THE LAST RABBIT
Look at it This Way | Nanci Tessier | April 12, 2022
This time of year always elicits memories of the energy of prospective families during their final campus visit and, if I’m being honest, those memories are tinged with anxiety. For the 34 years I’ve spent in admissions and enrollment management, April signaled the final phase of yield season and was a reminder of the complex pressures of ‘bringing in the class’. I was grateful for the hard work of the admissions staff and campus colleagues as they hosted yield events—the final phase of the plan to recruit next fall’s class. Year after year, we were magicians putting on the greatest show we could, pulling rabbit after rabbit from that proverbial magician’s hat to ensure we had a larger applicant pool, enrolled a class that met revenue goals, was bigger, academically stronger, more diverse (racially, ethnically, geographically, socio-economically), more accomplished, more…well, you get the idea.
…we were magicians putting on the greatest show we could, pulling rabbit after rabbit from that proverbial magician’s hat to ensure we had a larger applicant pool, enrolled a class that met net revenue goals, was bigger, academically stronger, more diverse, more accomplished, more…
My decades as an enrollment vice president at various institutions taught me that whatever the strategic enrollment plan was, it needed to be sophisticated and comprehensive. It needed to be more than a handful of thoughtful “tricks”—innovative websites, carefully chosen high schools to visit, well-thought-out communication plans, admission brochures, etc.—these tactical initiatives were all important, but frankly, formed just the starting point. Our plan needed to incorporate a clear-eyed and strategic understanding of the substance of the experience we were offering and the ways in which students would benefit from being a part of it. Most importantly, our plan needed to demonstrate an understanding of both the institution’s aspirations and our role in fulfilling those goals.
In over thirty years in the profession, I never saw a lessening of expectations, only an increase in what my enrollment team was asked to deliver in spite of numerous challenges intimately tied to demographics, institutional resources, recessions, etc. And, that was well before a pandemic delivered the greatest challenge to higher education that this country has seen in the modern era.
I know student markets are shrinking as rapidly as they have done in living memory, and undergraduate-serving institutions in particular are feeling the financial crunch. With exception to elite institutions benefiting from changes to test-optional policies, even the most successful enrollment management units are reaching the limits of what they might achieve as the myriad pressures accelerated by and borne of the pandemic pile up. I find myself asking hypothetical questions of some composite representation of all the institutional leaders I’ve spoken with over the years: Have you taken stock of the investments you’ve made in creating a well-resourced chief enrollment position? Have you been able to give your enrollment professionals the tools they need to succeed?
In the best-case scenario, let’s assume your enrollment team is highly sophisticated and has maximized its efforts to enroll the desired class in terms of composition and net revenue. And yet, two years into the pandemic, these results are plateauing, and the demographic cliff is just around the corner.
Before reaching the point when there are no more rabbits to pull out of the hat, my advice is to move from an enrollment strategy—focused on operational and communications maneuvering—to a bold institutional strategy that evolves students’ academic, social, and other experiences in ways that strengthen the institution’s competitive position among its enrollment constituencies. As I’ve seen countless times over the years, colleges should not expect to reach enrollment goals just by spending more on financial aid or by conducting better marketing campaigns. There’s a strong tendency for institutions to say, ‘we will market our way out.’ Over time, however, tactical efforts will yield diminishing returns. Redesigning programmatic offerings is the harder and more essential work to do—that is the last rabbit in the enrollment hat.
During my time at Art & Science Group, I’ve had a fresh opportunity to see things from the outside. This vantage allows me to observe the standout attributes of top enrollment operations that are able to leverage a thoughtfully constructed institutional positioning strategy to attract, enroll, and retain students.
My advice? Here’s what I’ve seen that can help coax that last rabbit out:
colleges should not expect to reach enrollment goals just by spending more on financial aid or by conducting better marketing campaigns
Institutional strategy development: the key ingredients of an institutional strategic plan include input from stakeholders across the campus community, and also, importantly, a clear understanding of what its specific market is looking for. While developing an institutional strategy that is both distinctive and compelling, institutional leaders must examine the needs of the market and of the initiatives and appeals that can attract the right students to apply and matriculate. A plan built with input from within and from without can offer a robust understanding of how to position the institution for success.
Reporting structure: many of the most effective and influential enrollment managers often report directly to the President, or operate as part of a leadership team consisting of the Provost and the CFO. Whatever your organizational structure, it is critical to ask: does your chief enrollment officer have a seat at the table? And, is their voice heard and respected?
Transparent and collaborative expectation-setting: do you recognize what your enrollment manager realistically can control? A common pitfall lies in simply presuming sustained performance of excellence. No one, no matter their talent and verve, can avoid setbacks in this definitionally volatile work. A way to signal the value you place on the role and the individual holding it is to engage the chief enrollment officer in setting realistic enrollment goals that align with the institution’s strategic goals and ambitions.
What will lead to success for an institution is ultimately not a trick at all. It’s a lever that enrollment managers cannot themselves pull: the Value Proposition—the lived experience of students. Is the academic, co-curricular, and social experience for students one that is both consistent with your institution’s mission and compelling to your market? The most sophisticated enrollment plan cannot make up for an educational experience that doesn’t standout in comparison to your competitor set.
