Enrollment Management Essentials
NASPA Western Regional
Nancy T. Youlden,
Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs
WSU Vancouver
Innovative
Enrollment
Strategies
Enrollment Management
Continuum
Session Outline
• Evolution of Enrollment Management (EM)
• Why is it important?
• EM Principles
• EM Basics
• EM Best Practices
• Resources
• Dialogue with Colleagues - Share EM Strategies
• Take-aways
History of Enrollment Management
• Boston College (late 1970’s)
• Significant demographic downturn in early 1980’s
• Universities adopted more of a business model
• Early 1990’s – strategic enrollment management
(SEM) emerged
• Changes in higher education funding
Enrollment
Management
“Strategic
enrollment
management isDefined
a
comprehensive process designed to help an
institution achieve and maintain the optimum
recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of
students where ‘optimum’ is defined within the
academic context of the institution. As such, SEM
is an institution-wide process that embraces
virtually every aspect of an institution’s function
and culture.”
– Michael G. Dolence, Strategic Enrollment Management1993
Enrollment Management Defined
Strategic enrollment management is
defined as a complex of concepts and
processes that enables fulfillment of
institutional mission and students’
educational goals.
Bob Bontrager, 2004
Connections Matter
Clearly, the enrollment management leadership
grasps the importance of engaging the entire
campus in the recruitment effort – from the
president to the janitorial staff. To put it simply,
recruitment and retention are fundamentally about
creating and cultivating relationships, connections
matter.
–Jim Black, Prologue to AACRAO’s Basic Guide
to Enrollment Management
Enrollment Management – why does it
matter?
•High stakes/visibility
•Increase in tuition
•Changing demographics
•Decrease in state funding
•Increasing financial need of students
Estimated and Projected High School
Graduates
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention
Funding Erosion
Washington
1989 – students covered 33% of the
cost of education
2010 – students now cover 70% of
the cost of education
Source: Higher Education Coordinator Board
1980 – students covered 30% of the
cost of education
2010 – students now cover 70% of
the cost of education
Source: Oregonian article, June 1, 2010
Oregon
Enrollment Management Guiding
Principles
•Mission Based
•Academically Oriented
•Student Centered
•Data Informed
•Comprehensive
•Committed to Long Term Success
–Source: Bob Bontrager, 1996
Some EM Basics
• Know your data
 Grads vs Undergrads
 Freshman vs. Transfers
 Residents vs. Non-Residents
 Retention Rate
• Know your competition (where do “your” students
go?)
• Establish clear goals - what is the desired mix?
EM Basics continued
• Institutional collaboration across campus –
integrated services (enrollment offices and
beyond)
• Support and promote student success and
persistence
• Strategic use of scholarship/financial aid
efficiency
• Technology
 Student Information System (SIS)
 Customer Relationship Manager CRM)
Strategic Enrollment Management
Best Practices
•Admission Policies & Practices
•One-Stop Shop
•Predictive Modeling
•CRM/Technology
•Enrollment Projections
•Financial Aid Leveraging
Admissions Policies & Practices
• Holistic Approach (beyond test scores and grades)
• Non-cognitive variables
“variables related to adjustment, motivation, and
student perceptions*”
• Oregon State University, WSU, College Success
Foundation (WA)
*Dr. William Sedlacek, University of Maryland
"Beyond the Big Test: Noncognitive Assessment in Higher Education"
One-Stop Shop
• Proven model that provides meaningful integration
of services and information in an effort to improve
and enhance customer service to students
• Seamless for students
• Generalist rather than specialists
• Cross-training
• Greater benefit for current rather than new students
Predictive Modeling
•Not all prospects created equal
•Looking for highest yield
•Utilizes existing data history
•Uses statistical methods to quantitatively
predict the future behavior of individuals
Resources:
• Dolence, M.G. (1997). Strategic Enrollment Management: A
Primer for Campus Administrators (2nd ed.), USA: American
Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers;
Datatel.
• Jacobs, B.C. (Ed.) (2004). The College Transfer Student in
America: The Forgotten Student. Washington D.C.: American
Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers;
Library of Congress.
• Westman, C., & Bouman, P. (2005). AACRAO’s Basic Guide to
Enrollment Management. Washington D.C.: American Association
of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers; Library of
Congress.
• Webinars
• AACRAO SEM Conference (early November)
Resources continued...
• One Stop Shop Conference. Integrating Student Services:
Leadership for the Next Generation of Service Delivery.
November 5-7, 2006. Belmont University, Nashville, TN:
Institute for Student Services Professionals in alliance with
NACUBO.
• Financial Aid Leveraging; Predictive Modeling (consultants, webinars,
conferences, etc)
• Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE)
• National Student Clearinghouse (find out where your applied/admitted
students enroll)
Time to share!
• What enrollment strategies does your campus use?
• What works well?
• What has not worked?
• What are you trying to do with enrollment?
• What do you still want to
know?
Take-aways.
• Understand enrollment management is
complex (structure, concepts and processes)
• Involves a campus culture that is aware of
enrollment issues and importance to entire
campus
• Enrollment is the “football team” at our
institutions – high priority, funding, visible,
pressure, frequent coaching changes
• It is a continuum - something is
better than nothing!