Category: Resources

  • Three Key Takeaways from P3 EDU 2024

    Three Key Takeaways from P3 EDU 2024

    Three Key Takeaways from P3 EDU 2024

    I love the Fall for a number of reasons, one of which is the vast number of conferences and events within the higher ed and education technology space. I’m continually impressed and inspired by the intelligence and expertise of the leaders and tacticians within our industry. When you bring together smart people to share insights and learns, discuss ways to navigate challenges and evolving market paradigms, and work together to uncover new growth opportunities, great things start to happen. You can see pathways to transformation and how you can make a positive impact. It’s both refreshing and inspiring.

    I recently had the opportunity to attend and speak at the P3 EDU conference. All the panels were insightful and topical, and the panelists paired their expertise with strong points of view about where higher education is headed. It was a powerful reminder that we must adapt to a rapidly changing landscape, embrace innovation, and prioritize student success.

    As we all know, the higher education space is facing significant challenges. We’re navigating demographic shifts and cliffs, a relentless focus on affordability and outcomes, and the ever-present need to adapt — and adapt quickly. While the pressures can feel overwhelming, the P3 conference reminded us that we don’t have to go it alone. It also reinforced that Collegis Education is not only focusing our time and effort on the right things but leading the way in many areas.

    Here are the key themes that resonated with me and what I walked away with.

    1. Data-Driven Decisions: The New Normal

    There was an undeniable consensus around the power of data and its role in helping schools evolve. Institutions have become acutely aware of where they have or lack data proficiency and how data is used or misused across the organization. Schools now understand the role that strategic partnerships can play in eliminating data deficiency and unlocking data potential.

    This is what we at Collegis call being data enabled. Being data-driven has become table stakes –– but being data-enabled is a step above. Enabled data is achieved by eliminating tech and data siloes and elevating your data integrity and thoroughness. Once that is done, it open up new data enabled capabilities to drive impact across the entire student lifecycle.

    But to maximize your ability to drive meaningful growth, retention, and outcomes, you must first unlock the potential within your systems and the underlying data.

    2. AI: A Double-Edged Sword

    If your inbox or LinkedIn feed looks like mine, it’s hard not to come across some AI-related article, product, or debate. It’s no surprise AI in higher ed was a hot topic at the conference. While some view it as a threat, I believe AI offers higher ed immense opportunities and can be transformational.

    But to take advantage of AI, you must get your data house in order. If you start to power your AI tools with spotty data, you’ll get lackluster outcomes, poor ROI, and a lot of frustration along the way.

    At Collegis, we’re using AI to drive effectiveness across the student lifecycle. We’re helping schools leverage automation to make administrative tasks less cumbersome, creating capacity and allowing limited human capital to focus on where they can make the most impact. But AI’s impact goes beyond automation. We’re also helping our schools harness its power to enable predictive analytics, using AI to analyze large data sets. Now, our partners can begin to deploy proactive strategies rather than reactionary ones, helping them to anticipate student needs, identify points of failure before they occur, and refine their programmatic offerings to keep pace with workforce demands. We must continue to innovate, leveraging new AI advancements, for the sake of our partner institutions.

    3. The Power of Partnership: The Expanding Landscape of P3s

    At the conference, there was a clear sense that P3s (public-private partnerships) are expanding beyond their traditional scope. More schools are welcoming partnerships to address complex challenges like the enrollment cliff and seizing emerging opportunities in technology, campus development, research collaboration, student housing, and infrastructure. Our industry needs to become less risk-averse, and we need to push ourselves to lead the way rather than chase the trends or replicate the innovators in our space who have found success by challenging the status quo.

    The disruptions we face indicate a wider shift in the educational landscape. By embracing partnerships, leveraging data and technology, and preparing our students for the future, we can emerge stronger and more innovative than ever before.

    You have to ask yourself, “How well am I, my institution, and the companies I partner with positioned to succeed in this disruptive market?”

    — Kim Fahey, CEO Collegis Education

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  • College of Western Idaho Boosts Enrollment and Retention with Data-Driven Solutions

    College of Western Idaho Boosts Enrollment and Retention with Data-Driven Solutions

    In late 2021, the College of Western Idaho (CWI) needed to address a consistent enrollment decline and improve student retention. With an ambitious vision to improve and optimize its technological infrastructure and student outreach, CWI sought to build a best-in-class system to enhance student engagement and elevate enrollment strategies. To ensure that data and technology were aligned with CWI’s growth objectives, the college partnered with Collegis Education to analyze their combined impact. Were its data and tech aligned for impact, or were gaps hindering progress and creating unnecessary burdens across the team?

    Key Takeaways

    • Six consecutive terms of YoY enrollment growth
    • Experienced the highest YoY increase in persistence in history of the college from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023
    • Consistent improvement in term-over-term retention

    CHALLENGES:

    • Declining enrollment
    • No established retention strategy
    • Lack of CRM
    • Underutilized LMS
    • Siloed technology and data systems

    SOLUTIONS:

    • Connected Core®
    • Advanced analytics + business intelligence
    • LMS support
    • Website optimization
    • Data-driven outreach and support for students identified as at-risk

    Strategy

    Collegis Education and CWI began collaborating on building a best-in-class student journey from the point of initial inquiry through graduation.

    A comprehensive evaluation of existing CWI systems allowed Collegis to assess the college’s digital readiness, technology infrastructure, and enrollment ecosystem to understand how they aligned with its growth objectives. The partnership quickly proceeded from consultation to implementation.

    Collegis prescribed a set of solutions to enhance student engagement from first contact and elevate the school’s enrollment strategies:

    • Connected Core® to unite siloed systems, data sets, and other enrollment technologies, providing more accurate, actionable, unified institutional intelligence with clear visualizations to support data-enabled decision-making at all levels.
    • Website optimization to improve conversion and deliver a student-centric digital experience that supports the objectives, goals, and mission.
    • Prospective student nurturing campaigns with a messaging protocol designed to drive conversion and prospective student engagement with CWI.

    Collaborating closely with CWI, Collegis developed a well-defined student retention strategy that established meaningful student-advisor relationships early on, ensuring students felt supported from their first interaction onward.

    • Enrollment conversation training gave student-facing staff the tools to drive positive experiences for CWI learners while embracing a liaison approach to student engagement.
    • Collegis student success coaches conducted proactive outreach to engage students while leveraging an at-risk alert system to drive intervention. This early alert system flags students needing support based on learning management system (LMS) data on attendance, current grades, and assignment completion.

    Results: Average YoY growth each semester since our partnership began has averaged 5%

    By working with Collegis, CWI could focus on its student journey and how it could better use data and technology to deliver superior student engagements and reach its growth targets. This has helped not only stop, but reverse historical enrollment declines. In 2024, CWI projected year-over-year growth for the sixth consecutive academic term. The school has achieved an average year-over-year term growth of 5%, with a trendline for fall 2024 of over 9% growth.

    “Our partnership with Collegis has provided expertise, speed, and flexibility in areas where we, as an institution of higher education, have been unable to improve so nimbly.  Where most consultants provide an analysis and leave, Collegis follows through with ‘and this is how we’ll make that happen for you’.  Trusting their recommendations is easy because I know they are signing themselves up to do the work with me.”

    Tyler Brown, Associate Vice President Enrollment & Student Services, College of Western Idaho

    Value-based conversations with prospective students have resulted in increased applications. Further, pre-start engagement from the advising and student success coaching teams has increased registrations from admitted students.

    By fostering a culture of meaningful interaction and support for students, CWI paved the way for improved student retention. The LMS-based at-risk model has driven 19,000+ proactive student engagements and interventions in one academic year.

    Within just one year of implementing these targeted strategies, CWI witnessed a remarkable in retention rates, all while alleviating the workload on faculty and staff.  Similar retention strategies deployed by other Collegis partner institutions have yielded term-over-term retention rates exceeding 90%, underscoring the effectiveness of our approach.

    “Whenever we want to try something new or have a challenge we need help with, my first thought now is let’s call Collegis and see if this is something they can help us with.”

    Denise L. Aberle-Cannata, Provost, College of Western Idaho

    With a proven retention strategy and access to a proactive model, CWI can now build out its internal retention capabilities and plans to take over the student success coaching function.

    The Future

    CWI’s commitment to embracing change and being agile is demonstrated by the school’s evolving partnership with Collegis to exceed industry best practices and realize sustained growth. Ongoing services and incremental work are targeting LMS initiatives to stabilize, standardize, optimize, and transform CWI’s instance of Blackboard Learn and redesign its new student orientation, among other things.

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  • Introducing Our New Vice President of Business Development Peter Moran

    Introducing Our New Vice President of Business Development Peter Moran

    Peter Moran assumed the helm of Collegis Education’s business development team earlier this year, but he’s not new to our company or higher education. Learn more about him in this Q&A.

    What brought you to Collegis Education?

    Higher ed has been at the core of my career journey. I was partnership director at Cengage Learning for several years. That role required building strong relationships with college and university leaders, and I learned very quickly about the higher ed landscape and its challenges, specifically from the partner perspective. After a brief stint with a start-up, I had the opportunity to join Collegis as senior director of partnerships. When I started, I think we had 16 partners; today, we have over 50.

    That’s some impressive growth in a relatively short amount of time.

    That was eight years ago; it’s wild to think how much we’ve grown as a company. Our partner schools have grown, too. When I started, we worked primarily with small, four-year, private nonprofit institutions, and we still do. But now, we also work with some of the largest colleges and universities in the United States, several community colleges, and other two-year institutions. It’s been a fun ride.

    What’s the best part of working at Collegis?

    From the day I started with the company, we’ve always adapted quickly to meet the market where it’s at and structure solutions to help address the biggest challenges colleges and universities are facing. I’m proud to be a part of an organization with that mindset.

    And now you’re leading the business development at Collegis. What’s that like?

    It’s great. I get to work with some incredible people and have a fantastic team. Everyone has a partner-first approach. On the surface, you can easily say, “Well, sure, it’s sales,” but there is an authenticity that each of our reps brings to their role. It’s genuine. We prioritize listening and understanding — understanding our partners’ goals, what they’re trying to impact, and the challenges they’re facing.

    What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?

    Be early, be responsible, and be a gentleman.

    What’s the best piece of advice you have ever given?

    “Take a breath, reset, all good.”

    See, I played baseball competitively for years and have coached youth baseball for the past 12. Pitchers will throw bad pitches, and hitters will have bad swings. When that happens, you can see stress, anxiety, pressure, and even a little embarrassment start to mount. In those moments, “Take a breath, reset, all good.” I think it’s also applicable professionally, and while I may not use those exact words, I think of them often as our team and I work through different challenges.

    OK, so if your career wasn’t in sales, what job would you likely be doing and why?

    I think I would really enjoy being an athletic director at a small college. It would be a perfect blend of sports and higher ed. Plus, you have the opportunity to make a positive impact on young adults.

    So, I’m getting the sense you’re a big sports guy, huh?

    Yes, definitely – attending, playing, watching on TV. I am also extremely involved with our area youth sports organization. I coach and sit on the board. I’m also a sports dad and am often on the move, attending our sons’ various sporting events.

    Any other hobbies and interests outside of work?

    I enjoy reading, fishing, skiing in the winter, golfing from time to time, family dinners, and spending time with our golden retriever, Briggsy. Additionally, I am a dedicated, albeit reluctant, runner.

    Back to shop talk. What do you see as the major challenges and opportunities facing higher ed right now?

    How much time do you have? In all seriousness, it’s a really competitive market right now. It always has been. There’s the impending demographic cliff, the national discount rate continues to rise, and according to more recent studies, tuition revenue, in turn, is going down. Staff reductions are happening at many schools, and we’re hearing more conversation around consolidation.

    Oh, is that all?

    [Laughs] Look, every industry has its peaks and valleys, and sure, this is one of higher ed’s more challenging times. But every problem has a solution. You first have to get to the root cause of the issue, what’s preventing progress. There’s a lot of disruption going on, and that typically provides motivation for change, which can be a very good thing.

    Alright, I’ll take the bait. What is preventing the progress, Peter?

    It comes down to data, tech, and talent. When these three things work together, schools find efficiency, offer a better experience for students, and make better decisions. But when they are not aligned, or worse, working against one another, it’s paralyzing.

    Let’s look at the data element: What is an example of how Collegis helps schools be more data-enabled to win in this competitive market?

    The higher ed market, despite best intentions, is a bit behind other industries in how it uses and governs data. Most partners don’t have the financial resources to compete in ways that other schools do. We support them by putting an integrated tech infrastructure in place that allows them to connect data sets from across the entire student lifecycle and utilize that data to make more informed decisions. This enables them to connect upstream investments to downstream outcomes and helps them determine how to spend money — what activities and programs they should support and what actions they should take. All of these factors help them to be successful.

    How does data help your partners develop new offerings?

    For institutions exploring new offerings, we can provide them with an informed point of view on what their data is saying, where we see opportunities or challenges, and what investments make sense for them. Before going down a path, making an investment, and doing all the work necessary to set up a new program, we want to make sure they have the information they need to make the best decision possible, utilizing not only their own data but also data from external sources. Collegis can guide them through that process and help them successfully move in a direction that supports their goals –– from increasing enrollment to generating new revenue and more.

    Who has had the biggest influence on you, personally or professionally?

    As a child, my mother; as an adult, my wife. They are the two most kind, giving, thoughtful, and selfless people I have ever known.

    I asked you earlier about what brought you to Collegis; now tell me, what keeps you here?

    I believe in what we do and how we do it.

    And what is that?

    Hey, if you’re asking for the sales pitch, I’ll give it to you.

    [Laughs] OK, let me hear it. I guess it’s only fitting to end this interview with the new VP of business development delivering the sales pitch.

    Number one, we’re not offering one particular service or product. We provide different services, ranging from marketing, recruitment, and retention to instructional design and IT support. There are many companies that help schools with their marketing, companies that support recruitment, tons of instructional design companies, and certainly many IT support companies. There aren’t many out there today that do all those things and help institutions activate data to inform decision-making.

    Second, every single one of our partnerships is different from the next. Through a series of meetings with their various functional teams, we identify strengths and gaps, and then develop a customized plan that leverages our experienced team and resources to achieve their desired impact. That makes us unique in the marketplace.

    Our partner institutions have talented people, but often, they deal with small teams that are stretched very thin. One value we bring is to augment their existing team with our experienced team through consistent communication. There are, of course, regularly scheduled calls on a weekly or biweekly basis, but there’s also organic communication happening every day between us and the institution’s teams. Many of those conversations focus on the use of data, uncovering and interpreting insights, and recommending action. That doesn’t mean an institution has to move in that direction, but with our experience and expertise, we can provide an informed point of view and have a collaborative discussion.

    We’ve pioneered and proven the fee-for-service model in higher education, unbundling a collection of services into customized plans for institutions. When I first came to Collegis, that was really new in the marketplace. Now, we’re seeing other companies try to replicate it, which is great validation. So even though other companies are offering similar engagements, our model is proven, and we are more established. We’re not learning how to do our job on our partner’s dime and time.

    Our market is broadening, and we are seeing opportunities at schools that eight years ago may not have even considered our approach. We’re expanding and partnering with new types of institutions, which is exciting. We’re looking forward to spreading our message even further and helping more colleges and universities make an impact.

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  • Ethan Mollick Shares Principles for Working with AI on Coaching for Leaders with Dave Stachowiak

    Ethan Mollick Shares Principles for Working with AI on Coaching for Leaders with Dave Stachowiak

    I enjoyed listening to Coaching for Leaders episode 674: Principles for working with AI with Ethan Mollick this morning. Dave is traveling this week, but it was almost like he was here, keeping me company, as I listened to the interview. 😂

    One key point from the conversation that really resonated with me was how quick and easy it is to assess the AI’s output, it if is doing something that you’re already good at. I have found many examples of that truth, in experimenting with various AI tools.

    We use the CastMagic.io service for the first pass at our podcast transcripts, for example. It can identify key quotes from the interviews and recommend discussion questions. For me (or someone on our team) to carve out the time to listen to the entire episode and try to figure out which quotes might be good to share just isn’t practical. Yet we can quickly look and discard what the tool identified as not particularly helpful in illuminating or amplifying the conversation.

    In a recent workshop with faculty, they were surprised to learn how easy it is to set up a form for students to make a request for a letter of recommendation or reference for a job or for grad school. Then, an AI can take the first pass at writing a draft, based on your writing style and preferences for length, tone, etc. How much easier is it to correct it for what it got wrong about a particular student’s recommendation vs starting from scratch?

    I’ve been using an AI app called Whisper Memos, which is on both my iPhone and on my Apple Watch. When I get an idea or something I want to share with someone, I just tap the complication on my watch face and start talking. The key differentiator for Whisper Memos for me is that it automatically puts in carriage returns, making it that much faster for me to make edits later on.

    Another thing I like is that I discovered my favorite “chicken scratch” notes app on my iPhone and Apple Watch, Drafts, has a special email address I can use to send text to it. So now I have Whisper Memos set up to send to my unique Drafts email address and all my thoughts wind up in one place, ready for me to process when I have time.

    I encourage you to listen to episode 674 with Ethan Mollick on Coaching for Leaders with Dave Stachowiak. When you’re done, check out the AI-related conversations that I’ve had for Teaching in Higher Ed.

    How are you using AI in your work these days?

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