Creating a Strategic
Enrollment Management Plan
DR. JOHN HEAD
ASSOCIATE VP FOR ENROLLMENT
MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITY OF WEST GEORGIA
SACRAO 2015
Goal: To Take The Mystery Out of the SEM Plan
Nine Steps to Creating an SEM Plan
 Step 1. It starts at the top–Presidential Support
 Step 2. Do Your Research
 Step 3. Form a Committee
 Step 4. What are your Priorities?
 Step 5. Situation Analysis
 Step 6. Setting your Strategic Goals
 Step 7. Review, Revise and See who Salutes
 Step 8. Integrating the Plan into Operations and
Budgeting
 Step 9. Continuing Evaluation
My Background
 26 years in higher education
 Previously served at 3 church-related private
colleges in the areas of Admissions,
Development, Dean of Students, Enrollment
Management
 Currently the AVP for Enrollment
Management at the University of West
Georgia
The University of West Georgia
 Regional Residential-Comprehensive
University in the University System of
Georgia
 12,206 students in Fall 2014
 50 bachelors, 31 masters/specialist, 4
doctoral, 8 certificates
 NCAA Division II Athletics
Enrollment Trends at UWG
UWG Enrollment 2002 to 2014
Headcount
Dual
Freshmen
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Transient
Other
Graduate
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2013
2014
9675
92
3208
1613
1362
1340
24
24
2012
10216
94
3316
1652
1548
1613
26
30
1937
10163
113
3247
1812
1589
1666
25
23
1688
11252
86
3554
2031
1648
1867
27
17
2022
11283
90
3293
2205
1915
2152
41
11
1576
11769
116
3458
2146
1936
2248
45
14
1806
11929
129
3477
2279
1882
2137
30
25
1970
12,206
196
3437
2410
2018
2092
50
46
1957
Changing Times
 New President started July 1, 2013
 Georgia joins Complete College America program
and each institution creates a Complete College
Georgia plan focusing on Retention, Persistence and
Graduation-250K more credentialed grads by 2020
in Georgia
 New Performance Funding Model in place for
FY2017
High Expectations
 New President sets a goal for UWG to have 15,000
students by 2020
 New Strategic Plan completed in 1 year
 New center opening in Summer 2015 in Newnan, GA
with an aggressive enrollment goal.
 Engage West - “UWG aspires to be the best
comprehensive university in America – sought after
as the best place to work, learn, and succeed!”
Before Getting Started
FACTORS TO CONSIDER
WHEN STARTING YOUR
CAMPUS SEM PLAN
What is Strategic Enrollment Management
“a comprehensive process designed to help an
institution achieve and maintain the optimum
recruitment, retention and graduation rates of
students, where optimum is defined in the
academic context of the institution”
(Dolence, 1993).
Key Words in defining SEM
 Comprehensive- It means you consider areas outside
of your division. An SEM Plan impacts everyone, not
just admissions or retention.
 RPG-Retention, Progression and Graduation
 Academic Context-Strategic Enrollment
Management isn’t about numbers, it is about
learning
Essential Components to Start an SEM Plan
 Support from the top down. If senior leadership is
not on board, don’t waste your time.
 An Institutional Strategic Plan
 Clearly defined goals
 Good Data-You have to know where you have been in
order to decide how to get where you are going.
Potential Pitfalls before you even get Started!
 Don’t get caught up in structure – remember that an
SEM plan is going to span the institution.
 It is an academic issue: At UWG, some of our biggest
barriers have been lack of core seats, course
scheduling conflicts, and artificial barriers made
without student RPG in mind!
Creating Your SEM Plan
STEP ONE:
IT STARTS AT THE TOP!
Goals and Expectations
 What is it that your President is asking you to do?
Are they looking for enrollment forecasting or are
they asking you to really create an SEM plan?
 Is the senior leadership team on board?
 What is the targeted enrollment, retention and
graduation rates that they are aiming for?
Goals and Expectations
 Do you have a Institutional Strategic Plan
that has clearly defined goals?
 Do you have any key performance
indicators?

UWG Strategic Plan

UWG KPIs
Creating Your SEM Plan
STEP TWO:
DO YOUR RESEARCH
External Research
 Educational Policy Institute published A
Practical Guide to Strategic Enrollment
Planning in 2007
 Google the title to find the link to the pdf
 http://www.educationalpolicy.org/pdf/SEM
%20Guide.pdf
Other Institutions
 The same Google search for the EPI
document brought up several other
institutional plans
 Contact Peer and Aspirant institutions
Market Research
 What are the high school and community
college enrollment and graduation trends?
 Federal and State Departments of Education
 SAT/ACT
 US Census Bureau
Internal Research
 Do you have an enrollment projection
model?
 Do you know the factors for attrition?
 Do you know if there is any difference in
retention based on a student’s major?
 What are your import and export majors?
Creating Your SEM Plan
STEP THREE:
FORMING A COMMITTEE
Confession Time
 Because of the situation on the ground at UWG, I did
not form a committee. The President wanted a SEM
Plan right on the heels of the Strategic Plan
 We were in the midst of a Provost Transition.
 This SEM Plan was created by me having countless
conversations around the campus about the “I wish”
and the “what-ifs!”
Forming a Committee
 Broad Representation from across the campus is
important.
 Find the Do-ers!
 Leadership is Critical
 Include different types of people – the dreamers,
the statisticians, the policy wonks…
Agree on a Process
 Establish the ground rules: There are no areas off
limits, but this cannot be about personalities.
 Data collection: Is it through conversations,
surveys, focus groups, town halls?
 Establish a time-frame: You need to set realistic
goals of the steps you want to have accomplished
by certain dates.
Creating Your SEM Plan
STEP FOUR:
WHAT ARE YOUR
PRIORITIES
What are the things you have to consider in the SEM Plan?
 To some extent, this can be guided by the
goals in your Strategic Plan.
 For UWG, our Institutional Strategic Plan
clearly outlined the areas of emphasis that
the SEM Plan needed to address.
 UWG Strategic Plan
Creating Your SEM Plan
STEP FIVE:
THE SITUATION
ANALYSIS
Where are we?
 Commonly referred to as a SWOT Analysis
 If you were to ask these questions on your
campus, how many different answers would
you get?
 What
are we really good at doing at our
institution?
 Where do we need to dramatically improve?
 What is our strongest academic program?
Where are we?
 This is where getting out on campus and
having conversations can pay off!
 I identified several allies around the campus
who were interested in being a part of some
of the initiatives we were considering as part
of our SEM Plan. (Adult Education and PLA,
International Student Recruitment and ESL)
Creating Your SEM Plan
STEP SIX:
SETTING YOUR
STRATEGIC GOALS
Where to begin?
 At this point you and your committee have:
 Had a conversation with the President to learn his/her
expectations.
 Done your research on the market and institutional patterns.
 Identified the priorities/goals from the institution’s strategic
plan.
 Completed a situation analysis to get a handle on where you
are now in relation to those goals and priorities.
Where to begin?
 Start by asking the committee this question:
 What
are the major initiatives that the institution
must undertake in order to reach the goals
established in our institutional strategic plan?
Strategic Plan Imperatives For UWG
 Strategic Imperative #1: Student Success—
Enhanced Learning, Access, Progression, and
Development
 Strategic Imperative #2: Academic Success Academic Programming and Faculty Support
 Strategic Imperative #3: Successful Partnerships-Building Engaged, Mutually Beneficial
Collaborations
 Strategic Imperative #4: Operational Success—
Effectiveness and Sustainability
Priorities For the UWG SEM Plan
 Priority 1. Institutionalize Student Success
 Priority 2. Traditional Student Enrollment Growth
 Priority 3. Dual Enrollment Students
 Priority 4. Adult/Veteran Learners
 Priority 5. International Students
 Priority 6. Retention, Progression and Graduation
Examples of Strategies UWG SEM Plan
 Priority 2. Traditional Student Enrollment Growth
 Strategy 2. Coordinate and Expand Scholarship
Opportunities and Attracting High Ability Students
 A. Coordination: UWG should coordinate the awarding of
institutional scholarships under a University Scholarship
Committee that strategically plans the awarding of any
scholarships not restricted to returning students in order to
promote enrollment growth in high ability students, and to
promote retention progression and graduation.
 B. Expansion: The divisions of University Advancement and
Student Affairs and Enrollment Management should create a
comprehensive scholarship initiative to be included in the
upcoming capital campaign.
Examples of Strategies UWG SEM Plan
 Strategy 7. WEST in 30 – Partnerships for Access and
Success
 UWG should invest in promotional materials and supporting
documents to create and implement WEST in 30. This program
will be designed to direct students who have applied to UWG for
admission as a freshman and have been denied admission based
on their academic profile to enroll at partner institutions.
Students participating in WEST in 30 would be guaranteed
admission to UWG after successfully completing required
coursework through the partner institution. The primary reason
for additional funding is the creation of promotional materials
about the program and collateral materials, events and
promotional items to keep these students engaged with UWG
while completing their required courses at the partner
institution.
Examples of Strategies UWG SEM Plan
 Priority 3. Dual Enrollment Students
 Strategy 9. Restructuring UWG Fees for Dual Enrollment
Students

UWG should waive all mandatory fees for Dual Enrollment Students
taking up to 7 semester hours at the Carrollton Campus. This will
allow students to enroll in at least two courses (one with a possible
lab) without paying the mandatory fees. ACCEL should cover the
cost of tuition in approved courses and that would leave the students
with the cost of books as their only expense.
Examples of Strategies UWG SEM Plan
 Strategy 10. E-Core Collaboration and the High School
Affiliate Program

UWG should partner with eCore to create a High School
Affiliate Program that allows high school students to
participate in dual enrollment course via eCore during the
school day at their high school campus. Affiliate high schools
would simply designate one or more periods during the day
where their students would have access to a computer lab and
would do the online college coursework at the high school.
Timeframe and Budgets
 Don’t forget to include a timeframe for
implementation and completion for each strategy.
 Make sure you attach a budget estimate to each
strategy.
Creating Your SEM Plan
STEP SEVEN:
REVIEW, REVISE AND
SEE WHO SALUTES
Review and Revise
 After you have decided on the strategies for the SEM
Plan, go back to the Institutional Strategic Plan and
review the goals and priorities.
 Have you addressed those goals and priorities? It is
easy to start a major undertaking like creating an
SEM Plan and get off course along the way.
Review and Revise
 Have your committee each give the plan to a trusted
colleague and ask for their feedback.
 Retired employees or former colleagues at other
institutions could provide valuable perspective and
give honest feedback.
 Make the necessary changes based on the feedback
and let your committee review the plan again
See Who Salutes
 Start with the President.
 Senior Leadership
 Share with the rest of the campus to receive their
feedback.
 After all parties have had their opportunity for
feedback, make the final adjustments as needed
Creating Your SEM Plan
STEP EIGHT:
INTEGRATING THE PLAN
INTO OPERATIONS,
BUDGETING AND
PLANNING
Operational Implementation
 Don’t let your SEM Plan go the way of so many
Strategic Plans – “We did that, so let’s put it on the
shelf and pull it out when we need it!”
 The SEM Plan is a living document. Make sure each
strategy has a responsible person driving its
implementation.
 Do status updates on each strategy. What have you
accomplished? What have you learned? How will
you proceed in the future?
Budgeting
 President and Senior leadership have to be on board
to get the funding.
 Many of the strategies will require a budgetary
commitment.
 UWG used the SEM plan in the budget planning
process for FY 16.
Planning
 Timelines are critical
 Committees or subcommittees should be
appointed to oversee implementation of each
strategy and to make sure they don’t fall off the
radar of the planning process taking place at the
university.
Creating Your SEM Plan
CONTINUING
EVALUATION
Continuing Evaluation
 The SEM Plan should be a living and dynamic
document.
 Each strategy should be annually evaluated to
determine effectiveness or success.
 Ineffective strategies may need to be dropped, and
those resources can be re-directed to other more
pressing areas.
Summary
 So what have we learned:
 You have to have buy in from the top.
 The institution needs to have a Strategic Plan in place to guide
the SEM Plan.
 Do your research on the institution, the markets, and the
trends.
 Do a Situation Analysis.
 Establish priorities and strategies for the plan.
 Establish timelines and budgets
 Give others the chance to review the plan and offer input in
order to get buy-in.
Four Things I Learned!
 It is never going to be perfect!
 Don’t get married to your words!
 Lots of people have similar ideas on what needs to
be done.
 It takes a strong leadership team to really make
things happen!
Questions?
Thank You!
FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME:
DR. JOHN HEAD
JHEAD@WESTGA.EDU
PLEASE SEND ME AN EMAIL IF YOU WOULD
LIKE A COPY OF THE UWG SEM PLAN.