Category: Blog

The Role of Admissions in Shaping the Student Body, and the Institution

by Jon Boeckenstedt (opens in new tab)

In my last post on student recruitment, I mentioned that recruitment and admissions—although often thought of as the same thing—are actually very different functions at some universities. But because there are about 1,600 four-year public and private, not-for-profit colleges and universities that are at least nominally selective, the line and distinction between the two varies based on institutional type, market position, and mission. For context and clarity: IPEDS collects admissions data on all institutions that say they are not “Open Admission.” Looking at the 2,075 four-year public and not-for-profit institutions that admit freshmen and report admission data serves as the basis for discussion today; among them, we see that 466 are in practice or philosophy admitting 100% of applicants. Beyond that, however, there are millions of students enrolling at for-profit institutions and community colleges for whom admissions data is not available, and won’t be discussed here. There is one thing admissions and enrollment professionals all agree on: If a student does not apply, they will never enroll. Thus, in a nutshell, recruitment attempts to generate as much interest, and usually as many applications, as is possible. Even if a university gets 20 applications for every seat it has in the […]

Recruitment In Today’s Data-Driven, Evolving Higher Education Landscape

by Jon Boeckenstedt (opens in new tab)

It has been said that all the world is simply a struggle between the “Haves” and “Have Nots.” How you view admissions and recruitment at your university probably depends a lot on which type of university you work at, whether you’re at a public, private, or for-profit institution, and—especially—what the mission of your institution looks like. Are you at one of the private “Haves” or perhaps one of the public “Have Nots?” Are your founding and mission based on access for a wide swath of the population, or is your purpose designed to serve the elite students—and only the elite students—who have risen to the top of the pyramid of academic achievement we sometimes call “merit?” It makes a big difference. In my first post in this series, I wrote about marketing, and how all higher-education institutions do it to some degree. I also mentioned that the enrollment management and/or admissions/financial aid departments are leading the charge when it comes to the four components of marketing (price, product, place, and promotion). And in this post, we’ll get down to “brass tacks,” where we actually apply those concepts as we attempt to enroll a class in the next term that is […]

What an Administrator Needs to Know About Demographics

by Jon Boeckenstedt (opens in new tab)

Having read in the last post about how marketing is an integral part of every college or university, it’s natural to wonder about the markets themselves: Who are they? Where are they? How have markets changed? And, especially in times of economic uncertainty, are there new markets we should be looking at? The good news is that there is considerable data out there to help you make decisions about marketing; the bad news is that those decisions—while grounded in solid data and information—are still as much art as science. Motivations of markets tend not to be easily quantifiable or predictable, and even though you may take some of the lessons you learn from one market to another, it’s still likely a “one size fits all” approach won’t suffice if you want to do as much as you can, given the natural limitations and constraints on resources. As Yogi Berra is popularly quoted as saying, “It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” And while you look externally at markets, using all the information available at your fingertips, it’s still important to realize that there are many forces external to your university that you can’t control no matter how big […]

Applying the Four “P’s” of Marketing to Higher Education

by Jon Boeckenstedt (opens in new tab)

There are typically three or four responses among higher-education colleagues when they hear the word “marketing”: It does seem strange that a subject matter taught to both undergraduate and graduate students can generate such responses, but I’m here to tell you that the term and the practice have both gotten mostly unjustified and unwarranted bad reps in the halls of academia. Some of it is probably deserved, of course, just as some portion of all criticism is likely justified. But the disdain for doing marketing suggests a lot of our colleagues don’t have as complete an understanding of the concept as we might hope. Some of this response, of course, is because we believe we’re too noble to engage in base activities in which we have to persuade people to like us; some people point to higher education’s long history (Oxford was founded in 1096, for instance) and relatively unchanged business model as proof that modern approaches to interactions are not only unnecessary but distasteful; still others think that we offer a product that is intrinsically valuable, and that this needs no formal effort to effect the exchange. If that’s you, then let me lean on Clark Kerr, former President […]

6 Things Executive Leaders Should Know about Attracting and Retaining Effective Academic Advisors

by Sue Ohrablo, Ed.D. (opens in new tab)

It’s nothing new. While 2022 has brought what is being termed “The Great Resignation,” advising administrators have been struggling to attract and retain qualified, effective advisors long before the COVID pandemic and its budgetary and emotional challenges. One of the most overused, under-applied mantras in higher education is, “students first.” It sounds great, but what are you doing to achieve it? I’ve seen countless schools proudly roll out a campaign with flashy signs, social media, and t-shirts. Let’s tell our students how much they mean to us and how we are committed to their success! But, during all of these transitions, I seldom see a real commitment to ongoing, sustained support for students. Programs and personnel seemingly change with the wind as a new, student-centric trend is established. Academic advisors are central to the mission of supporting students and providing accurate, timely assistance to them. Advisors are among the first institutional personnel that students meet, as well as the last they encounter as students transition out of the institution. Yet, contrary to the often-stated mission of “students first,” advisors often receive inadequate pay, training, supervision, and recognition, which can lead to advisor ineffectiveness and/or outright departure. By treating advisors as […]

There’s More to Lecturing than Lecturing

By Chet Jordan, Ph.D. Dean of Social Sciences and Professional Studies, Greenfield Community College     We often neglect silence. In our quest to preserve and uplift success, we shy away from what isn’t there, from who and what was left behind, and from the stories that got lost along the way. It is beautiful to celebrate the grit, determination, and ability of those who cross the finish line but there is kaleidoscopic complexity in each individual who never comes into the camera’s view. One of the largest subgroups in the American higher education system is comprised of transfer students. Although students transfer in various directions throughout the system, a vast majority attempt to transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions. Recent data show that 31% of students who first enroll at a community college transfer to a four-year college within six years (Shapiro et al., 2019). Astonishingly, close to 80% of community college students hope to earn a bachelor’s degree, yet 60% who enroll in a community college with the hope of transferring to a four-year institution fail to do so.     ..by mapping everything out early and tracking my steps, my priorities were clear; I knew what […]

Creating Inclusion in STEM

By Brice Yates, Ph.D.Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer for the College of ChemistryUniversity of California, Berkeley The challenges of increasing minoritized individuals enrolling in STEM have been well documented and discussed for many decades. STEM departments within colleges and universities have become more intentional in their recruitment efforts of enrolling minoritized individuals into their programs, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. As departments and institutions are seeking to increase diversity through minoritized student enrollment, departmental administration needs to take an in-depth look at the current climate existent within their departments. It is imperative for departments to have an understanding of their current climate as recruitment and retention efforts will be reflected in the environment. Within STEM, minoritized students may encounter a department that is largely homogenous from faculty to support staff, as well as their student peers. Feelings or actions of exclusion often arise in homogenous departments and can have a negative effect on minoritized students. The feeling of exclusion can occur via classroom setting and research groups. Research groups are comprised of graduate students (and to a lesser extent undergraduate students) who are a part of a principal investigator (research faculty) groups. An exclusionary environment can have […]

Falling Up: How to Develop BIPOC Leaders and Students in Higher Ed

By Chet Jordan, Ph.D. Dean of Social Sciences and Professional Studies, Greenfield Community College     We often neglect silence. In our quest to preserve and uplift success, we shy away from what isn’t there, from who and what was left behind, and from the stories that got lost along the way. It is beautiful to celebrate the grit, determination, and ability of those who cross the finish line but there is kaleidoscopic complexity in each individual who never comes into the camera’s view. One of the largest subgroups in the American higher education system is comprised of transfer students. Although students transfer in various directions throughout the system, a vast majority attempt to transfer from community colleges to four-year institutions. Recent data show that 31% of students who first enroll at a community college transfer to a four-year college within six years (Shapiro et al., 2019). Astonishingly, close to 80% of community college students hope to earn a bachelor’s degree, yet 60% who enroll in a community college with the hope of transferring to a four-year institution fail to do so.     ..by mapping everything out early and tracking my steps, my priorities were clear; I knew what […]

The Great Resignation: How Higher Ed Can Take on Private Industry

The Great Resignation is hitting colleges and universities especially hard. Even before the pandemic, retention of the best staff and faculty was a growing concern, given the lure of higher pay in the corporate sector, competition between academic institutions themselves, and increased and continual pressure to do more with less in the academic workplace. The COVID-19 pandemic worsened these challenges by severely depressing departmental budgets, demanding rapid transitions in the way higher-ed professionals pursue their work and deliver services to students, and by exposing and deepening workplace inequities, particularly for women and for faculty and staff of color. A recent survey that we conducted found that nearly half of respondents reported feeling clinically meaningful levels of burnout, not far off from the working population at large. Today, when we speak with human resources professionals in higher ed, they frequently share their frustration (and sometimes even fatalism) at what many see as a long and losing battle to hire, retain, and develop top talent for their institutions at a time when higher education is seeing unprecedented brain drain toward private industry and when the prospect of working together toward a common good is no longer enough, by itself, to attract and […]

How Lynn University Uses Block Scheduling to Provide Flexibility for Students

By Katrina Carter-TellisonVice President for Academic Affairs, Lynn University At Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, the pandemic caused us to challenge long-held assumptions and reimagine everything from classroom schedules and course delivery methods to campus tours. As an independent institution with approximately 3,400 students from more than 100 counties, it was important to increase flexibility and reduce risk during a prolonged period of uncertainty with rapidly changing conditions. We developed a plan for block scheduling as a way to minimize exposure for faculty and students and to enable administrators to implement a quick switch from in-person to remote instruction if necessary. We also sought to provide students with more options to fit their circumstances due to health issues or travel disruptions. After implementing the approach for a full academic year, we are seeing that this innovation precipitated by the pandemic has the potential to become a permanent feature. Reimagining the 16-week semester Block scheduling breaks up traditional 16-week semesters into four-week sessions with synchronous classes four days per week. Students can choose to focus on one course at a time or fast-track with two courses each session. They also have the option to complete the semester early, start late, […]

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