Set in 2023, this study was deployed at the lowest point of enrollment in the California Community College (CCC) system since 2008, which was the highest point of enrollment in the system's history. The purpose of this qualitative, grounded theory study was twofold: (a) to understand the phenomenon of California community colleges (CCCs)…

In this second edition of "Smarter Budgets, Smarter Schools," Nathan Levenson proposes fresh strategies for more efficient, equitable resource allocation within school districts. Budgets, according to Levenson, can be a surprisingly powerful lever for improved student achievement outcomes and equity. Readers will find practical advice…

When strategic enrollment management plans center around traditional high school graduating classes, non-profit public higher education institutions do not recruit, admit, and enroll adult learners with the same energy and resources as they do traditional high school students. This single case study of qualitative design examined how enrollment…

The continuing importance of data analytics is not lost on higher education leaders, who face a multitude of challenges, including increasing operating costs, dwindling state support, limits to tuition increases, and increased competition from the for-profit sector. To navigate these challenges, savvy leaders must leverage data to make sound…

Overseeing the operations of a college and/or district combines the elements of a financial wizard, a logistics magician, a political demagogue, a Baptist preacher, and a prognosticating soothsayer. It's particularly challenging for new CEOs. This paper offers advice for such new CEOs and for those just interested in a shared perspective. Topics…

Trustees face complex choices related to costs and efficiency as they navigate new accountability policies, financial headwinds, and a changing global marketplace for college education. The latest release in a series of trustee guides from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni's Institute for Effective Governance, "Bold Leadership, Real…

Like many other industries, higher education is in the midst of a disruption. Perhaps, there is no more significant threat during this period of disruption than student enrollment. The author's hypothesis is that industry disruption represents both enrollment opportunities and threats. For this reason, "Managing the Student Enrollment…

As higher educational learning enters a new age, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are seeking innovative ways to establish strategies to compete with other academic institutions. As establishments that have played a pivotal role in transforming the landscape of higher education, HBCUs are facing rapid transformation and various…

Contemporary strategic enrollment management entails planning, implementing, and developing administrative structures to develop and support strategies and tactics to regulate patterns of students entering the institution and through to graduation. It must do so in a way that is both predictable and consistent with the institution's mission and…

As members of enrollment management units look ahead to the next few years, they anticipate many institution-wide challenges: (1) implementation of a new student information system; (2) major upgrade of an existing system; and (3) re-configuring an existing system to reflect changes in academic policies or to accommodate new federal or state…

The mission of this new fourth edition is to provide the reader with a solid foundation in the historical and philosophical perspectives of college student affairs development; assist the reader in understanding the major concepts and purpose of student affairs' practice, methods, and program models; enable the reader to conceptualize the theme,…

This article presents a family of organizational performance measures that enable decision makers at institutions of higher education to weigh the returns on investment in Total Quality Management. The enrollment management process is used to illustrate the use of six performance measures. The importance of a thorough knowledge of organizational…

A college admissions officer at Wesleyan University (Connecticut) offers two views of early decision programs, one based on personal experience as a student and one drawing on professional experience as an administrator and knowledge of the concerns of parents. The evolution of different kinds of early decision policies and the resulting confusion…

The chapters of this collection describe a transformational period in higher education. The paradigm shift in higher education requires new organizational models, new strategies, new resources, and new tools, with new ways of thinking, especially about strategic enrollment management (SEM). The chapters of part 1, "The Contextual Framework for…

Describes how the State University of New York, using large databases and regression techniques, has developed several coordinated, comprehensive efforts to evaluate and project current and future enrollments. One requires decomposition of the student population into mutually exclusive subgroups. The other, superior, approach uses logistic…