Eduventures Enrollment Management Learning Collaborative

The Enrollment Management Learning Collaborative (EM-LC) focuses on common challenges enrollment management divisions face, including affordability and financial aid, branding and identity, community college transfers, marketing, recruiting and admissions, organization and staffing, regional/out-of-state recruiting, and student retention and persistence. EM-LC provides insight and direction to identify best management practices, benchmark performance, and improve core processes through research, analysis, and networking opportunities.

EM-LC provides Collaborative Research, Custom Research, and opportunities for interactions with our analysts and with decision-makers at peer institutions.

EM-LC’s recent and upcoming Collaborative Research studies include:

Maximizing the Effectiveness of the Admissions Web Site
Eduventures' research shows that prospective students use college Web sites at a much higher rate than any other information source during the college search. Web sites also rank as the second most trusted source of information after campus visits among prospective students. EM members are looking for best practices in Web site content and design. This study will focus on identifying effective practices in not only engaging students in the first crucial 30 seconds after landing on a new Web site, but also in providing engaging content to satisfy the needs and interests of students, many of whom spend more than 10 minutes on a single site.

Managing Affordability: Private Debt, Institutional Debt, and Ability to Pay
Ongoing increases in tuition levels and rising levels of student debt increasingly are influencing students’ ability to attend and persist at the college or university of their choice. This study will take a comprehensive look at total student debt by adding institutional debt obligations (i.e., state, federal, and institutional loans) to private debt obligations (i.e., credit cards, personal loans, home equity loans). It also will look at how debt loads vary by major and student demographics.

College Search II: Testing Key Messages in Recruiting
Research has shown that prospective students find program strength, overall academic strength, and professional preparation as the three leading first-tier drivers of educational value. Among certain student groups, affordability, social environment, diversity of the student body, and campus facilities rate as important second-tier value drivers that can strongly influence the choice between two or three institutions that are roughly comparable at the level of first-tier drivers. This study will help institutions develop clear, accurate, and effective messages highlighting first- and second-tier value drivers in ways that engage prospective students.

Some examples of topics covered by Custom Research include:

• Student Debt and the Millennial Generation: Expectations, Reality, and the Prospect of Financial Literacy
• Branding Identity at Member Institutions Excerpts: With Special Attention to African-American Student Perceptions
• Enrollment Management Organizational Structures
• Balancing Out-of-State Enrollment
• Member Persistence Analysis: Identifying and Addressing Freshman Persistence Factor

Please contact us to find out how Eduventures Enrollment Management Learning Collaborative can support your institution.