Enrollment Insights Podcast

This episode is a series of short responses to questions recorded at the NACAC Annual Conference 2023 in Baltimore. Thank you to everyone who joined in the fun!

This session was recorded as part of The Higher Ed Insights Summit 2023. Dr. Ferguson will walk you through how he uses the admission pipeline of the student lifecycle to build a recruitment plan. Beginning with an institution's vision, mission, and portfolio of academic programs, he will show you how he sets net tuition revenue and new student headcount goals. After setting goals, he will walk through some examples of inquiry generation and application cultivation that is designed to admit highly engaged applicants in order to increase yield rates while minimizing summer melt.

This session was recorded as part of The Higher Ed Insights Summit 2023. In this session, we explore effective marketing strategies to attract adult learners and career changers. We will delve into the unique characteristics and motivations of non-traditional students, uncovering the challenges they face and the factors that influence their decision-making. Through targeted messaging, digital marketing techniques, strategic partnerships with our community, and personalized support services, we will discover how colleges can successfully engage and enroll this vital student population. Join us to learn actionable insights and best practices to transform your marketing efforts and empower the educational journeys of adult learners and career changers.

This session was recorded as part of The Higher Ed Insights Summit 2023. Don't miss the chance to acquire practical insights that defy traditional trade-offs between resource constraints and impactful change. This empowering session equips enrollment marketers with strategies to drive meaningful transformation. You will walk away with tangible takeaways and a renewed sense of confidence, ready to make a lasting impact in your role and at your institution.

This session was recorded as part of The Higher Ed Insights Summit 2023. While the world has mostly moved back in-person, students still prefer to do much of their college search online and anonymously. Using a combination of Niche platform data and an early look at the 8th annual Niche Senior Enrollment Survey Ryan Bell and Will Patch will walk you through the modern search and enrollment funnel from a student's point of view.

Recordings of all the sessions are at https://www.niche.com/about/partners/higher-ed-insights-summit/

In this episode, you’ll hear from Errol Wint. Errol is the founder of Mara Bridge Consulting Solutions and works alongside multiple industries to take a deeper view of education. Previously, he served as the Director of Undergraduate admissions and then Principal Consultant for Enrollment Planning at IUPUI; and before that was at the University of Louisville. He is taking a new view of admissions and higher ed by incorporating design thinking into a design planning process.

1:25 - What didn't work for Errol?

4:27 - The increasing rate of failure and why we need breathing room to grow and strategize

8:02 - Going beyond collecting and consuming data and moving to processes of synthesisto solve problems and innovate

11:02 - The brainstorming process - Analyze, Strategize, Operationalize

14:17 - Bringing along the data reluctant and showing them they're ethnographers

21:18 - Where to start being intentional about being data informed and driven: Make space

24:43 - The difference between a leader and an administrator and how they're being changed by AI and the Creator Era

27:41 - Do we have too much data and too many answers, but not enough questions?

31:53 - Creating in order to solve the unasked problems rather than just answer questions

33:38 - The power and value of bringing ethnography to higher ed design planning

37:32 - Designing for students and their self-authorship "This is who I am, for me, by me."

39:34 - Moving away from generational titles and focus instead of life transitions (and its relation to recruiting)

43:11 - Are we really "post-racial?"

50:16 - Training designers and creators

53:56 - Does modeling still work in an era of constant change?

56:35 - Errol flips the table and asks Will how we can think outside the box and create change within the bounds of regulation: Don't go head on to every problem

1:04:04 - How to gut check just how data driven you really are

Show notes are available on the Enrollment Insights Blog at niche.bz/podcast.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

This session was recorded as part of The Higher Ed Insights Summit 2023. Join Mollie Yoder for a practical look at how media buying and brand awareness can interact and influence student acquisition by exploring a case study of brand awareness actions undertaken by Trevecca Nazarene University in the middle TN market in the wake of COVID.

Recordings of all the sessions are at www.niche.com/about/partners/higher-ed-insights-summit/.

This session was recorded as part of The Higher Ed Insights Summit 2023. Hear from two Niche Partners who were beta members of Niche Direct Admissions (TM) as they talk about how it changed their processes and enrollment. In this Screenside Chat format the moderator asked audience questions and facilitated the discussion.

Recordings of all the sessions are at https://www.niche.com/about/partners/higher-ed-insights-summit/.

This is a recording of a Niche webinar discussing how K-12 schools can engage with Gen Z. We discussed channel and engagement trends we're seeing firsthand that schools can use to inform their strategies for sharing their stories with prospective students.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Ryan Fewins-Bliss. Ryan is the Executive Director or the Michigan College Access Network and brings 20 years of experience and passion to the nonprofit that focuses on access and advocacy around postsecondary education and equity across the state of Michigan. This includes leading MCAN’s policy work, fund development, partnerships, and efforts to achieve the organization’s strategic plan. Ryan has worked in education and the nonprofit field for nearly 20 years, including 10 years with MCAN. He was named executive director in 2019, succeeding the organization’s founder.

Ryan shared his insights on how strong communities benefit colleges, who college leadership should be reaching out to in order to build coalitions, and how to make the most of these partnerships to ensure access for students.

1:01 - Building alone versus building together

3:44 - Brainstorming works best with a culture of safety and healthy conflict

7:00 - How strong (and supportive) communities benefit colleges

13:16 - How colleges can better partner with the community

19:10 - Who colleges should be reaching out to in the community

24:45 - The most successful strategies to build coalition and support (and one that's invested in and doesn't work)

28:25 - The next steps to taking actions

Show notes are available on the Enrollment Insights Blog at niche.bz/podcast.

In the Enrollment Insights Podcast, you'll hear about novel solutions to problems, ways to make processes better for students, and the questions that spark internal reflection and end up changing entire processes.