Roadmap to Enrollment Management

1. Roadmap toEnrollment Management Christine Kerlin Vice President for Enrollment Management Everett Community College, WA ckerlin@everettcc.edu

2. The Journey • From the President to the Web Master… • From the Budget Director to the Custodian… • Everyone can/might/should be involved in mapping out and reaching the enrollment destination. • But is everyone really in the same vehicle, and do you ever really reach the destination?

3. First Observations • Be prepared to find the challenges of enrollment management large and complex. • Be prepared to experience lack of consensus. • Be prepared to proceed in fits and starts. • Be prepared to “Just do it.” • Or, to use the Roadmap and Journey metaphors, be prepared to • Switch gears • Speed up • Break down • Run out of gas • Exceed the limit • Go in circles • Yield • Ask “Are we there yet?” • Open the moon-roof

4. Understanding SEM • SEM is a comprehensive process designed to help an institution achieve and maintain optimum enrollment, where optimum is defined within the academic context of the institution. Adapted from SEM Primer • SEM enables the fulfillment of institutional mission and students’ educational goals. Adapted from Bob Bontrager

5. Getting Started • Define your reasons for pursuing enrollment management. • What are the issues? • An issue is a statement of fact that includes or infers an impact…that is what makes something an issue! • High School enrollments are declining at a rate of 3% per year in our service area. • Regional employment rate has improved and we are enrolling fewer full-time adults. • Our College’s Strategic Plan identifies growth in health professions programs as a goal. • Our high cost programs have the lowest enrollments, and we cannot seem to develop new programs that could attract higher enrollments at lower cost. • Our diversity enrollment is below that of our district’s demographic profile. • A recent survey indicates that 85% of local high school seniors use the web for their college search yet we still rely on printed material for recruitment. • Our financial aid awarding process takes 8 weeks and most students do not know their award status until after the payment deadline. • A new state university branch campus being built in our district. / A new manufacturing plant is being located in our district.

6. Budget Awareness • Create a structure and invite involvement with regard to two concerns: • Campus culture • Budget decisions and budget decision-makers • Be aware of budget cycle decisions and plan your process accordingly.

7. The SEM Plan- Components • Produce an Environmental Scan • Collect Data, Data, Data • Enrollment: totals, demographics, trends, etc. • Course offerings: capacity, scheduling, duplication, waitlists • Retention • Market surveys • Financial aid and scholarships • Budget: income streams, expenditures • Define relationship to the College’s Strategic Plan SEM requires a data-rich environment

8. The SEM Plan- Components • Identify vital issues • Respond to those issues: • Key leverage initiatives • Very important initiatives • Relatively simple initiatives

9. More on “Issues” • What does it take to make (leverage) a real difference? • “We will double the number of scholarship awards” • Affects access • Affects retention • Creates an institutional image • Addresses diversity goals • “We will refocus on working adults who need online access and flexible scheduling.” • Utilizes current distance options • Engages deans and faculty in reformatting some classes for higher enrollment • Attracts new students • Improves student satisfaction • “We will create six new partnerships with middle and high schools with large multicultural populations.” • Focuses recruitment where a difference can be made • Links with scholarship awards • Builds a stream over many years • Includes adults in the families who might enroll themselves • Enhances high school relations

10. SEM Plan - Continued • Set Goals: • enrollment targets • program mix • program delivery • income targets • services

12. SEM Plan - Continued • Suggest Strategies • Recruitment • Marketing • Program mix • Policies and Procedures • Retention • Etc. It is so easy to go straight to “strategies”. But you should do your homework first and start with step one.

13. Sample After 5 years of successful enrollment growth, our enrollment has flattened. Enrollment of recent high school graduates is strong but high school enrollments are projected to flatten beginning in 2008. Enrollment of adults has declined, perhaps due to high employment rates. Course enrollment patterns indicate that demand for distance courses exceeds our supply. Enrollment in traditional “workforce” programs is declining. GOALS: • The College will increase enrollment of recent high school graduates by 3% from Fall 2005 to Fall 2007. • Strategies XYZ • The College will increase the number of courses available online by 35% from Fall 2005 to Fall 2007. • Strategies XYZ • The College will increase the number of hybrid courses by 35% from Fall 2005 to Fall 2007. • Strategies XYZ • The College will offer two new degree programs in the health professions by Fall 2007. • Strategies XYZ • The College will define and aggressively market existing evening courses and degrees toward working adults. • Strategies XYZ • Strategies include timelines and locus of responsibility

14. SEM Plan - Continued • Establish accountability • Who does what and when? • Include Measurements/ Key Performance Indicators • Most goals should be measurable • Know your baseline data, and measure against it • Follow-up on assessment of the KPIs • Update often – this is not a long range plan...it is a strategic plan. Be strategic! • Assure continuous communication with campus

15. Tools • Data • Enrollment (from Inquiry to Graduate) • Financial • Continuous collection • Continuous cleaning of the data • Advisory groups • Continued scanning • Feedback • Support the efficacy of the process • Campus communication methods • Technologies that support decision-making and communication Data is not the plural of anecdote.

16. The First Steps • The first steps depend on your campus culture and executive leadership buy-in, and, well, ~leadership~. You may find yourself driving the: • The 2006 Cadillac version • Large fanfare, deep resources, lots of buy-in. Embrace SEM. • The 1967 VW Bug version • Ambivalent interest, lack of sufficient structure. Take incremental steps.

17. You Are Ready • Using data, issues and direction from your Strategic Plan, identify issues and rationale. • Formulate a structure. Establish buy-in and involvement of executive leadership. • Identify vital issues, goals and strategies. Link with the budget process. • As the plan takes shape, assign responsibilities/accountabilities. • Use measurable statements and select key performance indicators. • Follow-up. Assess. Revise. • Communicate with the campus community. • Get Ready. Go.

18. Consulting Options • AACRAO http://www.aacrao.org/consulting/ • Noel Levitz