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How graduation ceremonies can motivate students to complete college and give back

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My daughter, Kylie, graduated from a private, liberal arts college in Iowa this spring. I experienced her graduation ceremony both as a proud parent and as a higher education professional, observing what the college did right in celebrating the class of 2017.

You may have been following along on my parental observations over the past five years as Kylie visited potential colleges, went through orientation and arrived on campus, reflected on her freshman and sophomore years, and began her senior year.

Since I manage the Satisfaction-Priorities Surveys for Ruffalo Noel Levitz, the keynote speaker at my daughter’s graduation ceremony was definitely speaking my language when he told students he hoped they were satisfied with their experience! (Yes, he really said that, and my ears perked up!) As they left the college, he wanted them to feel that their investment of time and tuition had been worthwhile.  (I would definitely echo that from the national data perspective, and further point out that a 2015 study indicated that institutions with higher satisfaction levels also have higher alumni giving). But the speaker also said he hoped the students were dissatisfied enough with the world around them that they would want to find what they were passionate about and make a change in something that matters. (This fits with how I advise institutions to improve the college experience for students in areas that matter: areas with high importance and low satisfaction to the student body).

What did they celebrate during the graduation ceremony?

A few observations on how the speakers motivated the audience toward college completion and giving back to the college:

  • The president acknowledged first-generation students and their families for blazing the trail and persevering. She also had legacy students stand and be recognized. There was one student who was a fifth-generation legacy, along with several who were fourth- and third-generation students. I was impressed with the strong family commitments to the college, but can you imagine the expectations those students felt to continue the family tradition?
  • The college’s young alumni award was presented during the graduation ceremony. (My alma mater presents it during homecoming.) By acknowledging the young alumni during graduation, it encouraged today’s graduates—and their younger peers in the audience—to see what they can accomplish within ten years after graduation. These young alumni stories were an inspiration and a validation of what can be done with a degree from the college.
  • As part of the Senior Giving Campaign, students who pledged to give back to the college were given a cord to wear with their cap and gown as a visible acknowledgment of their commitment. Kylie commented that she heard several classmates signed up because they wanted some “bling” for the gown, and the Senior Giving commitment was up 10% to 60% with this first year of the graduation cord offer.

Are you implementing acknowledgments like these during your graduation ceremony? Are there additional ways you can motivate students toward completion and celebrate students who blazed a trail or continued a legacy? How else can you reinforce the value of the tuition to the students and their families so they will continue to feel positive about your college? And what is going to motivate your new alumni to stay engaged with your institution as they move on to the next phase of their lives? [Read more…]

Our most popular blogs on enrollment management and student success

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RNL regularly publishes expert insights and new research on enrollment management and student success. In case you missed any of them, here are our most popular enrollment management blogs of all time and also from the past academic year.

Most popular posts from the blog

These are the most-read posts we have published on the blog.

Most-read posts from the 2016-17 academic year

Here the most popular enrollment management blogs from the past academic year.

Find more opportunities to expand your knowledge and expertise

RNL publishes trend reports, conducts webinars, and hosts events to help campus professionals stay on top of the latest strategies and developments in higher education.

And if you want to speak with one of our experts, please contact us and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.

Early FAFSA filing: What have we learned?

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This post is adapted from an article in the current issue of University Business.

What have we learned about early FAFSA filing as of mid-2017? Let’s begin with a quick review.

In an earlier post, my RNL colleague Todd White examined FAFSA filing rates nationwide for the 2017-18 academic cycle. The post used ED data on FAFSA filing to compare current data to the previous year based on the number of weeks after filing became available (i.e. January 1, 2016 compared to October 1, 2016). White reported the initial findings showed a 27.4 percent increase in FAFSAs in the first four weeks of filing. This increase in filing, combined with a 12.4 percent drop in FAFSAs rejected during that period, resulted in a 34.1 percent increase of completed FAFSAs. Furthermore, a review of a group of RNL campus partners who were tracking FAFSA filing rates showed that by early January, the average parent income for admitted students with need for 2017 was $89,541, which was a 10 percent increase from the 2016 figure of $81,335. Average EFC for the same groups of students was $12,134 in 2017 compared to $10,444 in 2016, a 16.2 percent increase.

Where we are today with early FAFSA filing

Although filing rates slowed (the early lead mentioned above had disappeared after eight weeks of filing), it only took until the end of March to have as many filers in 2017 as at the beginning of June in 2016. Moreover, by May 5, 2017, there was a 15.8 percent increase in filers compared to June 3, 2016 which translates into more than 291,000 additional students.

Early FAFSA filing: Increases between 2016-17

Is early FAFSA filing helping low-income students?

A recent publication by the Institute for College Access and Success showed that the burden of college costs is much greater for students from low-income families, contributing to wide college enrollment and completion gaps by income. Underrepresented minorities are also disproportionately affected. In this first year of early FAFSA filing, have students—especially those from under-served social, ethnic, and economic backgrounds—been able to take advantage of the early FAFSA filing and extended decision making period?

In an effort to answer this question, a preliminary review of FAFSA filing rates of students admitted to a group of RNL campus partners showed that a larger percentage of students filed FAFSAs through April of 2017 compared to April of 2016 (as shown in the table below). Interestingly enough, the actual number of students has increased for both Pell and non-Pell eligible students. However, the percentages from each group have remained almost unchanged in both years. Further research will be necessary to determine the extent to which lower income families took advantage of early filing.

Early FAFSA filing: weekly numbers, Pell vs. non-Pell

Specific steps to build enrollment

Having such a large number of students filing FAFSAs two months earlier in 2017 than in 2016, as well as the increase of admitted students filing FAFSAs at RNL’s campus partners, would suggest there is a desire among a significant portion of prospective students and their families to get earlier information on institutional financial aid. College and university enrollment leadership should respond by providing earlier aid awards to applicants who take advantage of this opportunity. At the same time, communications plans should be carefully reviewed to ensure that messaging on affordability and value appear earlier in the recruitment cycle. In addition, earlier aid awards will mean longer periods to fill with yield activities, making the case for the institution’s distinct advantages, engaging students, and responding to their interest in return on investment, academic programs, housing, and campus security.

Now is also the time to re-calibrate trends for enrollment targets, including applications, admits, deposits, and enrollment. Keep in mind that, in the long term, carefully leveraging financial aid funds to create affordability will help advance initiatives like early FAFSA and will improve access to higher education for all who wish to pursue it.

Let’s dig deeper in the coming months

More analysis is needed to fully understand the effect of early FAFSA and to identify for the nation as a whole exactly who took advantage of early filing. In addition, as the 2017-18 enrollment cycle comes to an end this summer and recruiting begins for fall 2018, it will be important to determine what was learned from campuses that took advantage of early FAFSA by packaging earlier. Did the socioeconomic profile of their freshman class change? Did they see any other advantages? The answers to these questions will determine whether or not early FAFSA filing truly benefited those it was intended to help.

Questions? Want to discuss your early FAFSA strategy with an expert?

Email me or call 800.876.1117 to confidentially discuss any questions you may have regarding how your institution is working with early filers and affordability to build enrollment. We’ll be happy to share with you how campuses similar to yours are responding to students’ concerns about costs as we listen carefully to your situation.

5 ways higher education professional development strengthens colleges and universities

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Campus professionals have a lot on their minds. With reduced budgets, tightening enrollments, changing demographics, rising college costs, and increased financial need, you are primarily focused on the students you serve and the resources you need to serve them. Those concerns can cause you to overlook one of the most important resources at your disposal: yourself and the campus colleagues who work beside you.

When the budgetary reins get tightened, professional development for campus staff is often one of the first expenses on the chopping block. Campuses certainly have to make many painful cuts in times like these, but cuts for higher education professional development can often have long-term repercussions that far outweigh the minor, temporary budget relief that they bring. In fact, it’s during times like these, when you’re forced to do much more with much less, that training, knowledge, and teamwork become paramount to working efficiently and meeting your goals for enrollment and student success.

There are many big benefits to higher education professional development, but here are five particularly strong ones:

1) Expanding your knowledge has a high ROI.

Let’s say you spend $1500 to attend an event on student retention. During the event, you learn strategies for early-alert programs that help you retain three more students and bring in $15,000 of net revenue that would have been lost had those students withdrawn. You’ve far exceeded the relatively minor investment you made to attend that event. The same would apply if you had learned strategies that helped you recruit three more students.

What often gets overlooked in cutting higher education professional development is the cost-effectiveness of expanding your professional knowledge. Learning new strategies, especially strategies that are already working at other campuses, can pay big dividends, both immediately and down the road. And as the example above illustrates, even small improvements in your enrollment can far exceed your original investment.

2) Professional development facilitates change.

Routine tends to stifle change and innovation in any organization, and campuses are no exception. We get so used to the way things are that we don’t see how things could be.

[Read more…]

6 eye-opening facts about college affordability from the students’ perspective [BUZZ SHEET]

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In today’s environment, college affordability is a top enrollment concern for high school students and a top re-enrollment concern for college students. Colleges and universities that successfully address this concern earlier and systematically will be at a competitive advantage over those that don’t.

Download a new BUZZ SHEET from Ruffalo Noel Levitz to learn 6 eye-opening facts on college affordability and ways institutions can address students’ concerns.

Facts 1 and 2 about college affordability from our BUZZ SHEET

College affordability buzz sheet

Download the full BUZZ SHEET to see all 6 facts and effective ways to respond

Download the College Affordability Buzz Sheet

2017 discounting benchmarks: How do your rates compare?

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RNL recently released the 2017 Discounting Report which provides discounting benchmarks from nearly 300 colleges and universities that worked with the company last year to strategically allocate their financial aid.

discounting benchmarks: 10-year trend for private colleges and universities

discounting benchmarks: trends for public colleges and universities

Since the Great Recession of 2008, we’ve seen a steady increase in campus discount rates. These increases are due to a number of both internal and external pressures. The internal pressures can be caused by an institutions’ desire to grow or attract a stronger or higher quality group of students. Some of the external issues are the shifts in demographics, reductions from both federal and state sources, and changes in student behaviors. In most cases, campuses only have a handful of options. They can challenge “willingness to pay,” which is not a bad strategy but errors in this area can be costly, or they can strategically use their financial aid dollars to help meet their institutional needs.

Discounting benchmarks by region and population

In the 2017 report, we segmented our campus partners’ data into public and private institutions. In addition, we have provided regional comparisons of the data for private institutions to help answer the question about whether the location of a campus can have an effect on discount rates.

For the first time, we’ve also broken out data for transfer students. This “under the radar” population has traditionally been neglected from analysis, but we know this has become a more important group for campuses to meet their new student targets. Do these students have the same enrollment behaviors as the first-time-in-college population? Are discount rates higher, lower or the same as other populations of students?

Download the report for the full discounting benchmarks from our campus partners and feel free to reach out to me or other members of our financial aid services team with questions about our service.

Free webinar on managing your discount rate

How can these discounting benchmarks inform awarding strategies and help you manage your discount rate? Attend our free webinar on May 17. I will be co-presenting and sharing awarding strategies that are helping campuses use their resources more efficiently so they can increase the enrollment impact of their awarding. Learn more and register for the webinar.

YES, your institution CAN be ‘student-ready’ on Day One for diverse college populations!

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This is part two of a two-part post on preparing for today’s diverse college populations, to increase their college completion rates. See part one.

A few weeks ago my colleague, Dr. Mari Normyle, posted a blog with a question:  Will your institution be ‘student-ready’ for diverse college populations on Day One? My response is YES, you can be!

To be ready, first look carefully at the needs of the diverse populations within the entering class. When you understand the needs of our entering students by race/ethnicity, first-generation vs. students with college-educated parents, gender, age, or any other diverse category, you can begin to make decisions how to strategically use the data to impact outcomes.

One way to gain a solid understanding of entering students’ diverse needs is to gather motivation data by population. For example, the first part of this post provided 13 facts in four diverse categories about 2016 entering freshman which were collected from 99,300 students who completed RNL’s College Student Inventory.  All 13 facts are what we call leading indicators, or early alerts, which can help to determine what entering students need to persist, progress, retain, and complete. Most of you know we at RNL are all about being data-informed and spend most of our time working with you to move data into action.

Benchmarking: another important first step for serving diverse college populations

Before you set strategy, it is also helpful to understand normal outcomes for your institution type. In the 2017 Student Retention Indicators Benchmark Report you will find benchmarks for persistence, progression, and retention for four-year and two-year institutions. For example, you will find persistence outcomes from term one to term two and term two to term three for first-time-in-college students regardless of race/ethnicity, first-generation vs. students with college-educated parents, gender, age or other attributes.

Retention indicators and serving diverse college populations

[Read more…]

How does the New York free tuition program change things?

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This blog post was co-authored by Lisa Browning, executive consultant for Ruffalo Noel Levitz

How does the New York free tuition program implemented this month change the environment for college student recruiting, marketing, and enrollment management? For private institutions in New York, the potential effect of the free college tuition program is multi-layered. Will yield decline? Will students at privates transfer to publics at a higher rate than in the past? Should private institutions opt-in to new the ETA program? And what about out-of-state schools that recruit in New York—is there potential for a higher melt rate for students from New York for 2017-18, and might the New York portion of the admit pool decline in future years?

First, let’s look at the two new college scholarship programs in New York

When New York state legislators voted on their FY2018 budget in early April, two new financial aid programs for state residents were created.

For public two-year and four-year institutions, the Excelsior Scholarship claims to “make public college tuition-free” for students from families with an adjusted gross income up to $100,000 starting in the academic year 2017-18. The income ceiling increases to $110,000 for 2018-19 and to $125,000 for 2019-20. Below is the program description from the website of New York State Higher Education Services Corporation’s (NYSHESC):

“An Excelsior Scholarship recipient can receive up to $5,500 from the Excelsior Scholarship, minus any amounts received for TAP (New York’s state grant program), Pell or other scholarships. The remainder of your tuition charge will be covered through a tuition credit paid through SUNY or CUNY.”

Note that mandatory fees are not covered, nor is any portion of room/board.

For private colleges and universities, the Enhanced Tuition Award (ETA) was also created:

“An Enhanced Tuition Awards recipient can receive up to $6,000 through a combination of their TAP award [an existing state grant], ETA award, and a match from their private college. For example, a student who receives a $1,000 TAP award would receive an additional $5,000—half of which would be paid by the ETA and half by his or her college.”

For students who receive ETA funds, the institution must commit to freezing their tuition for their time at the school.

Implications of the New York free tuition program

When considering the implications of the Excelsior program on New York’s private institutions, there are some important and practical “devil in the details” topics to be addressed:

  • NYS budget allocations are likely to be inadequate. For the 2017-18 academic year, it seems clear that the $19M allocated for the ETA program is not nearly adequate to fund all of the potentially eligible full-time NY resident students at New York’s private colleges and universities. The average TAP award for students in the independent sector in 2015-16 was estimated at $3,100 for about 67,500 students (see source). Under the ETA formula, the state and the institution would each pay $1,450 to have a student’s award total $6,000. The state’s share would amount to almost $98M for TAP-eligible students. Based on a sampling of RNL client partner data, RNL estimates that an additional 10 percent, or 6,750 students, who are not TAP-eligible would be ETA-eligible because even though they don’t qualify for TAP, their family income is within the $100,000 income ceiling. The state share for that group would be roughly $20M. In total, the approximate match for the state would be $118M. The allocation of $19M is only 16 percent of the estimated total state share necessary if all private colleges opted in and all eligible students applied. Estimates for the potentially eligible pool at the state’s public institutions are harder to come by, in part because both Pell and TAP must be subtracted before calculating the Excelsior Scholarship. Other studies have suggested that the real cost, if all eligible students were covered, would be two to three times the state’s estimate of $163M (see Kelchen and Brookings).
  • A lottery system will be used if sufficient funds are not available. For both Excelsior and ETA, if the budgeted funds are not sufficient to cover all eligible applicants, a lottery system will be used to select recipients. NYSHESC will choose the recipients, and currently enrolled students receive priority.
  • Timing of the application for the awards. Applications are required for the Excelsior Scholarship and for the ETA award. According to the FAQ on NYSHESC’s website “It is anticipated that the Enhanced Tuition Award application and the Excelsior Scholarship application will be available in late May.” Late May. There is no indication as to when award notifications will be made. Given that the May 1st candidates’ reply date is fast approaching, clearly award notifications will not be made in time for students to be able to count on, with certainty, receipt of an award.

[Read more…]

Meeting today’s college enrollment goals by engaging all departments in enrollment efforts

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Co-written by Jim Scannell

This post is based on an article in the current issue of  University Business

Enrollment leadership today requires a coordinated campus team to address and respond to evolving and emerging internal challenges as well as shifting external markets and forces. Pressures that affect enrollments, and especially yield rates, are a function of several of today’s realities: significant demographic shifts, the proliferation of applications per student, increased price sensitivity, and changing methods of delivery.

Understanding the threats and challenges

  1. American Freshmen: Fifty Year Trends 1996-2015  shows the steady increase in the number of applications submitted by individuals. Since 2012 the percentage of students who submit six or more applications has increased to 36.3 percent, up from 27.5 percent just three years earlier. In 2015, 7.6 percent of students reported submitting eleven or more applications.
  2. Between 2010 and 2014, overall undergraduate enrollment declined by about 800,000 students (NCES, 2016). In addition, the number of Caucasian students is expected to decline at more than double the expected rate of decline of African American students, and the rise in the Asian student population outpaces the anticipated increase in Hispanic graduates by more than 2 to 1.
  3. The demographic pattern also marks stark differences among families’ ability to pay for college. The College Board reports that although the average White/Non-Hispanic income was $76,658 in 2014, African American and Hispanic families earned about 42 percent less, at $43,151 and $45,114 respectively.
  4. Price sensitivity will continue to be a factor. The College Board’s most recent Trends in Higher Education Report reveals that undergraduate borrowing has declined by 18 percent since 2010 (inflation-adjusted dollars). Some experts suggest that borrowing for post-secondary education may well have reached its upper limit.
  5. Educational platforms have changed, and brick and mortar institutions are “no longer the only game in town.” From accelerated programs to MOOCs, and from non-credit classes to YouTube videos, students can choose their learning environment, cost, and delivery mode. 

Collaborative leadership: A critical piece of the puzzle

So how does the enrollment officer help to ensure that the institution has the right mix of academic programs; delivery methods; student life experiences; price position; and recruiting and awarding strategies that will attract the sufficient number of talented students needed to meet fiscal and enrollment goals, while sustaining and advancing the college’s mission? Cross-campus engagement featuring an “institution first” culture, which encourages colleagues to think beyond their own departments and programs, is a critical piece of the puzzle.

John McCloskey, vice president for enrollment management at Alvernia University (AU), recalls how leadership on campus paved the way for meeting enrollment challenges, “In 2015, trustees established an ad-hoc committee of the board (including faculty members) to study and develop recommendations regarding undergraduate enrollment initiatives to drive enrollment growth of new and returning students. The committee researched market trends and employment projection data and ultimately developed a list of new majors, suggestions for renewal of select academic majors, as well as several athletic programs for the administration to complete feasibility studies for future programming. Engaging the trustees and faculty in the conversation regarding the external enrollment challenges was productive and opened the door for subsequent faculty and staff discussions.”

See the full article at the University Business site, including 6 key characteristics of the successful enrollment leader

Strategic Enrollment Planning Executive Forum, April 26-27, 2017

How can your campus leaders work more closely together to achieve college enrollment goals and institutional objectives? And how can you adapt the culture of the institution to include cross-campus engagement? Invite your senior leadership team to RNL’s Executive Forum in Chicago to kick off a collaborative, strategic enrollment plan that assesses high-impact strategies that cross divisional lines. Together, we’ll discuss how to navigate your campus through the academic, demographic, and economic challenges ahead using cross-divisional strategies. Learn more.

Q&A on strategic enrollment planning with RNL’s leading expert and presenter at upcoming Executive Forum

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Updated February 2018

As the leader of our strategic enrollment planning at Ruffalo Noel Levitz, I work with institutions of every size, type, and mission to create strategic enrollment plans that help institutions align with changing academic demands, employment needs, and student diversity. In this post, I respond to some common questions I hear from campus leaders, in anticipation of our upcoming Strategic Enrollment Planning Executive Forum, April 17-18 in New Orleans.

What are the building blocks of a strategic enrollment plan?

President Eisenhower once said, “Plans are nothing; planning is everything.” The foundation of a good strategic enrollment plan is a good strategic enrollment planning process. The key is to bring the right people to the table, provide them with access to institutional and external data, foster collaboration across the institution, embrace transparency, and roll up your sleeves and get to work. Know at the outset that the goal is not to do everything, but to identify those few strategies that the data say have the greatest potential to improve institutional performance, and that will mobilize the campus community to action. It sounds simple, but it requires strong leadership.

What distinguishes strategic enrollment planning from recruitment and retention planning?

While institutional mission must be at the center of any strategic planning process, the most effective strategic enrollment plans link academic and fiscal planning with recruitment and retention planning. Our marketing and recruitment efforts are designed to bring students to our institutions to study in our academic programs. Our retention efforts are designed to foster student success so that students will remain enrolled in our programs and then complete them. The entire financial enterprise, from capital campaigns to financial aid disbursement, are designed to help students enroll, to provide quality programs, and to pay the bills. If enrollment planning is just about getting students and keeping them, then it is not likely very strategic. While strategic enrollment planning will not magically remove organizational silos, by design it will lessen their effects on organizational collaboration because individuals from across the institution will come together to identify challenges and opportunities, and to develop plans that will strengthen the enrollment and the fiscal foundation of the institution. [Read more…]


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