Category: Article Archives

Dr. Marylouise Fennell Principal Hyatt-Fennell Dr. Scott D. Miller President Virginia Wesleyan University With spring in the air and more Americans getting vaccinated every day, there’s much to look forward to for the Fall 2021 semester. But before we get ahead of ourselves, how are your enrollment strategies for this upcoming semester working? Despite reports of “application inflation,” students applying to more than 10 institutions simultaneously, and the fact that some colleges interpret the increased number of applications as a sign of their growing popularity and reputation, there is a hard reality: although many students are serious about their applications […]

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If the majority of your enrollments are first time freshmen, this is an issue you are unlikely to confront. If your institution, however, recruits and enrolls a large number of adult students and/or transfer students, federal and state financial aid lifetime maximums are probably going to impact the ability of many new, prospective students to enroll. Further, it could serve as a substantial barrier for your currently enrolled students to continue enrollment and/or graduate.

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As we look to 2021, we asked presidents of 10 higher education institutions – four private, three public, two community college, and one for-profit – for their thoughts leading into the new year. We summarized our discussions with these presidents and note the two biggest concerns consistent across all institutional leaders, perhaps unsurprisingly, are budget and enrollment.

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This has been an unprecedented year in enrollment management as the pandemic changed everything. Colleges and universities were forced to make adjustments and modifications on the fly to adapt to new realities. So many obstacles, challenges and upheaval!

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It is easy to overlook the impact of financial aid policy and process on your enrollment counts and the financial bottom line.  The truth is that the details of your institutional approach to financial aid will definitely influence recruitment success, retention rates, net revenue and thus your operational options.

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COVID-19 has presented higher education with many unique and unprecedented challenges. No institution has been spared its impact—national or global, public or private, liberal arts or research institutions, nor those with large or small endowments. It has become clear in the higher education landscape, however, that those who acted swiftly and thoughtfully appear to be in better shape than their competitors who waited to enact a plan.

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I am always surprised when reviewing enrollment management operations at colleges and universities how often I discover that the institutional website does not support recruitment efforts. While websites have been critical in the recruitment and financial processes for decades now, many colleges and universities have not taken even initial steps to upgrade the electronic experience for their customers. Given the current pandemic, the website has never been more important.

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During these challenging times for enrollment managers, the focus tends to be on admissions. Enrollment managers are working to grow the inquiry base, better focus search strategies, increase folder completion rates and maximize yield. While juggling all of the recruitment issues related to admission, we can lose sight of the importance of the financial aid operation.I have had the pleasure of visiting more than 200 colleges and universities throughout the United States and have taken detailed looks at the various approaches to financial aid. When identifying problems with approaches to financial aid, the missteps are fairly common.

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