I’ve just returned from SACAC – a few days in the Miami sun among partner schools and colleagues. As I thought about the conference and all of its conversations, my reflections tended to run along a theme. Admissions and enrollment in 2016 is, in no way, “business as usual.” We all know that one of…
SACAC, like many of the other regional ACACs, brings together enrollment and admissions leaders who are responsible for making the big decisions for their institution. It is also an excellent opportunity for newer professionals eager to join together; eager to take exciting steps in their careers. SACAC offers an important professional development opportunity for counselors…
I remember sitting in front of the blank Excel spreadsheet, provided by our CFO, with emotions ranging from a soaring sense of anything is possible to something that could be more closely described as that poignant scene from Oliver Twist, “please sir, can I have some more?” Budgeting in higher ed can feel like an…
This post is going to continue deconstructing Student Search myths. Last week started with the myth of buying more names, and now, we’re turning our myth-busting efforts to the promise of CRM in Enrollment Management. The appeal of these three letters can be so captivating. Most of you know of someone who has been disappointed…
It’s conference season. Over the past couple of months, we’ve held three Ideastorms (two private, one public) and presented at an Academic Impressions conference all about Communication Flow Planning. And now we are gearing up for our “Best Ideas” presentation at ACT’s Enrollment Planners Conference, our September Ideastorm at Marian University, and NACAC. It’s a…
Let me get straight to the point. It’s spring on your campus, or will be very soon. Now is the time you need to be shooting pictures to build and supplement your image library. “Wait!” you think. “We are taking pictures all the time, of events and groups and things happening on campus.” And you…
I’d like your help in championing a grassroots effort to start a word of mouth campaign to change the name of what we currently call Student Search in enrollment management. Progressive, forward thinking leaders are leaving behind the inefficiencies of traditional Student Searching and calling their student recruitment campaigns Student Find campaigns. Recently, I’ve rallied…
Gravity is a great thing. Sir Isaac Newton discovered what keeps us grounded. Later, Albert Einstein revealed gravity’s power and his descriptions continue to be used in modern physics. For all the life-necessary aspects of gravity, and the exciting physics explorations it provides, it is not a recommended strategy for your enrollment management. However, all…
Response rates produced by Student Search campaigns are, in many ways, meaningless. What? Keep reading before you decide that I’ve totally lost it. Here’s where I’m coming from: It is better to receive a response rate your admissions staff can handle than to get a response rate that overwhelms your team’s time and resources. You…
Not all big ideas are actually all that big, at least in the terms of how most people define big – expensive (big money), grand (big project), or revolutionary (big change). Some of the best, big ideas are notions that are much smaller or simpler in scale but do the work that makes a lasting…