When you think about “meeting your goal,” what do you think about?
a. Just new students
b. Just returning students
c. Both new and returning
d. Dollars that are represented by “X” students enrolled
e. Combination of C + D
f. Other
With
most of my fall travel completed, I can see this part of our season
drawing to a close. November is that month when many of you have had the
first significant look—both in numbers and in face-to-face
encounters—at your next year’s applicants. Open houses, student visits,
and “Take-a-peak Tuesdays” have taken place or are at least on their way
to being completed. Applications are being submitted, and you can
already visualize weeks of being sequestered for committee review.
As we edge ourselves to our next stage of the process, the month of
November also marks the traditional, if not universal, season for
governing bodies and senior administrative teams to begin setting
2016–17 tuitions and asking our offices to make enrollment projections.
From the seat I sit this is another opportunity for admission and
enrollment management professionals to demonstrate our mastery of the
art and the science of our incredibly important work.
As I travel the highways and byways and ask you whether you seek to
achieve your enrollment goal based on the number of students enrolled or
by the dollars generated, more often than not I hear, resoundingly,
that many of you are making projections based just on the number of
students enrolled.
The art and the science of admission and enrollment management in the
21st century, however, requires you to consider both relationships—that
all-important body count—and revenue. You must understand and influence
not just the end result in both categories but also the strategies,
insights, and implementation tactics to cover both.
Hyper
focus on just student numbers or the just revenue misses out on an
essential and critical part of the total enrollment equation. Creating a
community of students that advance the mission and vision of your
school requires examination of “goodness of fit”—the traditional
centerpiece of our work. And achieving revenue benchmarks and markers
allows for the continued sustainability of your school, a factor just as
important as “fit.”. Without considering both, even the most robust
enrollment number may fall short of budgetary goals.
No other member of your school community sits in the seat you do.
Crafting a class takes skills and traits that are not for the faint of
heart. Marry this with financial acumen and understanding … magic.