If you are like me, the start of a new year motivates you to reach your goals and make the most of available resources. For most enrollment managers, that means reaching some lofty new student enrollment goals while at the same time managing marketing and recruitment budgets. Balancing goals and budgets can be a daunting task, but now there is new benchmark data to help guide your efforts.
The benchmarks in Noel-Levitz’s just-released 2013 Cost of Recruiting an Undergraduate Student Report are for two-year and four-year institutions. These data allow you to compare the typical budget and staff size for your type of institution. While I encourage you to see the entire report for a more comprehensive understanding of the research and data calculations, let me highlight three findings:
- If you work for a four-year private institution, it is no surprise that you need to be prepared to spend more to reach these students and sell them on the value and cost of a private education. The median cost to recruit a single student was the highest for four-year private institutions at $2,433 per student and lowest for two-year public institutions at $123 per student.
(Click to enlarge.)
*See the report for details.