Take an Enrollment Stability Quiz – How well prepared is your institution for the future?

At Noel-Levitz’s national conference in early July, participants were actively engaged in discussions about emerging trends that are influencing student enrollments at their institutions. On some campuses, these trends are already aggravating the usual ups and downs of enrollment. I had a number of conversations with campus leaders who were trying to decide if the appropriate response is a more systematic approach to planning, such as the strategic enrollment planning approach we advocate.

Given the prevalence of these concerns, I put together the following Enrollment Stability Quiz to help readers assess how well prepared they are for the trends sweeping across higher education, and to test their readiness for Noel-Levitz’s strategic enrollment planning process. Use these 11 questions to see if your campus is ready for these powerful changes.

Circle yes or no to the following:

Yes  No – We include environmental scanning results when we build our annual enrollment goals for both new student and continuing student enrollment.

Yes  No – My institution knows how shifting demographics in our primary, secondary, and tertiary markets will influence its enrollment numbers over the next five to ten years.

Yes  No – My institution has a written plan to respond to changing demographics in our primary, secondary, and tertiary markets.

Yes  No – We have planned for changes in market demand for our academic programs and developed strategies to respond to those changes.

Yes  No – We know what our hottest majors are and which ones will see the greatest demand from employers in our primary market area over the next five years.

Yes  No – Our enrollment planning process is a partnership that includes academic affairs, as well as enrollment and financial affairs.

Yes  No – We understand and have planned for how current and prospective student interest in and demand for online learning opportunities is changing.

Yes  No – Our faculty understand the role they should be playing in recruitment and retention.

Yes  No – We have plans in place to diversify our enrollment streams, including adult, online, graduate, and other new or growing populations as appropriate for our institution.

Yes  No – We have met or exceeded our enrollment goals for the last three years.

Yes  No – No matter how we answered the previous question, we know why.

How did you do?
These are purposeful questions. If you answered ‘no’ to more than a few, it is likely that your institution is not preparing strategically or sufficiently for the changing environment in higher education and for the impact that emerging trends will be having on your enrollment. Furthermore, you likely need to fine-tune or develop a data-driven, strategic enrollment plan.

I encourage you to use your quiz results as a conversation starter with your executive colleagues. Be sure to involve leaders from beyond enrollment—especially finance and academic affairs—in the conversation.  The resulting planning process should go well beyond annual planning by the enrollment division. Need help? Noel-Levitz offers many resources to assist you:

• Strategic Enrollment Planning Executive Forum, December 11-12, 2014
• On-campus consultation on strategic enrollment planning
• Trend report: 2014-24 Projections of High School Graduates by State and Race/Ethnicity
• White paper: Cabinet-Level Strategic Enrollment Planning

Email me if you need clarification or wish to discuss strategic enrollment planning or the resources Noel-Levitz offers to assist you. Depending on your situation, I may be able to help you identify some immediate action steps to begin addressing the issues at your institution.