1. Why aren’t we booming? Enrollment Management and Financial Aid
Executive Director, Enrollment Management Support
Louisiana Community and Technical College System

2. AGENDA History of strategic enrollment management
Definition of enrollment management
Goals of enrollment management
Developing an enrollment management plan
Why financial aid matters
Data you need to know
What’s in it for you?

3. GROUP POLL School type? To whom do you report?
To whom does your supervisor report?
How do you define enrollment management?
How does your institution define enrollment management?

4. History of Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM)
Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) resulted from the work of a number of individuals and organizations since schools began showing concern in the are in the early 70’s.
Jack Maguire of Boston College and William Ihlanfeldt of Northwestern University began to use research and specific communication strategies to increase enrollment at their schools. The idea of research and using data to target communication and marketing efforts resulted in positive enrollment numbers
In the later 70’s companies began managing data analysis needed to launch successful SEM effort

5. Enrollment Management Definition
Strategic Enrollment Management is a comprehensive process designed to achieve and maintain the optimum recruitment, retention, and attainment of students where “optimum” is defined within the academic context of the institution.- Dolence
Plainly stated, enrollment management is an organizational concept and a systematic set of activities designed to enable educational institutions to exert more influence over their student enrollments

6. SEM Components Institutional characteristics Mission Enrollment size
Student recruitment
Cost and financial aid
Retention
Marketing
Academic advising
Orientation
Career services
Degree programs
Types of degree
Campus life
Campus facilities
Type
Control-governance structure
Geographic location
plan-=
A plan without resources is a wish list –adjust the plan to fit the resources

7. Enrollment management activities are the responsibility of everyone within the institution!
How are the goals determined? Who sets the goals?President
Board
EM team
Admissions
Provost
•Excellent communication is a must

8. Things to think about
What is your mission(s) and how does/should it influence your EM plan?
What are your primary market niches?
With whom do you compete? And who are your primary competitors?
How do the following compare with competitors? Tuition?
Aid Expenditures?
Discount rate?
Loan default?
Diversity?
Access Measures?
How do your first-year retention & graduation rates compare with competitors?
Know your market and your institution

9. ANY GOAL IS ACCEPTABLE Just increase enrollment
Increase prestige/rankings
Increase diversity
Increase net revenue
Enroll more Pell recipients/ access
Improve graduation rates
Decrease number of students in default/reduce loan debt.
Staffing to achieve goal(s)
What else?
What are the goals of your institution?

10. COMMUNITY COLLEGES Area competition—too many in the area
Better than adequate academic & student support services
Reverse transfer agreements in place and working
2 + 2 agreements in place and working
Creation of new CP’s and TC’s
Concurrent enrollment students
Secondary area workforce training centers

11. REGIONAL PRIVATE
Marketing efforts & curriculum changes to attract more students
Test optional?
Careful analysis of tuition and/or discount rate
Reduce student debt & default via targeted outreach & coaching
Improve graduation rates
Considering reductions in staff & faculty
(surprisingly, in many states this slide captures priorities for public regional IHEs too)

12. PUBLIC FLAGSHIP Enrolling more out-of-state students
Depending on draw, quietly lowering admissions standards
Possibly increasing discount rate
Careful analysis loans & default
Reviewing demand for majors & fewer tenure track faculty
Improving retention among targeted student populations

13. DISCUSSION
What do you think are biggest challenges facing admissions and financial aid departments today as the focus grows to enroll more students?

14. Why is Financial Aid Critical in SEM?
According to a Noel- Levitz, Inc. (2016) survey, financial and costs are the top factors that influenced enrollment.
Across, four-year privates, four-year publics, community colleges and career colleges, percentages ranged from 78-85%
FINANCIAL AID
ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT
The factors in the decision to enroll have stayed consistent year over year, with the same priority areas
reflected as in previous years. The top three factors of financial aid, cost, and academic reputation at
four-year private and public institutions and two-year community colleges, with the addition of future
employment opportunities as a unique option at career schools, have been at the top of the national results
in recent years.
Enrollment factor Four-year privates Four-year publics Community colleges Career schools
Financial aid 81% 78% 79% 84%
Academic reputation 78% 75% 72% 82%
Cost 77% 83% 85% 79%
Personalized attention prior to enrollment 66% 58% 60% 78%
Geographic setting 60% 63% 63% 67%
Campus appearance 60% 57% 54% 70%
Size of institution 59% 55% 52% 65%
Recommendations from family/friends 46% 46% 48% 63%
Opportunity to play sports 32% 28% 26% ---
Future employment opportunities %

15. DISCUSSION
Financial aid continues to reflect higher percentages than academic reputation as a driving enrollment factor for students.
Do you think financial aid should be more important than the academic experience as a determining factor for enrollment?

16. What EM Leaders Are Seeking from FA Professionals
Partners in the enrollment management enterprise— student recruitment and retention
Quality customer service
Student and family education on financial literacy
Campus education on the dynamics of financial aid
Creative packaging strategies
Prompt awarding practices
Effective, proactive communications to internal and external constituents
Accuracy and compliance
Analytical capabilities
Ethical behavior

17. Challenges for FAO Closer alignment with Admissions dates
Management of Admissions Scholarship budgets
Packaging policies
Collaboration with other scholarship awarding units
Satisfactory Academic Progress
Scholarship Renewals
Data, data, data
New initiatives
PPY- what does this look like in SEM
Ethical issues
Is your packaging policy tied to the EM goals of your college?
Have there been new initiatives at your college to help drive enrollment?

18. New Ways of thinking… NET TUITION REVENUE=
Gross tuition revenues-Institutional financial grant aid and scholarship expenditures
How much institutional aid do you award from the revenue you college to enroll the students you want?
How do you package to maximize net tuition revenue?
Do you “stack” scholarships?
How do you work with other areas awarding aid?
Net tuition revenue= Gross tuition revenue (T/F) minus
Package- smaller grants/scholarships to many students
Larger scholarships to fewer students
Do you encourage full time enrollment

19. New Ways of thinking… FINANCIAL AID LEVERAGING
Are you spending the least to get to your target enrollments?
Are you looking at overall headcount and credit hour production?
Do you know your data?
What is the impact of awarding on time?
What is the 1st year retention rate?
Financial aid leveraging utilizes data analyses enabling admissions and financial aid administrators to estimate the amount of FA that would be necessary to increase the probability that a student with a specified set of characteristics would enroll
Variables might include academic performance, major, ethnicity, place of residence, special talents

20. New Ways of thinking… GETTING A SEAT AT THE TABLE
What new partnerships do you need to make?
What is the quality of the partnership?
Do staff need to be trained on how to talk to families in the new EM environment?
Are your awarding policies so complex that difficulty is being added to an already challenging job for staff?
Do your policies align with the institution’s objective in terms of enrollment size, revenue attainment, positioning and remaining affordable?
Does your boss need to be educated on possible conflicts? Can you talk to him/her?
Developing an understanding of marketing and how it affects communication to students
Talking to parents: how to tell a student no
FA policy: how are you awarding students, what is the gap you are filling, monitor the student borrowing

21. DISCUSSION
How do you get your team on board to become more focused on using data in a new admissions and financial aid strategy?
How do you motivate your team of admissions and financial aid counselors? Growing enrollment is great, but do you use any internal tactics to keep the team focused on reaching the goal line?

22. Data, DATA, and MoRE DATA
To thrive in the future, we must have the intelligence that allows our organizations to FOCUS on the right strategic issues and the institutional WILL to act.

23. THE USE OF DATA ANALYTICS
Access to the right data
Collect the data
Analyze the data
Identify implications of the data
Take action

24. Financial Aid/Affordability Trends
The payoff for a college education has been diminishing
Mounting student debt—especially concerning for non- degree completers
Reliance on tuition revenue is growing
Many financial models are not sustainable, particularly tuition discounting
Prior-Prior Year
1.2 trillion in student loan debt
Increasing undergraduate debt causes many potential graduate students to delay or forego graduate education

25. Average Published Tuition and Fees in 2017 Dollars by Sector, 1987-88 to 2017-18

27. DISCUSSION
What’s an easy first step they can take to start measuring the impact of their initiatives?
What type of data could you pull today to support policy change?
How do you track data and generate results? What tools are you using?

28. BENEFITS OF SEM MODEL
Gain recognition for the importance of what the financial aid office contributes to institutional enrollment goals
Resources= people, financial aid dollars
Improved student service with a focus on student success
Data driven management
Improved communication with campus partners
Development new skills
Getting a job as an enrollment management professional!
As administrators we have some of the best tools and knowledge to move into EM