It’s Not Just Admissions…It’s Enrollment Management…

Reframing the Conversation

SEM November 11, 2013

So…a little about me

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And now I look like…

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A little about SJU…• About 9,000 students– 4,500 UG (50-50 Business & Art/Sci)– 1,000 Adult– 3,500 GR and Online

• About 50-50 male/female• 14% FR SOC + 2% Int’l• Private/Catholic/Jesuit• Border of Philadelphia and ‘burbs

Enrollment Management Model2007

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Enrollment Management Operating Model…Today

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Principles of a Successful Organization

• Surround yourself with character people

• Work hard• Show people you care• Be unselfish• Celebrate successes• Operate with consistent fundamental

data driven practices and execute them

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So where do you begin?It begins by developing a mission statement for the division – grounded in retention – that ties all areas together and is consistent with the institutional mission

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We do it by…• Holding a divisional retreat (x2 – to set and to check progress)

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• Dedicating an exercise where each table develops a mission statement

• Sharing it out across the division

• Repeating it over and over and over…

• Post retreat synthesizing the different statements into one

• Assigned seating by cross department areas

EM Mission Statement

To recruit, enroll, retain, and graduate students who will add value and contribute to the institutional mission of “men and women for others”.

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Notice the mission statement is not all about admission…

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It’s about seeing a student achieve his or her dreams of attaining an

SJU degree

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Then by developing a goal for each area…

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EM Goals

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Student Success and FYE Student Records and Financial Services

Undergraduate Enrollment and Operations Systems and Analytics

Increase Freshman Persistence to 90%

The Successful Integration of the Offices of Financial

Assistance, Registrar, and Student Services

Achieve new student enrollment goal

Successfully support technical initiatives within EM and provide analytical support to the University community

Increase Six-Year Graduate Rate to 80%

 

 

Increase freshman applications by…

 

Define and communicate the role and expectations of

graduate operations

You see here UG Enrollment’s goal is no more important than the

other areas…

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Selectivity ain’t all of it - Admit Rate by Retention

Institution Admit Rate* 2010 to 2011 Retention**University of Pennsylvania 12.43% 97%

Boston College 27.98% 95%The College of New Jersey 46.40% 94%

Villanova University 43.97% 94%University of Delaware 58.22% 93%

Pennsylvania State University 52.43% 92%Syracuse University 49.37% 92%

Marist College 33.73% 92%James Madison 59.94% 91%

Rutgers University 62.19% 90%Providence College 60.56% 90%

University of Pittsburgh 57.86% 90%Saint Joseph's University 77.70% 89%

Loyola University of Maryland 63.41% 89%University of Scranton 71.19% 88%

Fairfield University 69.43% 88%Fordham University 42.39% 88%

* US News; ** College Navigator

Next you develop a series of operating principles for the

division…

these are not goals…

they are the guiding principles under which you operate

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EM Operating Principles• Set the example for excellent student service via cura personalis; stress the

importance of collaborative effort by all individuals in order to reach our enrollment management goals

• Empower all students by supporting and educating them to become active participants in their educational career

• Actively participate, create, and support diversity in all its forms within and outside the SJU community

• Live greater within the Jesuit mission; be role models within the campus community

• Analyze, rework, and improve business processes for the benefit of students and the SJU community as a whole through campus wide collaboration

• Provide opportunities for internal and professional growth while sustaining morale and team appreciation

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Cross Tab Goals by OP’s

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 Student Success and FYE: SRFS: UG Enrollment and

Operations: EMSA:

Increase Freshman Persistence to 90%

Work Smarter. Leverage existing resources to improve SRFS communications, service, and processes.

Achieve new student enrollment goal (1350 FR; 100 TR)

Successfully support technical initiatives within EM and provide analytical support to the University community as a unified systems/analytics team.

Increase Six-Year Graduate Rate to 80%

 Increase freshman applications by 5%-8% (8059-8529)

 

1.) Set the example for excellent service; stress the importance of collaborative effort and effective communication.

1. Serve as the central point for the Items to Complete in the New Hawks Portal, the ISN, Extended Absence Notifications and Student changes in status.

A. Assess and set targets for meeting the needs as expressed by the students.

B. Increase Web-based resources for students.

C. Offer SRFS Information Sessions for students, faculty, and staff resulting in enhanced student services.

D. Continue colaboration with Admissions for Financial Aid counseling and support.

1. Work towards becoming more proficient and sharing that knowledge as it relates to financial aid and literacy.2. Better define the role of "on-call".

Clarify EMSA's operational policies in the spirit of managing expectations; implement systems to manage EMSA operations with efficiency and transparency

2. Oversee the University Connector Program to engage incoming students throughout the summer3. Oversee the Iñigo First Year Experience. Coordinate the Leadership team, planning and marketing of all programs.

 

Next…

Begin educating your BOT on the importance of retention

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Admittedly…

keeping the BOT focused on retention involves persistence b/c they gravitate

towards admissions…

we talk about it at each Academic Affairs BOT meeting to keep it front

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This also involves reporting…or rather shouting…out to the community on a regular basis on the importance of retention and the progress being made…

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• “Class Of” reporting• Persistence reporting

How do we keep it front and center…

Focusing on retention does 4 things…

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Enrollment vs. AdmissionWhy Retention is Important

 

• Achieve intuitional mission

• Increased net tuition revenue (1% increase = $280k NTR 1 Yr)

• Increased value and market proposition (positive external word of mouth)

• Positive U.S. News Rankings (30% of formula with graduation rate)

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1.) FR to SO:Tuition (less discount) x number of additional students retained ($280k)+2.) SO to JR: New Tuition (less discount) x remaining (x%) number of additional students retained ($270k)+3.) JR to SR:New Tuition (less discount) x remaining number (x%) of additional students retained ($260k)

that’s…

$810k NTR over a 4 year cycle!

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Additional NTR from Retention

For us…this has led to…

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Historical Retention Rates

• National Average: 77%• 85.5% vs. 89% retention rate = $1M NTR• Plan 2020 Goal: 90% by 2013 and 92% by 2020

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Entering Date Fall of following year

Percent Retained

2012 2013 89.39%2011 2012 89.13%2010 2011 88.95%2009 2010 88.97%2008 2009 85.54%

2007 2008 87.50%

2006 2007 87.87%

2005 2006 86.42%

So we have all heard…

“Retention is everybody’s job”

right?

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But who is the point person?

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If it is not coordinated or led by a person or a cross departmental

committee…

Then it becomes nobody’s job

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Once person is identified or a committee is formed…

need to set aShort Term and Long Term

institutional goal

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This is a critical step b/c…

If you don’t have a goal…any road will get you there

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Needs to be based on historical data…

tied to the institutional mission…

while setting realistic aspirational attainment

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This then leads to the development of a retention strategic plan…

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Developing a Strategic Retention Plan• What are the retention related activities now?• Are they coordinated? What are the gaps?• What data do you collect? What other data is

needed?• Why are students leaving? Exit interviews (1QEI)• How does this tie to the institutional mission?

Reasons for Withdraw

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Dissatisfaction with the social environment 17%

Other 15%

Campus location 11%

Major not offered 9%Family responsibilities 7%

Living arrangements / roommate 5%

Medical issues 5%

Academics too demand-ing 4%

Safety concerns 3%

Academics not challeng-ing 1%

Work opportunity 1%

Financial considera-tions 23%

Responses from 88 of 110 withdrawals 9.21.2012

This takes an institutional commitment to establishing a

Student Success area or a cross departmental Student Success

Committee

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If it is One Person…Responsibilities Include:• Coordinating retention activities on campus

• Managing and analyzing retention data

• Meeting with at-risk students (including conducting exit interviews)

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Data to Capture…Pre Enrollment:• Demographic information (location, gender, ethnicity, citizenship)• Admissions data (HS GPA, test scores, resident/commuter)

• Financial aid (FAFSA (Y/N), scholarship, different loans taken, EFC)

• Summer melt activities (placement exams, attended orientation)…we call it “16 Points of Engagement”

• Conducting pre-enrollment survey (1st choice?, likelihood of transfer)

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Data to Capture…Post Enrollment:• Holds (type, date)• Mid term grades • Conducting Checking-in Survey (would make same decision?, likelihood of transfer)• Filed FAFSA for 2nd year (other colleges listed?, position of your institution)• Completed transcript request for another institution

• Tracking major, major changes or no major• Completed financial aid requirements• Class withdrawals• Change of Status (FT to PT)• Residence Hall and roommate changes• Tracking first term grades• Payment plan defaults

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The Key is…

To track is information by student and the number of activities or at-

risk variables

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This leads to…

The development of retention scoring so proactive outreach can be conducted for those students

exhibiting at-risk behavior

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Retention Analysis…

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Which led to …NUMBER OF STUDENTS ANSWERING

  Transfer is Somewhat or Very Likely    YES NOWould you attend SJU again? NO 35 29

  YES 14 1110

NUMBER WHO LEFT  Transfer is Somewhat or Very Likely    YES NOWould you attend SJU again? NO 15 5  YES 1 99

ATTRITION RATE  Transfer is Somewhat or Very Likely    YES NOWould you attend SJU again? NO 43% 17%

  YES 7% 9%

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From a reactive perspective…

Once you ID who are the at-risk students post 1st term…

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Implement a program…

…We call it Rebound

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Average Spring GPA

Average Fall GPA

Overall Change

Rebound Completers 2.24 1.53 .71Rebound Non-Participants 1.63 1.54 .09

% Retained

Rebound Completers 84%Rebound Non-Participants 63%

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Final Thoughts

At the end of the day…

To me, it is about seeing a student achieve his or her dreams of attaining a college degree…

If you can get your institution to a place where it commits to a person or committee with the ability to influence…

You can: • Determine what the disparate retention related activities are • Identify the gaps• Collect the data needed• Determine why are students leaving• And then tie it to the institutional mission…• So you can develop an actionable strategic plan with realistic and achievable goals…

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Questions&

HopefullyAnswers