A great many colleges and universities are facing a rather uncertain future. Perhaps this recent blog post from Andrew Flagel, the current Dean of Admissions and Associate Vice President for Enrollment Development for George Mason University, sums up this uncertainty best…
“… I can tell you that we have virtually no idea what our classes are really going to look like this fall. It’s true that many public institutions saw yield in out-of-state students dip, but I’ve spoken with several where these numbers are way up. There’s a lot of discussion about private schools taking a loss, but I’m also hearing that many schools, publics for out-of-state and privates for everyone, decided to make large discount investments to substantial portions of their admitted students in order to hold on to their student profile/mix.
There’s at least one study (and this appears to be an actual study, not this kind of lame opinion slinging) that adds even more confusion to the mix. It claims that the number of students that submitted deposits to multiple institutions is up dramatically, possibly more than double. If true, then even the numbers the schools are currently discussing are way off – another reason we really won’t know the full enrollment picture until this fall.”
To read the entire post, visit http://notjustadmissions.wordpress.com/2009/06/06/the-completely-unofficial-entirely-opinion-based-update-on-enrollment-trends/.
Retention Adds Up – What’s Your Action Plan?
During a recent conversation with some colleagues of mine, there was a great deal of discussion over this uncertainty in the market – so I asked about their retention plans and was surprised to hear that few of them were exploring ways to improve retention.
Think about it – you already have a relationship with the student and it’s in your best interest to retain them. You need them to show strong graduation rates. You need them to refer others to your institution. And you need them to generate additional revenue.
Using Hofstra as an Example
Earlier this week, in a story entitled Hofstra’s Ambitions Confront the Economy which appeared in The Chronicle this week, the following factoids were shared:
Despite receiving a record-high 21,000 applications this year, and accepting half of them, Hofstra received only 1,351 deposits by May 1, well below its enrollment target of 1,650. Officials say they normally receive a wave of deposits during the summer and expect the same this year. Still, the university has revised its budget downward to 1,600 freshmen just in case.
As a result, Hofstra is working harder to keep the students it already has. Since 2001, its freshman-to-sophomore retention rate has risen to 80 percent, from 74 percent, after the university restructured its first-year and advising programs.
Thanks to its low discount rate, the university’s net tuition per student of about $22,000 this year was 15 percent higher than the median for its rating category, according to Moody’s.
And from Hofstra’s website comes the following…
Full-time undergraduate enrollment of 7,631. Total University enrollment, including part-time undergraduate, graduate and School of Law, is about 12,400.
Let’s assume that last year’s incoming freshman class was 1,600 -an 80% retention rate means 1,280 return this year. But a 1% increase in retention means 1,293 return – and assuming no tuition increase, that translates into $281,600 in revenue.
As a matter of fact, using the same tuition ($22,000) and assumed class size (1,600) but factoring in the 2001 retention rate (74%) versus today’s 80% rate and the difference is an positive impact of almost 100 students and more than $2 million in revenue.
What’s Your Retention Strategy?
The key to turning this opportunity into a reality is developing and executing the most appropriate strategy based upon your available resources. What is your contact strategy? How do you accurately identify those that are at risk and the reasons why? How do you prioritize based on your likelihood to succeed? What are you willing to offer in order to motivate the student to return?
While working with one university, we came across one student needed just one math class in order to earn an undergraduate degree and the solution was introducing the student to a math tutor that would work with the student during the upcoming term. That’s all the student needed- an existing service that the student wouldn’t reach out and use on their own.
And that’s the thing – sometimes you already offer the solution but the students aren’t aware of that service or they need a little motivation to use the service.
