PS&L Blog

Enrollment Research Survey: Results

We kept hearing that the downturn in the economy and escalation of the unemployment rate has had a dramatic effect on the applications and enrollments at many colleges.  Dramatic can be a good or a bad thing, so to find out what’s really happening out there in enrollment we did what we do well – conducted an online survey of admissions and enrollment professionals from across the nation.  We asked them a number of questions regarding application and yield for 2010 and what is currently happening for the 2011 class to get a sense of differences in the data.

We also wanted to find out if early action/ early decision applications were up, and whether that indicated overall interest and level of interest.  What we had been hearing through our clients and others is that an increase in early action/ early decision applications might be providing a false hope.

The survey and a summary of its findings are available on our website

http://www.psandl.com/survey.php .  The following are some of the highlights and commentary on the results of the survey.

Some of what we learned echoed what we had been hearing and reading in publications and the news, and some of the data is very different from what we have heard previously.

What we learned:

• For 2010, many colleges received more applications
• Of those colleges with an increase in applications, not a great deal of those schools saw an increase in yield in 2010, and that increase in yield was modest

This is interesting.  In many parts of the country, there are less students graduating from high schools, meaning potentially less people to apply to college. We also know that community colleges have had record enrollments in both traditional age students in the last couple of years. The increase in applications is likely from:

• Traditional age students applying to more colleges
• Applications from adult learners who are career changers and looking for career advancement
• Colleges developing new markets

The increase in yield is expectedly modest for the four-year college and university.

New markets, with proper marketing, will realize a good number of applications, but the yield conversions will be low for the first couple of years. Similarly, while four-year colleges will attract applications, the uncertainty of the economy will likely push those who are hesitant to enroll at the very affordable community colleges, if it is a viable academic option.

A glance at 2011:

• For 2011, applications are slightly higher for more than 1/3 of the colleges, and much higher for about another 2/3 of the colleges
• Yield for 2011 is expected the same or slightly better than last year

With the realization that more applications does not equate to more enrollments, it is important that changes be made in the recruiting process to yield more students.  The majority of the individuals who responded said they had made strategic changes to realize a better yield for 2011, and 22% said this was focused on an increase in communications and contacts.

We know from our consulting and marketing work at Paskill Stapleton & Lord that while more contact is good, what really makes a significant difference is the quality of those contacts. Targeted communications, combined with timely, real and meaningful interactions between the recruit and college personnel, will yield more students.

Early action/early decision is not a factor for the majority of colleges completing the survey; for those where it is a factor, small to no increases were realized this year.  This response was not what we were expecting as we had heard early in the cycle that colleges were reporting increases in applications in this area. Although 86% of the individuals who responded represent bachelor degree granting colleges or universities, 73% of the institutions responding do not have an early action/ early decision program.

We have data, including more on how colleges are addressing the issues, and the details of this survey available on our website http://www.psandl.com/survey.php.  We hope you find this useful in making decisions for 2011 and beyond.