Weekly Discussion - Congratulations, but is the party over? August 24, 2008
Posted by tobykeeping in Challenges, Enrollment, Information sharing, Weekly Discussion.trackback
As classes start, and news reports about exceeding enrollments funnel into my email, I thought this might be a good time to remind those who may be gleefully walking into their president’s office that next year might feel a bit like going to the principals office after putting a thumbtack on the teacher’s chair.
Looking at projections from the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), the numbers across most of the United States can be far from alluring for enrollment professionals depending where you live. Click here to select your state to see what the next few years will look like.
To briefly summarize some portions of the report;
- 8 states will decline by more than 10%
- 10 states will decline by 5-10%
- 17 states will remain ’stable’
- 15 states will grow by more than 5%
Geographically, by 2014-15, the south will see the greatest growth and will see a 9% increase in high school grads while the west will grow by 7.1%. Now, the bad news. The midwest will decline by 3% while the northeast must to deal with a 6.1% decline.
These projections might be something you’ve been aware of for some time as the fluctuations of high school graduates is just one of the many issues facing enrollment departments. How are you preparing for the upcoming changes in student populations, but also ethnic makeup? Will you be recruiting more broadly, or more selectively to a more focused group?
As you know, the situation here in Canada is quite similar. This is indeed an interesting time to be in the feild of post secondary enrolment.
Here at StFX, our goal is to sustain enrolment (as opposed to growth) at the current 4100 total level. We are located in Atlantic Canada, which has one of the largest projected demographic declines in the nation. However, our incoming class is usually around 1200 and this makes it easy for us to really customize the experience for every applicant. Using CRM systems like the ones we have implemented with Azorus helps us to achieve the level of personalization we need and so far it has worked well.
In the furture we will look to continue this type of plan on a more national level as well as to expand our international numbers slightly.
Robb Parker
Director, Admissions and Recruitment
St Francis Xavier University, NS Canada
Thanks for that plug, Robb!
In addition, Robb’s institution is in the most competitive market in Canada where there are 11 universities in a province where the total population is 908,000 (2001 Census data) thus compacting the issue of shifting demographics.