By Dr. John Haller, VP of Enrollment Management and New Student Strategies, University of Miami, and AACRAO Consultant
Daniel Barkowitz, Assistant Vice President of Student Financial Assistance and Employment and I thank AACRAO for the opportunity to present, “Future Proofing Enrollment Management in Times of Change: Strategies Across Admission, Financial Aid, and Student Success,” which focused on how enrollment professionals can build resilience, take proactive approaches, and implement data-informed human-connected policies and practices to ensure success in a challenging higher education macro environment.
Key points:
Integrated systems and analytic tools can help inform practices that impact all areas of enrollment management, from admission to financial aid to student success. This can involve regression as well as CHAID analysis and the use of AI to streamline processes in admission and enrollment marketing, which can also be used to identify at-risk students for attrition.
Adaptive organizational structures and investing in people by committing to their professional growth are core principles. This also involves ensuring an understanding of the interdependencies among specific units within the SEM organization, so that every area knows the process intersections.
A culture of transparency is essential to establishing trust. This involves authentic communication at all levels of the organization, such that each team member understands the critical role they play in helping a student achieve their higher education goals. In addition to showing your team you care, this involves ensuring everyone understands their “why” and their interconnection with the institutional mission.
A culture of entrepreneurialism where new practices are prototyped and leadership is cultivated from inside the organization needs a professional development infrastructure. The approach can result in low employee turnover. Similarly, the organizational culture must ensure team members can ask why specific processes exist and allow the opportunity to form interdepartmental and cross-functional working groups to solve SEM challenges. An example: student success and financial aid partner with admission to streamline student onboarding.
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