September 26 2012

On most campuses the turnstiles have stopped spinning and fall enrollment totals, both traditional and non-traditional, are now known.  Early returns suggest a number of campuses have missed enrollment targets, and given dependence on tuition revenue, difficult choices may be forthcoming.  How should courageous leaders on tuition-dependent campuses respond when enrollment is less than optimal?  Here are a few recommendations from our team’s work on dozens of campuses:
  • Pay attention to your value proposition – there is no better time than a tough year to gather, analyze and share the good news of what your graduates are doing, both the individual alumni profiles as well as aggregate data on graduate school admission, certification exam pass rates and employment information, both overall and by academic major or division.  At a point in higher education history where consumer confidence in the value of private higher education is in question due to high costs and an uncertain economy, it is critical to make the case for why your institution is worth the investment, and nothing makes that case in a more compelling manner than the lives of your successful alumni.
  • Strengthen your revenue streams – less than optimal enrollment results mean it is time to do a thorough review of your recruitment systems, processes, personnel and strategies, both at the traditional and the adult and graduate level.  A review needs to include careful measurement of the return on investments made in staffing, marketing initiatives and other strategies, preferably against relevant benchmark institutions.  In our experience these assessments often reveal adequate spending on staff and marketing in total but changing times call for a different deployment of these critical resources.
  • Take care of your current students – how do your first to second year return rates compare to relevant benchmarks for an institution of your type and profile?  Do you have room to improve persistence rates?  When new student enrollment becomes more challenging to generate, retaining an increasing percentage of your current students helps the bottom line and encourages your team that their labors are not in vain.
  • Sharpen your first impression – what first impression does your campus make?  If you are trying to convince the marketplace that you offer a high quality education a tough first impression makes this more challenging.  An objective outside perspective on your campus may help you see things you simply do not see any more because you look at them every day.  Signage, banners, parking, visible deferred maintenance upon arrival and on the campus tour route . . . these are all important components of a strong first impression.
  • Clarify your identity – how well does your current and potential marketplace understand your institutional distinctives?  Is there a gap between what they know and who you are?  How long has it been since you have engaged in market research to get at these issues?  Well done market research can help identify gaps, clarify communication priorities and lead to stronger strategies.
  • Consider strategic subtraction – in our experience most campuses are much better at adding programs than subtracting them.  An enrollment shortfall often creates urgency for a careful evaluation of current programs and staffing.  Beware across the board cuts that could weaken some of your stronger programs, though.  Use this opportunity to carefully examine academic and co-curricular programs through the combined lens of return on investment and mission contribution.  In particular, consider your academic schedule as a potential source of savings.  In some of our recent Academic Priorities Studies careful attention to the course schedule has yielded significant cost savings.
The Credo team is ready to help your campus talk through any of these responses to enrollment challenges. Tim Tim Fuller Vice President/ Owner  

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