The relationship between central and academic units can cause tension within an institution as there is a desire to define ownership over activities, policies, and processes associated with enrollment management (e.g., recruitment, admissions, academic scheduling). This article proposes a new enrollment planning model that can be used to navigate…

Building a foundational approach for strategic enrollment management (SEM) is necessary to succeed in today's volatile higher education environment. It all begins with a mutual understanding of SEM and aligning the campus with the enrollment management organization. This article shares how to bring campus stakeholders together to optimize…

Demographic challenges, increased competition, and many other issues have resulted in trying times for all campus leaders, but especially for those who hold leadership roles in enrollment management. While there are numerous leadership texts that can be helpful in navigating these challenges, the author details two texts that have been incredibly…

Adult learner reentry to college and pathways to credentials may be less visible in enrollment management plans that are dependent on conventional, linear, and continuous college pathways. Drawing from learning and findings of six institutions within a large public university system as well as the academic literature, this article will consider…

This study examines enrollment melt patterns in a community college campus, aiming to quantify the predictive factors associated with students' likelihood of melting. Using a combination of survey and administrative data from applicants to a California Community College campus in Southern California, the author estimates changes in enrollment…

The COVID-19 pandemic created lingering challenges related to enrollment and made transparent the need for institutions to examine processes and remove enrollment barriers. Higher education may be perfectly poised to implement deep and lasting change that could result in increased access and improved retention. As student populations become…

This article presents a practitioner-defined research agenda for enrollment management. This agenda consists of 45 topics for research identified by enrollment management practitioners as the most pressing topics/issues that they regard as ones that would benefit from a study conducted by researchers. Implications of this agenda for practitioners…

Enrollment management (EM) has been a focus of higher education since the 1970s. There is a large base of empirical research on EM, a coordinated effort to support undergraduate students from admission to graduation that has been widely researched. However, there is limited academic research on graduate enrollment management (GEM). What is missing…

Strategy and research are essential parts of strategic enrollment management (SEM), yet little information exists regarding how to use research and predictive analytics for effective strategy. It is often easier to react to what is happening in the moment, rather than be proactive in predicting the future or developing long-term plans. This…

Strategic enrollment management (SEM) initiatives benefit when SEM committees are inclusive and collaborative. When financial aid professionals are excluded, the risk that certain initiatives will fail increases, especially if those initiatives involve academic changes. Here, the authors explore the reasons financial aid offices and academic…

Enrollment management has been adopted by many institutions not only as a strategy, but also as an administrative division responsible for managing enrollment. This study aims to understand how institutional goals and environmental factors contribute to the organizational structure of enrollment management divisions, as well as how the composition…

Graduate strategic enrollment management (SEM) professionals must become fluent in the mechanics of their institution's budget model in order to better understand how graduate enrollment headcount and tuition revenue translate into the resources that power the institution and fortify it to withstand a potentially uncertain future. This article…

This study delves into the changing landscape of graduate enrollment in education programs post-COVID-19 and the "Great Resignation." Despite an overall increase in graduate enrollment, education programs experienced a decline. Using methodology merging institutional data with tuition benefits from other institutions, this research…

Influencing student enrollment behavior is an ongoing process. Institutions continually try to predict student college choice while at the same time trying to influence that choice. This article describes the enrollment goals for the incoming freshman class at the University of Oregon, and how a limited institutional financial aid budget was used…

Meeting today's prospective college students where they are is key to staying ahead of current enrollment challenges. Understanding which messages resonate with which students and at certain parts of the enrollment funnel helps to ensure institutions are getting the right message, to the right student, at the right time in their journey. By…