What Do Boards Need to Understand About Enrollment Management?
Donald Hossler, PhD, is an emeritus professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB). He currently serves as a senior scholar at the Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice in the Rossier School of Education, at the University of Southern California. Hossler has also served as vice chancellor for student enrollment services, executive associate dean of the School of Education, and the executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Hossler’s areas of specialization include college choice, student persistence, student financial aid policy, and enrollment management.
What Does Enrollment Management Encompass?
Boards must understand exactly what enrollment management encompasses. In fact, the term may be slightly misleading because, as trustees should be made aware, no college can manage or control student enrollment patterns—they can only influence them. “Enrollment influencing” does not have the cachet of the term “enrollment management,” but those who engage in enrollment management are deploying policies and tools to positively influence enrollment outcomes. If managing enrollment—or what may be more aptly described as influencing enrollment—is so important, boards need to understand what factors underlie this function.
In addition to the recruitment and admission of students, enrollment management encompasses the awarding of substantial amounts of institutional financial aid. Another important function that often falls to enrollment organizations is to develop policies that help encourage the retention of students and their progress to graduation. There are natural reasons for colleges and universities to focus upon student persistence, retention, and graduation rates— which are frequently subsumed under the term “student success.” Those reasons include ensuring that students who have been admitted have a good experience and thrive at the institution. In addition, at a pragmatic level, retaining students provides tuition revenue, and it is also less costly to retain an existing student than to recruit a new one. Moreover, many states have adopted funding formulas that reward institutions with higher retention and graduation rates. Even college and university accrediting bodies use retention and graduation rates as a measure of institutional quality.
What Should Boards Care About Regarding Their Institution’s Enrollment Management Function?
Boards must also be concerned about the impact of enrollment management functions on their institution’s reputation. Generally, many college ranking schemes include retention and graduation rates as important measures of quality. In addition, recent admissions scandals associated with both athletes and university donors demonstrate how, for the colleges involved, serious reputational damage can result from inadequate controls over admissions policies and procedures. Finally, admissions practices related to affirmative action and efforts to increase the diversity of the students enrolled can result in costly lawsuits. Trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to ensure that the policies and practices of the offices of admissions and financial aid, and other campus offices with whom they work, are above reproach.
AGB Resource
Understanding Enrollment Management: A Guide for College and University Board Members by Donald R. Hossler and Jerome A. Lucido, AGB, 2020
AGB Members can download the ebook online at www.agb.org/enrollmentmanagement
Share on LinkedIn
