Enrollment management in small college

[Hibush]

We often discuss the state of the numerous small colleges located in rural and northern places. There is good fodder for looking deeper in a job ad for one of the tough jobs: VP for enrollment management.

Luther Colleges is among the strongest in a tough demographic, so it has all the challenges but also a good shot at success. The agency helpfully provides a dossier describing the school and the assignment.

Advantages:
Among the highest rated small colleges
High graduation rates
Good employment outcomes
Engaged alumni
Meeting enrollment targets

Challenges:
Founded for a dwindling demographic: Lutherans of Norwegian descent and culture.
Drawing from a depopulating region: SE Minnesota, NE Iowa, SW Wisconsin.
Located in a small town far from a big city: Decorah, IA population 8,000.
Small student body: 1,950
Low yield: 20% of admits matriculate

The VP for enrollment management leads a staff of 22. That is a huge office for the size of the student body. An 85:1 ratio shows how much emphasis they are putting on recruitment and retention.

What will it take for this person to be successful in positioning Luther for the future?

[spork]

Interesting question.

That yield rate of 20% might actually be pretty good compared to similar colleges in the region. But I doubt "increase applications" can be a successful strategy, because additional applicants at the margin will be less likely to enroll and less academically capable (and thus more costly, with higher tuition discounts and in need of more support services) if they do enroll.

[marshwiggle]

It seems small places like this are mainly counting on rural students not wanting to go too far from home and/or to a big city. Given that the size means that they can't have a lot of unique program offerings, they won't attract anyone from further afield either.

[lightning]

This sounds like a job interview question.

First, anyone that considers any job at a school like Luther should look at its endowment, which is pretty easy to find. Luther clocks in around the 150 million range, which means it's doing better than most small rural colleges in the area whose endowments are way under 100 million (with exception of Grinnell, which clocks in at almost 2 billion!). Ya gotta find a situation where you know you can succeed. If you feel the place is a lost cause, it doesn't mean you don't consider the job. It just means you don't buy a house and you plan for the short term (2-3 years) and go for the metrics that make you look good for your next employer, at the expense of the long-term. This means admit under-performing customers with money to spend. Errr on the side of passing marginal students who are currently enrolled (if there is any kind of way to influence that). Make articulation agreements, with community colleges, really easy (if there is any kind of way to influence that). Start looking for other colleges in the area who have small endowments, like Briarcliff University. They only have an endowment of about 12 million. They are toast. Start making a plan to siphon off their students and their recruiting pipelines, when the inevitable happens. Luther will never catch up or ever be regarded in the same way as Grinnell or St. Olaf, so the idea that Luther can bolster its reputation through admission standards, is probably not the best strategy.

Of course, if this is a job interview question, don't reveal these intentions, although this is how a lot of admins think. 

[ciao_yall]

Does that staff of 22 include Admissions and Records staff? Counselors? Marketing? Outreach?

As "Enrollment Management" has become a hot new buzzword, one wonders if it is turning into a tarted-up title for basic student/academic affairs roles.

[spork]

From the standpoint of this being a job interview question, and enrollment management becoming the hot admin field, I would say "closer integration with Academic Affairs." It sounds good, is hard to measure, and can easily be referenced on a c.v. for one's next job application.

More seriously, I wish we had this. Our admissions office seems to see itself primarily as a vacuum to suck in bodies for the fall semester. Other than not veering too far from an overall discount rate (presumably imposed by the business office), there is no attention paid to cost vs. revenue by academic program. For example, if admits stating that they intend to major in criminal justice actually enroll, what is the net revenue compared to those who enroll in the art major? The existing curriculum allows for classrooms of up to 30 students each in criminal justice courses, while the art majors are taught in studio courses of a dozen students each. But maybe art majors are wealthier, pay more in tuition, and have 98 percent retention, so it might make sense to recruit more of them than to only advertise the criminal justice major.

[Hibush]

I think of this as a good case study because it is far from a lost cause, and is still apparently in good shape. But it also can't continue doing the same thing as before in recruiting and retaining students. The good actions here can probably have analogues at other places that have a chance to survive and even thrive. The extra information provided with the ad is the kind of data that helps one take a different look.

Targeting residents of Norwegian, or even Scandinavian/North German ancestry does not seem that promising. This many generations in, do the great grandchildren of immigrants have enough of a cultural connection to make it the main motivation in applying to a school? How many young adults with different ancestry are enamored enough with Norwegian culture to be attracted? Probably fewer than 2000.

The religious angle seems like a tough selling point too. While the Lutheran Church is nominally evangelical, students interested in the evangelical Christianity probably put the staid Lutheran version pretty far down the list. Students looking for a secular school have many other choices. Youth participation in the Lutheran church is stronger here than back in Norway,but  it is a fairly small group to draw from. Luther College can't exactly abandon Luther, so how do they turn the connection into a strength with the Class of 2030? The materials they provide use the example of Luther as a principled challenger of an unethical establishment. That angle has potential.

[mamselle]

A couple other things to consider: Is the school ELCA (the more mainline Lutheran body), or Missouri Synod (which broke away in the 1970s over things like insistence on a literal interpretation of the book of Jonah)?

And: If the latter, would there be any point to doing recruitment in the Scandanavian countries themselves? Kids (and their parents) enculturated in the more conservatively Reformed group might see a stint in the US as a way to break out of their own area in some ways, while remaining within the fold religiously and culturally.

They might even see it as a missionary opportunity.

Just pondering.

M.

[marshwiggle]

And: If the latter, would there be any point to doing recruitment in the Scandanavian countries themselves? Kids (and their parents) enculturated in the more conservatively Reformed group might see a stint in the US as a way to break out of their own area in some ways, while remaining within the fold religiously and culturally.

My non-US perspective on this is that it's hard to picture a lot of people willing to spend lots of money for their kids to go abroad to study if the program of study isn't particularly valuable; atmosphere alone isn't THAT big a draw. The idea of "going to college" as a stage-of-life, regardless of what is studied, seems kind of US-specific to me.

Am I unusual in thinking this?

[spork]

And: If the latter, would there be any point to doing recruitment in the Scandanavian countries themselves? Kids (and their parents) enculturated in the more conservatively Reformed group might see a stint in the US as a way to break out of their own area in some ways, while remaining within the fold religiously and culturally.

My non-US perspective on this is that it's hard to picture a lot of people willing to spend lots of money for their kids to go abroad to study if the program of study isn't particularly valuable; atmosphere alone isn't THAT big a draw. The idea of "going to college" as a stage-of-life, regardless of what is studied, seems kind of US-specific to me.

Am I unusual in thinking this?

No, you're not. Why would an 18-year old Norwegian or Swede relocate to Decorah, Iowa? There is nothing to attract them geographically or academically. Thirty years ago, in terms of proportion to total enrollment, the largest population of Swedish undergraduates outside of Sweden was at Hawaii-Pacific University in Honolulu. Decorah is no Honolulu. It's not even Malmö.

[wellfleet]

Luther is affiliated with the ELCA, and it sends way more students to Scandinavia than it will get from there, with the help of its Nordic studies program.

However, Decorah is an amazing small town and is home to Vesterheim, the Norwegian-American museum, a significant research institution with some stunning growth plans. These are advantages not every small, rural SLAC has.

[Hibush]

And: If the latter, would there be any point to doing recruitment in the Scandanavian countries themselves? Kids (and their parents) enculturated in the more conservatively Reformed group might see a stint in the US as a way to break out of their own area in some ways, while remaining within the fold religiously and culturally.

They might even see it as a missionary opportunity.

Just pondering.

M.

Interesting idea.

One challenge  is competing with the fact that universities in Scandinavia have no tuition, and students get grants to cover living costs. The state support is considerably higher than e.g. France. The students would have to come from particularly wealthy and devout families.

Nevertheless, schools with roots in other countries cultures may be able to draw more on that country than they have in the past. Many have expensive schools.

[spork]

Awareness via reputation of Luther's athletic teams will make a far larger contribution to enrollment than any historical connections to Norway or the Lutheran church, especially for male admits. Unfortunately in this country a significant portion of males 18-22 years old are willing to go into debt to continue playing the sport that they played in high school.

[kaysixteen]

The Missouri Synod is not a splitoff from the ELCA, but rather a federation of two ethnic Lutheran denoms, a German and a Finnish.  Until fairly recently congregations from the German one continued to use German in services and the members still had a pretty conclusive German ethnic identity, and I think that's true of the Finnish one as well.  Indeed, there are other Lutheran denominations besides the ELCA and the MO Synod, some with specific ethnic identification and all appreciably more theologically conservative than the ELCA.  Medoubts any conservative Lutheran families would choose this or any other ELCA school when ones associated with one of those conservative denoms are available.

[Hibush]

Awareness via reputation of Luther's athletic teams will make a far larger contribution to enrollment than any historical connections to Norway or the Lutheran church, especially for male admits. Unfortunately in this country a significant portion of males 18-22 years old are willing to go into debt to continue playing the sport that they played in high school.

The sports option could be promising. It goes against a couple of trends, ever so slightly declining participation in high-school football and more rapidly declining participation by boys in college. Nevertheless, they would only need to find twenty or so per year to fill the football roster. Iowa alone graduates about 4,000 football players per year. There would be an extra attraction if the Norseman helmets had real horns.

Could high-profile men's and women's teams in other sports become that draw? Soccer is growing fast in participation, with both girls and boys. Pro soccer is on TV and scores (of European matches) are reported with other sports now. It can be a spectator sport. At least regionally, it might have a chance if nurtured right. Lacrosse is big in the Northeast, and uses the football stadium in the spring. The lacrosse-bro image has some baggage. Sports that reinforce Norwegian cultural identity are alas a stretch: cross country skiing, biathlon, ski jumping, sailing.