Tag: Enrollment

  • Busting Roadblocks in the Community College Enrollment Cycle

    Busting Roadblocks in the Community College Enrollment Cycle

    Top Student Enrollment Roadblocks and How to Overcome Them

    In my more than two decades of steering enrollment management at various institutions, I’ve seen students encounter numerous hurdles on their journey to and through higher education. 

    My experience has consistently shown that the decision to enroll is heavily influenced by four critical factors: 

    • The ease of the enrollment process
    • A transparent path to graduation 
    • A reasonable time frame for degree completion 
    • A clear cost-benefit analysis of the educational offering

    Understanding these priorities is critical to attracting and retaining students in the community college space. By aligning your enrollment strategies with the needs and expectations of prospective students, you can ensure a smoother, more engaging educational journey that benefits both the students and your educational institution alike. 

    Common Ease of Enrollment Roadblocks for Students

    The pursuit of higher education is a daunting task in itself. When students encounter challenges at the enrollment phase — before the actual coursework even starts — it can be easy for them to bow out of the process altogether. To ensure that doesn’t happen, avoid these common pitfalls in the community college enrollment journey: 

    Complex Enrollment Processes

    • Lengthy admissions procedures: Complicated and time-consuming application processes can frustrate new students, especially those unfamiliar with higher education procedures.
    • Document submission delays: Students may struggle with gathering and submitting the required documents (e.g., transcripts, proof of residency) on time, leading to delays in their enrollment.

    Orientation and Information Overload

    • Overwhelming orientation sessions: While orientation programs are meant to help new students, they can be overwhelming if they cover too much information in a short time, leaving students confused about where to start.
    • Missed information: Students may miss important information about resources, deadlines, and processes if the information is not communicated clearly, or if the students do not attend orientation sessions.

    Confusing Websites

    • Sites overloaded with information: Websites designed to serve multiple audiences — current students, alumni, faculty, and potential students — can make the inquiry stage difficult and confusing for prospective students. They may become frustrated as they struggle to find specific information or complete essential tasks, which can lead to them delaying or abandoning the process.

    Placement Testing Delays

    • Test scheduling issues: Placement tests in subjects like math and English are often required before students can register for classes, but delays in scheduling or students misunderstanding the requirements can slow down the process.
    • Preparation for tests: Some students may need to brush up on certain skills before taking a placement test, and may be unaware of resources or study options available to them, making this a barrier for them.

    How to Overcome Ease of Enrollment Roadblocks

    So, those are the potential enrollment roadblocks for community college students. But what are the enrollment solutions? Solutions for overcoming enrollment roadblocks for community college students include the following: 

    • Create a “Future Students” platform: Build a page or digital experience that is 100% focused on educating and helping individuals who are simply exploring their educational options. Below are just a few examples of topics that prospective students might want to be able to easily find information about on your “Future Students” page or experience: 
      • When can I start? 
      • How much does it cost? 
      • What support services are available? 
      • What is the application process and deadline? 
      • What are the specific steps I need to take to be prepared for the start of the term?
      • What happens after I apply?
    • Create mobile-friendly applications: Simplify the application itself, and ensure that students can use their mobile device to complete the application, apply for financial aid, register for orientation and/or courses, and order their books. 
    • Apply technology solutions: Use simple and low-cost systems to track students’ progress through the onboarding process, identify at-risk students, and automate follow-up communications.
    • Use data analytics: Analyze data to identify common drop-off points as new students navigate the onboarding process, and tailor interventions to address these specific challenges.

    Common Clear Path to Graduation Roadblocks for Students

    Now that you’ve mowed down the enrollment roadblocks, it’s time to ensure that the ride stays smooth. Remember, it’s never too late for students to change their direction. They might do so if these issues persist: 

    Course Registration Problems

    • Limited course availability: Popular or required courses may fill up quickly, leaving new students without the courses they need, which can delay their academic progress.
    • Complex registration systems: A complicated online registration system can be difficult for students to navigate, leading to errors or incomplete registrations.
    • Prerequisite confusion: Understanding which courses have prerequisites and ensuring those are met can be a hurdle for new students unfamiliar with academic requirements.

    Technology Barriers

    • Difficulty navigating online platforms: New students may struggle with using the college’s online portals for registration, financial aid, course management, and other essential functions.
    • Limited digital literacy: Students with limited experience using digital tools may face challenges in accessing online resources and completing necessary tasks.

    How to Create a Clear Path to Graduation

    Constructing a clear path to graduation isn’t easy, and with limited resources, it can be difficult to avert every bump in the road. But in my experience, you can keep most students on track by focusing on these two key areas: 

    • Create academic maps: Complete an analysis that maps out all of your institution’s programs, courses, campuses, modalities, and times of day (day versus evening courses). Make sure all students can clearly see what courses they need as well as how, when, and where they can take the courses in order to reach their educational goals. 
    • Make integration the top priority: Really cool software options exist that are designed to help students stay on track. But if they don’t integrate with your existing systems, steer clear. You’re only going to confuse your students with disjointed information.

    Common Reasonable Degree Completion Roadblocks for Students

    You’ve cleared two major hurdles by easing the enrollment process and creating a clear path to graduation. But you’re only halfway home. Here are some common mistakes institutions make when it comes to the time it takes to complete a degree: 

    Inadequate Academic Advising

    • Limited access to advisors: New students often need guidance on how to choose the right courses, but they may struggle to get timely appointments with academic advisors due to high demand.
    • Lack of personalized guidance: Some students receive generic advising that doesn’t take their individual needs and goals into account, leading to poor course selection or misaligned academic paths.

    Lack of Clear Communication

    • Inconsistent information: Conflicting messages from different departments (e.g., admissions, financial aid, advising) can create confusion and frustration among students.
    • Unclear next steps: Students may not know what steps to take after completing their initial tasks, which can lead to delays in moving forward with the enrollment process.

    Social and Emotional Challenges

    • Anxiety and uncertainty: The transition to college can be intimidating, especially for first-generation students. Without proper support, students may feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to proceed.
    • Lack of connection: Feeling disconnected from the campus community can hinder a student’s willingness to engage and complete the onboarding process.

    How to Help Students Reach Their Goals in a Reasonable Amount of Time

    When it comes to keeping students on track, intervention is key. Follow these tips: 

    • Educate students early: Help students realize that taking two courses per term may not be enough to earn their degree in the time frame they set for themselves. Make them aware of initiatives such as “15 to Finish” or “Momentum Year,” as well as other ways to receive college credit, such as through a prior learning assessment. These topics can all be part of the “Future Students” experience mentioned above in the “Ease of Enrollment” section. 
    • Keep students focused on the end goal: Post each student’s expected graduation date within their degree audit so they can see that taking two courses per term will put them on pace to earn an associate degree in five years. 

    Common Cost/Benefit Roadblocks for Students

    You’ve now reached the last but never the least critical roadblock in higher education: return on investment. It’s why your students are showing up, and if the numbers don’t make sense, they can — and should — turn back. Here are some financial concerns that your students are likely to face: 

    Housing and Transportation Challenges

    • Affordable housing: Students who need housing may have trouble finding affordable options, which can delay their ability to start classes.
    • Transportation barriers: Students without reliable transportation may struggle to attend orientation sessions, placement tests, or even some of their classes.

    Cost of College Data Is Hard to Find

    • How much a degree costs: Some students don’t know what a college credit is, much less what a cost-per-credit model is. Furthermore, many students don’t know how many credits it takes to earn a degree/credential. 
    • Payment options: Students may not know that different financial options exist. This is especially true for students who work full time for an employer that provides tuition assistance as a benefit. 

    Ways to Help Students With Their Financial Concerns

    Your institution is responsible for ensuring that students understand their financial obligations and how to meet them. Here are a few ways that you can do this: 

    • Provide clear cost comparisons: Create easy-to-understand charts or infographics that compare the cost of tuition and fees at your community college to those at local four-year universities. Highlight the significant savings. 
    • Offer cost calculators: Provide online calculators that allow students to input their financial information and compare a community college’s costs to a four-year institution’s costs. See an example here. 
    • Provide debt-projection tools: Offer tools that project potential student loan debt based on different educational paths, clearly illustrating the financial advantages of the community college option. Remember that you are an educator and that education starts the moment a student begins exploring your college. 

    Bust Down Roadblocks by Partnering With Archer 

    In my 20 years of experience, I’ve helped lots of institutions navigate these potential roadblocks to enrolling and retaining more students. And I’m far from alone in my expertise at Archer. Our full-service team partners with colleges of all kinds to help them build and scale their capacities. 

    Is your institution ready for a collaborative partner who takes the time to get to know you, then makes custom recommendations based on decades of experience? Reach out to us today! 

    Subscribe to the Higher Ed Marketing Journal:


    Brian Messer

    Brian Messer has over 20 years of experience overseeing all aspects of university administration, including online, operations, academic affairs, enrollment management, marketing, financial management, and human resources and student affairs. Specifically, his extensive experience in scaling marketing and enrollment initiatives in all sectors of nontraditional higher education have contributed to student success and growth at many institutions of higher learning.
    Messer holds a doctorate in higher education administration from Saint Louis University.

    Source link

  • Financial Aid Conversation Strategies for Enrollment Success

    Financial Aid Conversation Strategies for Enrollment Success

    The decision to enroll in college is significant, and students rely on institutional guidance to make informed choices. Financial information, particularly regarding tuition costs and financial aid, is often one of the first things they seek. Unfortunately, many higher education institutions struggle to initiate the conversation early in the enrollment funnel, which can lead to student frustration, decreased enrollment, and potentially higher student debt.

    Engaging in financial aid discussions with prospective students early on in their enrollment journey is a crucial opportunity to alleviate concern and create a smoother experience. We’ve put together actionable strategies to help higher ed professionals initiate these conversations, better manage the student experience, and remove a significant barrier from their decision-making process. Explore strategies for how and when to have these conversations and highlight the key differences between traditional students and online adult learners, providing insights to increase enrollment and student success.

    Gain additional insights into effectively managing financial aid discussions in our latest recorded webinar.

    The Importance of Early Funnel Financial Advising

    As consumers in today’s digital age, Modern Learners are accustomed to having information instantly accessible at the click of a button.  Before committing to a program, students seek transparency about tuition costs and financial aid directly on the university’s website. According to EducationDynamics’ Online College Students Report, 90% of online college students begin their search on a college’s website, with 60% specifically looking for cost and financial information. However, only 36% report being able to easily find this critical information. The report also reveals that 58% of students prefer to learn about costs when they first visit a school’s website, while 26% expect this information after their initial inquiry.  Only 10% are willing to wait until they hear back from the school post-application, and just 6% after acceptance. These findings identify a critical gap in the student experience.

    Addressing this gap is vital for effectively guiding students through their enrollment journey. It’s also important to acknowledge that not all students have the same familiarity with navigating college financial processes. For example, the Online College Students Report found that 36% of online college students are first-generation college students, who may lack experience with navigating the college enrollment process, making conversations centered on financial aid even more critical.

    Additionally, many online students have already incurred student loan debt from prior enrollment, which can impact their ability to finance their education through federal aid alone. This existing debt often influences their decision to re-enroll. Therefore, engaging in financial discussions and understanding the impact of various factors, such as debt and previous financial experiences, is essential.

    Tailoring financial information and support to meet diverse needs is just one part of the broader conversation about enhancing financial literacy for prospective students. Financial literacy is an important component of their overall student journey, and by prioritizing this education and personalizing the approach, institutions can better support their students’ success while also improving enrollment outcomes.

    Building a Comprehensive Financial Aid Conversation Strategy

    When a prospective student inquiries and connects with an advisor, it presents an invaluable opportunity to provide a comprehensive review of tuition, costs, and all available financial options. At this stage, it’s important to ask questions that allow for individualized support, offering personalized answers tailored to each student’s specific financial situation. Remember, many students may already feel frustrated after struggling to find this information on the website. To address this, proactive financial conversations are key.

    Despite the importance of financial clarity, many enrollment interviews with prospective students fail to delve deeply into financial options. Instead, students are often directed to only the FAFSA, which limits the students access to information on other options. Discussing other options, such as scholarships, grants, and payment plans, can help reduce the greater debt load and give students a clearer understanding of how financial decisions impact them each academic year.

    Student Journey Mapping

    Student journey mapping is a strategic process that helps institutions visualize and optimize the student experience from initial inquiry to enrollment. When integrated with financial advising, student journey mapping becomes a powerful tool for identifying gaps in existing financial aid conversations and ensuring students receive the support they need early in their enrollment process.

    To start, assess your current student journey map by identifying all pre-enrollment touchpoints where financial advising is currently provided. Consider where financial discussions are taking place and how they are being conducted.

     Ask questions such as:

    • Where is financial advising currently provided?
    • How is financial information currently provided?
    • What gaps exist in these conversations?

    Once you have reviewed your existing student journey map, create a revised version that reflects a best-case scenario student journey. Consider the following:

    • Has the party responsible for financial advising changed or evolved?
    • Is the current system access still relevant?
    • Are there training or knowledge gaps that need to be addressed?
    • What specific questions should be asked during pre-enrollment advising to better address students’ financial needs?

    By addressing these considerations, institutions can create a more seamless and supportive financial advising experience that meets the unique needs of prospective students.

    For more detailed guidance on student journey mapping, visit our Student Journey Mapping page.

    Training Enrollment Teams

    Effective financial aid conversations are instrumental to student success, and well-trained enrollment teams can make a significant impact. With well-trained enrollment teams, institutions can provide clarity and support while fostering trust in the financial aid process. Here are four strategies for ensuring your team is prepared:

    1. Sell the Vision: Communicate the importance of financial aid discussions in shaping the student experience, motivating your team to approach these conversations with empathy and purpose.
    2. Solicit Feedback: Ask your enrollment team for input on their challenges and needs to ensure that training practices directly address their concerns.
    3. Create or Outsource High-Quality Training Content: Develop or outsource engaging training content that covers financial aid topics. Consider leveraging professional support, such as our Financial Aid Advising services, to ensure your team is thoroughly supported.
    4. Incorporate Relevant Resources or Data: Integrate current data and resources into your training materials, such as insights from the Online College Students Report to help your team understand the specific financial challenges students face and how to address them effectively.

    By implementing these strategies, your team will be better equipped to guide students through complex financial decisions, ensuring they feel supported from the first conversation through to enrollment.

    Beyond FAFSA

    While the FAFSA is a starting point for financial aid, it’s important to explore a range of financial aid options to better address varying student needs.

    Students may benefit from alternative financial aid options such as tuition reimbursement programs, employer-sponsored education benefits, scholarships, grants, and flexible payment plans. These resources can help reduce their reliance on loans and alleviate stress throughout their academic journeys.

    Through presenting a range of financial aid options, institutions can empower students with greater access to financial support, increasing their chances of enrollment success while minimizing financial stress.

    Monitoring and Adapting

    To better understand the effectiveness of your advising strategies, consider tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) related to financial aid conversations. Monitoring these KPIs allows you to identify areas of improvement and make necessary adjustments to ensure students receive the best possible support.

    Relevant KPIs to track include:

    • FAFSA Submission Time: Measure how quickly students are completing their FAFSA applications after engaging in financial aid conversations.
    • Packaging to Direct Cost: Track how effectively financial aid packages cover direct costs, such as tuition and fees.
    • Revised Award Letters/Packages: Monitor the frequency and outcomes of revised award letters or financial aid packages based on ongoing financial aid discussions.
    • Increased Payment Plans: Look for a rise in students adopting flexible payment plans due to better financial aid conversations.
    • Tuition Reimbursement: Track the usage of tuition reimbursement or employer-sponsored education benefits as alternative financial aid options.

    Continuous monitoring and adjusting as needed are key to optimizing the financial advising process. By regularly reviewing KPIs and the quality of financial aid conversations, enrollment teams can ensure that their advising strategies remain effective and aligned to student goals.

    Resources and Next Steps

    Leverage Our Expertise

    At EducationDynamics, we recognize that navigating the financial aid process can be a challenging part of the student journey. Our dedicated financial aid coaches provide your team with personalized support, helping to reduce the workload on your internal teams, allowing them to focus on core responsibilities. By partnering with us, you can streamline the financial aid process, increase efficiency, and improve enrollment outcomes.

    Watch the Recorded Webinar

    For a deeper dive into effective strategies for addressing financial aid conversations with prospective students, don’t miss our recorded webinar. This session offers valuable information on integrating financial guidance into the pre-enrollment experience and enhancing your financial aid conversations. Watch the recording now to access comprehensive approaches that can augment your institution’s financial advising process.

    Source link

  • Improving the Student Experience – Archer Education

    Improving the Student Experience – Archer Education

    Attract and Retain the Right Students for Your Institution

    Choosing a higher education program is often a defining moment in a person’s life. Whether it’s a teenager deciding on a traditional, on-ground undergraduate program, or someone in their late 30s selecting an online master’s program — it’s a big decision, and one that can be heavily influenced by the experiences they have with the institutions they’re considering. 

    Your students don’t just deserve a great experience, they expect it. Which is why identifying opportunities to enhance the student journey at your institution is essential. 

    In the competitive world of higher ed enrollment, the ability to attract and retain students goes beyond offering picturesque campus views or flexible online scheduling. It hinges on understanding and navigating the complexities of the process a student goes through, from their initial awareness of your program all the way through to their graduation, and identifying where students can get stuck, or worse, drop off. 

    When it comes to enhancing the student journey, I’m often asked, “Where is the best place to start?” To that end, this article dives into some of the most common areas for improvement. Focus on these areas and you’ll be on your way toward delivering a stand-out student experience. 

    This article explores:

    • Common bottlenecks institutions face at different stages of the student experience
    • Methods to identify the most important issues
    • Strategies for prioritizing improvements to maximize impact

    Common Bottlenecks in the Student Journey 

    Institutions aiming to enhance the overall student experience need to understand where students tend to get stuck. By pinpointing these bottlenecks, your university can devise strategies that streamline the journey and boost student engagement and retention. Some common points of friction in the enrollment process include: 

    Top of the Funnel: Driving Awareness               

    Every student journey begins with awareness, but getting potential students to visit your institution’s website to gain awareness of its programs can be a stumbling block. Many universities face challenges due to poor audience targeting, ineffective creative strategies, or a lack of investment in organic channels like websites and content strategies. 

    If your awareness efforts are falling short, your potential students won’t land on your university’s digital doorstep. This means opportunities to engage and inform them go untapped, which sets the stage for a cascade of engagement issues downstream. 

    It’s called an enrollment funnel for a reason — if you don’t attract enough qualified traffic at the top, the bottom of your funnel will fall short of your goals. 

    Mid-Funnel: Generating Interest

    Let’s say your awareness efforts are working, and your brand, story, and program marketing tactics are finding prospective students. Once these prospects are aware of your institution and have visited your site, the next challenge is to convert them into active inquirers. In other words, getting them interested enough to raise their hand by filling out a form, contacting an enrollment advisor, or even starting their application. 

    This stage often suffers from two main issues: 

    1. Attracting too broad of a range of individuals, including many who are unqualified or not aligned well with the institution’s programs or areas of specialization 
    2. A mismatch between what prospective students expect to find and what the website provides 

    If your paid ads told one story and your website tells a totally different one, it can be a turnoff for prospective students. If the content does not resonate with potential students’ academic aspirations, they are less likely to take the next step. If you’re not highlighting what makes an education at your institution truly unique or how it connects to your target audience, it’s likely that your content won’t resonate, even if you did identify the right audience. 

    Bottom of the Funnel: Growing Application Submissions

    What’s every enrollment leader’s least favorite word? Melt. Even after marketing to the right audience and generating inquiries, there’s often a drop-off before the application stage — commonly known as the application melt. 

    This is a delicate phase, where bad strategy moves and overly clunky processes can cause big problems. This could include generic follow-up communications that fail to engage the interests of prospective students, a lack of personalized experiences that can make students feel valued, or insufficient time spent nurturing and managing these warm leads. Each of these factors can lead to a significant reduction in the number of completed applications.

    Methods to Identify Student Experience Bottlenecks 

    Now that we’ve covered the most common bottlenecks, let’s talk about how to identify where these bottlenecks are showing up in your student experience. Once you identify them, you can target improvements effectively and efficiently. Methods to identify bottlenecks include: 

    Benchmarking               

    A powerful starting point for identifying pain points is benchmarking your institution’s performance against your peers or similar programs. Benchmarking involves a comprehensive comparison of your processes, outcomes, and student satisfaction levels to those of other institutions. 

    By evaluating where you stand in relation to your peers, you can identify specific areas where you lag behind. Benchmarking provides a clear, external perspective on your institution’s relative strengths and weaknesses, guiding you toward the most impactful areas for enhancement.

    Leveraging Internal Data

    Once you understand the external picture, you can dive in internally. Your internal data is an invaluable resource for tracking the effectiveness of changes in the student experience. By analyzing metrics such as enrollment rates, drop-off points, and student feedback before and after implementing changes, you can gauge their impact. 

    This approach helps you identify which efforts are helping the student experience and which aren’t, allowing you to make data-driven decisions. It also enables you to adapt your strategies dynamically, continuously improving the student journey as students’ needs continue to evolve. 

    Intuition and User Testing

    As we all know, data alone isn’t enough. Intuition and direct feedback play a crucial role in creating the full picture of your student experience. Conducting user testing sessions in which potential or current students navigate your enrollment process can reveal obstacles that data might not capture. This can be as simple as a conversation or as intricate as a survey.

    Additionally, personally walking through each stage of the student journey yourself can provide you with insights into the emotional and practical challenges prospective students face. Think of it as acting like a secret shopper — fill out an inquiry form and see what happens. This method helps you uncover hidden roadblocks that might not be evident from quantitative data alone, adding a human element to your analysis.

    Fixing Bottlenecks With ICE Scoring 

    Now that you’ve got a list of bottlenecks to fix, you need a system to prioritize them. This next critical step ensures that you properly allocate your time and resources. The ICE scoring framework, which stands for impact, confidence, and effort, is a structured approach to evaluating potential fixes and deciding which ones to tackle first. 

    Impact              

    The first step, impact, involves evaluating how much a potential fix could enhance the student experience. 

    Fixes that address issues at the top of the funnel, such as increasing awareness and initial engagement, often get a high score because they can influence the largest number of prospective students. The more qualified prospective students you can get into your enrollment funnel, the more you’re likely to enroll. 

    By prioritizing high-impact fixes, you can see substantial improvements in overall student engagement and satisfaction.

    Confidence

    Confidence measures how certain your institution is about the effectiveness of a proposed fix. This assessment is based on evidence from user testing, adherence to best practices, personal experience, and insights from experts in the field. 

    For example, if you get a large volume of inquiries outside of business hours, you can give a high confidence score to an effort that would engage students at any hour, like Onward or a chatbot. 

    A high confidence score indicates a strong belief that the fix will achieve the desired outcome, reducing the risk associated with resource allocation. You are more likely to succeed when you base your decisions on robust, tested solutions.

    Effort

    The final component of the ICE framework is effort, which estimates the time, financial investment, and organizational energy required to implement a fix. This step also considers the level of internal buy-in necessary to move a project forward. 

    Effort scoring helps you understand the resource demands of each potential fix, allowing you to consider its feasibility against its expected benefits. Implementing a new learning management system (LMS) is a huge project that requires organization-wide input and execution. This equals a high effort score. Refreshing your creative assets? Much less effort. 

    Prioritizing fixes that require reasonable effort but offer significant impact can lead to more sustainable and effective improvements.

    Implementation and Iteration in the Student Experience 

    Improving the student experience is not a one-time thing. It’s an ongoing process that demands continuous attention and optimization. As your institution implements changes,  you’ll need to monitor the effects and iteratively refine your efforts based on the outcomes. 

    Monitoring Results

    The first step after implementing any change is to closely monitor the results. Key performance indicators (KPIs), such as cost per lead, application melt, enrollment numbers, student retention rates, and satisfaction scores, are a gold mine. Continuous monitoring validates the effectiveness of new strategies and highlights areas that may require further attention. 

    Rinse and Repeat

    Once the initial results are known, the next step is to apply the ICE framework again — this time to any new bottlenecks or existing issues that were deprioritized in earlier rounds. This iterative approach ensures that your resource allocation remains dynamic and responsive to the evolving needs of your students and your institution. 

    Ready to Improve Your Institution’s Student Experience? 

    At Archer Education, we understand the transformative power of full-funnel data visibility when you’re improving your student experience. Our commitment to transparency and knowledge sharing drives our partnerships with colleges and universities, helping higher ed leaders and marketers exceed their online learning growth and enrollment goals. 

    Our experienced team is adept at identifying and addressing the bottlenecks that can hinder student journeys, utilizing strategies like those outlined in this article to maximize impact. By applying the ICE framework, we help institutions prioritize and implement improvements that significantly enhance the student experience. 

    If you’re ready to transform your student journey and achieve remarkable outcomes, contact our team today, and explore how our offerings can bring your educational goals to fruition.

    Subscribe to the Higher Ed Marketing Journal:

    Source link

  • Twenty six years of enrollment at Public Research 1 Universities

    Twenty six years of enrollment at Public Research 1 Universities

    A while ago, I made the claim that Oregon State University has the longest streak of consecutive years of fall-over-fall enrollment growth of any public, Research 1 university in America.  A few people have asked me, not exactly doubting the claim, but thinking maybe I had made a mistake, for the source of it.

    This started as a curiosity: I knew from our own internal documentation that the last time OSU (the oldest OSU…not the one in Ohio or Oklahoma) had a fall-to-fall enrollment drop was 1996, and I was curious to see if any other institution could make that claim. So I went to the IPEDS Data Center and downloaded the data. 

    It’s below.  First, a few points: My comparison group is 108 Public, four-year, Research 1 Universities as designated by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education as of Fall, 2022, the latest IPEDS data available. The R1 designation is actually called “Doctoral Institutions: Very High Research Activity” but the nickname R1 is a holdover from prior years. The category contains those institutions who produce the highest research activity and output among American universities.

    What you can’t see here is that 2023 showed an increase (it’s not yet in IPEDS, but trust me), and that 2024 will also show an increase once our census is final.  So OSU’s record is the 26 shown, plus last year, plus this coming year, for a total of 28 years.

    There are a couple of small anomalies with the data, as there always seems to be.  First, some institutions missed a year or two in their reporting.  Even if those years had shown an increase, they were already nullified by other decreases. And Penn State has bounced around from being one institution to being several to being one again; this too does not seem to make a difference in the tally.

    The first chart here shows all years and all institutions (you’ll have to scroll down to see them all using the bar on the right.)  You’ll notice that every institution shown (other than OSU) has at least two years with a blue box after 1997, meaning a decrease.  Hover over the box for details.  Orange shows an increase from the prior year.

    The second chart shows individual enrollment data for any institution you select, using the filter at the top.  The bars are colored similarly: Orange for increase, and blue for decrease.

    If I’ve missed something or you think these data points are wrong, let me know.  If a university decided intentionally to shrink, for whatever reason, that’s interesting, but not the point of this visualization. If you want to look at just graduates or undergraduates or men or women or students of color or some other variable, I encourage you to read my posts here and here about how to download IPEDS data for yourself. 

    And as always, leave a comment below if you find something interesting.

    Source link

  • Enrollment is complicated, redux

    Enrollment is complicated, redux

     Enrollment, as I like to say, is complicated.  But that never stopped anyone from asking a question like, “How does enrollment look?”

    To help answer, I downloaded IPEDS data of enrollment from 2009 to 2022, breaking it out by full-time and part-time, graduate and undergraduate, and gender, and put it into three different views, below, using the tabs across the top.  As always, you need to be a bit careful jumping to any conclusions about this: There is no easy (or even any hard) way I know of to account for the way Penn State has named and renamed itself over time, and changed the way it reported data, for instance, so anomalies will always show up there. 

    But for the most part, this information is very accurate. 

    The first view shows summary data.  This is just to get topline information about trends in US higher education enrollments over time.  Choose the type of enrollment at top right, then filter down to the specific categories you’d like to see.  You cannot break anything by interacting.

    The second view can be a little messy, but is handy for my admissions and enrollment management colleagues.  It shows market share of every institution in a state; you can only select one state at a time, and the view starts with Washington, where you see UW and WSU dominate.  But what if you want to look at just private colleges? One click will get you there (and the percent of total will recalculate to only that segment).  The same thing applies if you want to look at the enrollment of full-time men at community colleges in Tennessee.  Just click until you get what you need.

    The third view started out mostly as fun, but I learned a few things from it, which is always nice. Some examples are in this Twitter thread (which is a series of sequential tweets tied together.)

    This blog is mostly a public service to parents, students, and high school counselors, who should always browse to your heart’s content and consider it free.  But if you use this in your work, you can support my hosting, computer, and software costs by buying me a coffee at this link.

    As always, let me know what you find interesting, compelling, or just hard to believe. 



    Source link