Strategic Enrollment Management Paul Marthers Vice Provost for

Strategic Enrollment Management Paul Marthers Vice Provost for Enrollment Management and Student Success SUNY System Jonathan Steele Co-principal GDA Integrated Services

Challenges enrollment managers are facing

Declining demographics

Where growth will and won’t occur

Changing Student Demographics

Changing student demographics

The future will bring more transfer students

Preparation of Students – arriving with gaps • College Readiness Measures • ACT (2014) – 26% meeting all subject benchmarks • 64% English • 44% Reading • 43% Math • 37% Science • College Board (2009 -2014) • 43% to 44% meet benchmarks

How prepared are students to do college work?

Achievement and family income

Cost of college is rising

Cost, affordability, value • National conversation: College costs too much, too many students in debt, and/or unemployed • Higher education is losing this argument and/or on the defensive in this conversation • Institutions must emphasize the value of college • Focus on individual student success • Cite applied learning and career development opportunities • Emphasize the value of your college (if it is a public) to its local region and state • Emphasize that students will have a transformative experience that will pay life-long dividends

GDA Integrated Services national survey of first-year college students: Demonstrable Student Outcomes Are in Demand: • Career preparation: 88% ranked “essential” or “very important” • Excellent academic advising: 77% ranked “essential” or “very important” • “Very stressed” or “stressed”: 42% how students in the college search reported feeling when they considered the value of a college degree

GDA Integrated Services national survey of first-year college students – when asked about their college choice:

The new enrollment funnel

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Enrollment management is not just input, it is also throughput to support student success/completion

Principles of enrollment management 1. The campus visit is the only real predictor of enrollment (not the number of applications) 2. The only contacts that count are those made by the student 3. An admissions staff cannot work effectively with all the inquirers it receives 4. Knowledge is power 5. Admissions recruitment is a management and information driven business 6. You cannot count on the admissions staff alone to recruit students 7. The emphasis should be on customization as well as personalization

Principles of enrollment management 8. Successful student outcomes and academic major/program of study are the coin of the realm 9. A single message is more effective than multiple messages 10. People are more important than paper 11. There are no silver bullets 12. Recruitment is directive counseling, not hard sales 13. The pipeline is leaking - underrepresented populations must be actively recruited 14. Professionalism is critical 15. Effective recruitment is expensive

Achieving enrollment goals requires collaboration • Achieving enrollment goals in collaboration with • Deans, program directors, and faculty in the schools/colleges • Vice Provost/Dean for undergraduate education • Offices focused on diversity and inclusion • Feeder community colleges • Student groups, leaders, and volunteers • Alumni groups, leaders, and volunteers • Director of Athletics and coaches

High impact student success practices • Student success should start with orientation and carry through to graduation (and beyond with alumni) • The best programs combine • Remediation • Retention • Personal goal/career counseling • Academic advising • Student success is built upon what happens in and out of the classroom – development of the whole person • Develop a data-driven system with benchmarks and early warning reports for retention and student success issues. • A successful program is never finished

The role of Retention/Completion • Not just intake, but also throughput • Enrollment Management as a Partner in Promoting Student Success • Partner with schools, programs, faculty to select and enroll students most likely to succeed • Partner with Student Affairs—improve retention/graduation rates • Financial Aid, Registrar, and Student Information System: ensuring access and aligned with student success goals • Programs/initiatives for diversity and inclusion: underrepresented minorities (URM), first-generation, LGBTQ, veterans, non-traditional, community college transfers, rural and inner city • Data assessment and a return on investment (ROI) frame driving a collaborative approach

GDA Integrated Services national survey of first-year college students – when asked about their college choice:

Must be strategic in marketing and outreach • 68% of students have identified the colleges they plan to apply to BEFORE their junior year of high school, so start early. • To improve yield on admitted students, start expanding your recruitment of high school sophomores. • Understand the college selection process: Investment Benefits vs. Consumption Benefits

Importance of the institutional narrative • Word-of-mouth is still how most prospective students learn about the college they will attend. • Your students, their parents, your alumni, and faculty are your brand ambassadors, so they should all be telling the same story. • Develop an ongoing narrative with a 3 -year recruitment cycle in mind structured around how students and their parents choose a college.

Scholarship aid and tuition discounting • If you’re not among a student’s top choices by their senior year of high school, you have to “buy” them with financial aid. • This is expensive and bad for student satisfaction and retention. • Focus on net-tuition revenue, not just the size of the class.

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