Several yield rate and admissions funnel trends that will affect 2011 enrollments and beyond

Noel-Levitz’s just-completed study of admissions office funnel trends offers nearly 130 new benchmarks for admissions offices at four-year public and private institutions to assist campuses with accurately forecasting yield rates and enrollments.

Among the findings:

• Four-year private institutions have seen freshman yield rates (admit to enroll) drop from 36 percent to 29 percent over the past seven years while yield rates for transfer students have dropped from 57 percent to 53 percent. In contrast, yield rates for public universities have either leveled off or are following no noticeable trend lines.
• “Secret shopper” applicants were more numerous in 2009-2010, as one-third of freshman applicants and approximately half of transfer applicants to four-year public and private universities waited to contact their chosen institution(s) until they submitted an application.
• Inquiry-to-applicant conversion rates have increased significantly over the past seven years for public and private institutions, rising 11 and five percentage points at each institution type, respectively.

• Yield rates continued to be better for in-state vs. out-of-state and international applicants, and for paper vs. online applicants, for both sectors.
• More and more students are failing to complete the application process. For public universities, the proportion of incomplete, mail-in applications has risen to 18 percent, up from 10 percent in 2006, while online applicants have held steady at approximately 11 percent. For private colleges, 22 percent of online applicants failed to complete their applications in 2010, up from 19 percent in 2006, while the proportion of incomplete paper applications rose from to 17 percent (compared to 11 percent in 2006) over the same timeframe.

See the report for additional details, including complete student funnels for incoming freshmen and transfers, breakdowns for in-state vs. out-of-state vs. international freshmen, and a closer look at the growing secret shopper phenomenon.