Strategic Enrollment Management
Strategic Enrollment Management [SEM] is a crucial element of planning for new growth at a University or College as it concerns both academic program growth and facilities needs. [1] SEM focuses on what is best for students' success while increasing enrollment numbers and stabilizing institutional revenues. A student's success, according to an enrollment manager, is often based on the institution's graduation and retention rates. This means that students are often recruited based on the likelihood of them graduating. While this practice is acceptable for many privately-run selective institutions, it is not a common practice of most public institutions such as community colleges. [1] A real strategic enrollment management approach looks at the entire student cycle, from entry through graduation. [2]
According to Thomas Williams [3]:
- Enrollment management refers to the traditional task of “setting and meeting the goal of assembling a student body that comprises a predetermined and advantageous mix of students in terms of quality, number, and diversity in all its forms.” Strategic enrollment management is a broader, more dynamic task that begins with an understanding of the world around us, anticipates changes, probes institutional mission and goals, modifying them if necessary, and coordinates “campus-wide efforts in such areas as marketing, student recruitment and retention, tuition pricing, financial aid, academic and career counseling, and curriculum reform.”
Some of the components of Strategic Enrollment Management include: [4]
- Characteristics of the institution and the world around it
- Institutional mission and priorities
- Optimal enrollments (number, quality, diversity)
- Student recruitment
- Student fees and Financial aid
- Retention
- Institutional marketing
- Career counseling and development
- Academic advising
- Curricular and program development
- Methods of program delivery
- Quality of campus life and facilities
History:
Common misconceptions
According to Bontrager and Kerlin [5], common misconceptions and sometimes barriers to implementing or moving strategic enrollment management forward within an institution are that strategic enrollment management is:
- a quick fix
- solely an organizational structure
- an enhanced admissions and marketing operation
- a financial drain on the institution
- an administrative function separate from the academic plan and mission of the institution
Notes
- ^ Western Carolina University Office of Institutional Research and Planning
- ^ Inside Higher Education Enrollment Managers Struggle With Image
- ^ Thomas Williams, “Enrollment Strategies to Serve Tomorrow’s Students,” AGB Priorities, 21, spring 2003
- ^ South East Missouri State University Strategic Enrollment Management
- ^ Bob Bontrager, C. Kerlin, "Strategic Enrollment Management: Core concepts and Strategies." November 2004. Orlando, FL: American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers
References