success, develop a veterans support team involving representatives from admissions, registration, financial aid, veterans benefits, academic advising, health, career advising, disabilities and other relevant areas, hire a full- or part-time coordinator, and monitor veteran student enrollment, persistence and completion. Labels: enrollment management, GI Bill, student life, veterans
In Turbulent Times, 2 Small Colleges Brace for the Worst
This article, by Goldie Blumenstyk, from The Chronicle of Higher Education, will require a day pass or a subscription to the magazine: About a year ago, Heidelberg College pumped up its spending for a new, streamlined scholarship program, and then promoted its simplified formula so that students would know how much they could get before they even applied. It worked. Last fall this small, mostly residential liberal-arts college on a campus dotted with Collegiate Gothic buildings brought in the second-largest class in its 158-year history, and, more significantly, a net increase in tuition revenue. It is on track for similar success this year. At Tiffin University, a newer, more-Modernist campus across town, enrollment has been at least as solid. Thanks to its distance-education program and 11 satellite campuses, Tiffin's student population has risen by more than 50 percent over the past five years, far outpacing growth at other private or public colleges in the state. Together, these two very dissimilar colleges — located at opposite ends of this town of 18,000 in the farm flatlands of north-central Ohio — present a living laboratory for the variety of experiments and strategies that many small, private colleges are now undertaking. And perhaps none too soon.
Labels: enrollment management, small colleges, strategic positioning
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