Enrollment Projections
I'm curious to your thoughts on ways to more accurately project and predict student enrollment numbers. We try to factor in as many external sources as possible such as the legislation to expand the Post 9/11 GI-Bill, but it really feels like at it's most basic it's just a guessing game based on previous year enrollment numbers.
Thank you.
Miles,
Very interesting question and one that all career school owners agitate over as well as anyone in the marketing career school arena. Maybe there is a simple magic bullet - build referral enrollments. If your grads are happy they will refer family, friends, and employers and co workers. It does take time to build referrals but once done these new students tend to be informed and high quality. This is one reason for the growing popularity of Alumni Communities. Happy engaged alumni help build enrollment. Maybe things are easier than they seem. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
My belief is the best predictor is the students progress and history through the enrollment process. If the admissions reps stay close and keep in contact with the students and foster the relationship, there are rarely surprises. Conversion rates can also be a great indicator as long as sufficient history for determining the rates is available.
Kelly ,
This is a great approach. Sounds like your admissions reps also function as mentors too. It is about relationships, isn't it? If the admissions reps get too busy perhaps your student and career services staff can take on the role. Another idea is to pair up grads with enrolled students. It is all about keeping students on track and watching for and dealing with the challenges. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
It is important to find sources of students in groups that fit the school program. The best process is to profile these groups and create marketing tactics that gain the group's attention, especially in social media. This helps bolster class size without being reliant on one-off enrollments to build a class.
Mark,
We agree that it is a good idea to understand the demographic of the ideal students for each of your programs. Then it is easier to plan marketing strategies to reach them. Sometimes we create a profile of an ideal student and there are surprises. For example, more women are going into trades and barbering as one example. So we need to think creatively. The goal is to enroll qualified students who understand the jobs they are training for. So many enroll in programs and have no idea what the job will be like. Good points, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
Typically we have based projections based on how many have enrolled 3 months prior to course start date, how many applications are being processed, and lastly as Miles stated a guess based on the previous year.
I find this not always accurate and wish to ask what tools are other schools using to "guarantee" those that have applied will actually enroll? I have been diligent on staying in touch regularly with prospective students to maintain a relationship for questions, support, and any additional information that may be presented in the prospective students' decision in attending.
Lea,
Good questions. Wouldn't it be great that whatever we do we could create a guarantee? It is probably not going to happen but we can get close. Suggest you think about what data you are not collecting yet that can give you answers. You say you stay in touch with prospective students. That's great. Do you ask them the same questions about why they haven't enrolled? If you do you have the chance to do some research and collect great information. YOu will start to see trends in their responses and have data to analyze and share with others. We also find that the solutions are in the data. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
