Career Services - One of the Most Important Enrollment Drivers
When universities invest in retention, career services, and student employment, they create a cycle of success. Higher retention rates, improved graduation rates, and strong career outcomes all contribute to a positive institutional reputation. This, in turn, attracts new students, improves alumni engagement, and strengthens overall enrollment numbers. This is a particularly important investment for smaller private institutions to be making for the longevity of their institution.
The Impact of Entry Pathways on Student Retention and Achievement
Navigating the transition from high school to college can be challenging, particularly for students with lower academic preparedness. To address this, many institutions offer entry pathways designed to support students as they acclimate to higher education. Our retention analytics team at SightLine worked with a regional 4-year public institution in the Midwest to evaluate how different entry pathways for students may impact their early and long-term success at the institution.
Financial Aid Optimization Analysis Reveals Increased Student Price Sensitivity Year over Year
Each year, SightLine uses student application, financial aid, demographic, and census level data to optimize new scholarship offers for the following enrollment cycle with our university customers. During this process, we compare student enrollment behavior from the most recently completed enrollment cycle to the prior enrollment cycle. Earlier this year we analyzed the fall 2023 enrollment outcomes in comparison to fall 2022 enrollment and most of our findings were consistent across all our customers, indicating changing market conditions.
The Emotional Versus Analytical Decision Process for College Enrollment
In our last article, we talked about the evolving higher ed market. And as a data science company, of course a lot of our perspective on this comes from the data we work with every day. We analyze institutional, IPEDS and the College Scorecard data to understand the changing market. But often times this aggregated data doesn’t capture the full picture. Gasp!
Enrollment Leaders – If You Aren’t Considering Retention, You’re Doing it Wrong
Scholarships play a vital role in attracting talented students to universities, but their impact extends far beyond enrollment numbers and new net student revenue. For universities, considering student retention when optimizing scholarships is not just about ensuring a stable student population; it's about fostering a supportive environment that promotes student success, enhances institutional reputation, and ultimately boosts long-term revenue.
Four Strategies to Combat the Demographic Cliff
The landscape of higher education is evolving rapidly, with universities facing challenges such as the student demographic cliff, declining enrollment, increasing student price sensitivity, and having less information on student caliber with fewer students taking the SAT and ACT. To navigate these challenges successfully, institutions must adopt strategic and data-driven approaches that focus on long-term outcomes and impact. Here are four analytical strategies that we recommend for universities to combat these issues.
The Impact of Tuition Resets
During Fall 2022, enrollment declined by 1.1% compared to Fall 2021 enrollment numbers. This is closer to the pre-pandemic enrollment declines that were expected, although these results were certainly not desired. First year freshman enrollment declined in all four-year sectors ranging from highly selective private institutions to public flagship universities. This continual decline has led more colleges and universities than ever to consider or implement a price freeze or a complete tuition reset.
Preparing for SAI – Adjusting Institutional Aid for New Students
The SightLine team is focused on proactively supporting financially underserved students through the evolving FAFSA requirements. We are keeping a close eye on these changes to help our college and university customers seamlessly make the transition.
8 Key Takeaways: FAFSA Simplification Survey Results
To get a better understanding of what challenges are stemming from the FAFSA Simplification Act, we polled enrollment, financial aid, and budgeting leaders from colleges and universities across the country. The results are in, representing every geographic region, institution type, and size. We see some key trends and challenges emerging.