(Enrollment Manager, April 2012 – by Scott D. Miller and Marylouise Fennell)
We’ve written before on
the critical topic of transformational presidential leadership. This column is devoted to the relationship
between the college president and the chief enrollment officer. Because enrollment is the single most
important revenue “driver” at most colleges and universities, the strength of that
relationship is critical to institutional success.
In dozens of consultancies
at diverse institutions, we’ve found that all have at least one thing in
common: a proactive president who demonstrates
commitment to a culture of recruitment and retention.
Keeping Your Eye on the
Prize
Urgency and continuity
of focus are critical, observes Dr. Joe Pace, a nationally-known specialist in
student retention and chairman of the board, PX2 Youth and Higher Education,
who also serves as program director, facilitator and speaker for The Pacific
Institute in Seattle, WA.
“What we almost always
find when we are retained by institutions with slipping recruitment and
retention is that the little things that make all the difference to students
have slipped through the cracks,” says Pace. He adds, “Just a small lapse in
attention to student needs and expectations can result in a critical slippage
in students.”
The President
Dr. James L. Fisher,
noted author and President-emeritus of the Council for the Advancement and
Support of Education, states, “A transformational leader can be likened to the
captain of a ship; others may steer the ship, but the captain must first chart
a clear vision.”
With changing student
and family demographics, eroding financial support from federal and state
governments and competition becoming ever more intense, visible and
entrepreneurial presidential leadership is essential.
The visible CEO challenges
the status quo, setting priorities while engaging the community and openly
linking enrollment to the financial health of the college. He or she leads the desired profile,
establishes an organizational structure to facilitate productivity, frames
issues and policy and pilots institutional strategies and approaches.
Moreover, the
transformative president must demonstrate a keen understanding that buildings,
grounds and technology are an integral component of strategic success. This is
especially true of health, fitness and athletic-related facilities and amenities:
NCAA statistics point out that student participation in varsity and junior
varsity teams nationally continues to rise at the rate of about 2 percent a
year. As our colleague Dr. Walter M. Bortz III, former president of
Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia, states, “Ensuring that the campus has curb
appeal and is filled with first-class technology, faculty and facilities helps
to guarantee the necessary enrollment to keep the enterprise operational and
growing.”
Championing Enrollment
The president must
continually champion enrollment, engaging key leaders in the process while
allocating the resources needed to get the job done. Although vision is vital, attention to detail
is equally critical. Progress requires a
business approach and demands weekly reports from the chief enrollment officer.
These should include:
¨ An overall report that includes, but
is not limited to, contacts, inquiries, applications, completed applications,
acceptances and confirmations;
¨ Individual
reports for counselors and call-center personnel that includes volume
of contacts and conversions, and
¨
Financial aid reports including, but not limited to, pre-awards,
awards and acceptances. These three areas are the most crucial, and an
effective enrollment president always has command of this information.
The Chief Enrollment
Officer
The role of this key individual
has become increasingly complex, states Bethany College vice president Sven de
Jong, who has successfully implemented a model recommended by The Dysart Group
in 2007. After years of “roller coaster”
results at Bethany, the model has resulted in three of the College’s largest
classes in the past 30 years and the largest headcount in 35 years in 2011. This while also progressively improving the
profile of each incoming class.
“Increased competition
means that chief enrollment officers must be continuously scanning the
enrollment landscape, seeking new approaches and proactively recommending
strategic responses to new trends,” he adds. “New trends are pointing to an approach in
which enrollment resources must be simultaneously directed not only toward
bringing in next year’s class, but also focusing on high school sophomores and
juniors, increasing numbers of transfer students and connecting with them in
ways and on platforms prospective students expect in today’s highly technologically integrated society.”
Depending on the complexity
of the organization, this key campus leader might carry any one of a variety of
titles; those of vice president, dean or executive director are among the most
common. de Jong is Vice President for Institutional Advancement, with all
external affairs (including enrollment and fund raising) falling under his
supervision. A Director of Enrollment
reports directly to him. “It is imperative that he or she be an active
institutional spokesperson, a team builder and an accomplished motivator all
while holding the staff accountable,” de Jong noted.
Presidential
expectations for this individual include the setting of realistic goals and energetic,
ongoing participation in website and e-marketing (including social media), print
media, direct mail and the college’s first-year program. Further, he or she must understand the vital
role of research in analyzing trends, the pivotal role of marketing, the
volatile world of admissions and financial aid, the value of student orientation
and the necessity of retention and advising.
The enrollment manager must also demonstrate the “people” skills to
train and motivate the enrollment counselors who work in the field and those
who staff the call center.
Finally, the effective
chief enrollment officer must operate from a bottom-line perspective, focusing
on the objectives of each component reporting to this area. Combining these big-picture and
detail-oriented factors leads to a successful outcome, with the result
exceeding the sum of its parts.
# #
#
Dr. Scott D. Miller is
President of the College and M.M. Cochran Professor of Leadership Studies at
Bethany College in West Virginia. Now in his third college presidency, he
recently started his 22nd year as a college CEO.
Dr. Marylouise Fennell, RSM, a former president of Carlow University in
Pittsburgh, PA, is senior counsel for the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC)
and principal of Hyatt-Fennell, a Higher Education Search Firm.
They have collaborated
on nine books, including “President to President: Views on Technology in
Higher Education” (2009) and “Presidential Perspectives: Economic Prosperity in
the Next Decade” (2011). Both serve as consultants to college presidents
and boards.
