Enrollment Strategies That
Maximize ROI and Deliver the Class You Want
Rick Bischoff
Vice President for Enrollment Management
Case Western Reserve University
Duncan McLean
Strategic Leader
Royall & Company
Topics for Discussion
 Introductions
 Context and Framework
 Case Study – Investing for Change at Case Western Reserve
 Case Study Continued – Measuring ROI at Case Western Reserve
 Questions and Discussion
About Case Western
Reserve University
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Founded in 1826
Cleveland, Ohio
Private coed institution
~4,900 undergraduates
~5,500 postgraduates
Top 50 National University
About Royall & Company
 Increase opportunity and revenue for undergraduate and graduate partners
 Recruitment marketing
 Financial aid optimization
 Advancement and fundraising
 Richmond, VA and Minneapolis, MN
 Staff of 300+ experts
 Partner with 250+ institutions
 Average first-year ROI of $7-to-$1
 Client retention rate of 96%
Topics for Discussion
 Introductions
 Context and Framework
 Case Study – Investing for Change at Case Western Reserve
 Case Study Continued – Measuring ROI at Case Western Reserve
 Questions and Discussion
Challenging times
 Cost of doing business is up
 Demands and expectations are high
 Budgets are limited
 Challenging regional recruitment landscape
Projected changes in high
school graduates (2013-2027)
West
Grow 2.1%
407 Colleges
Midwest
Decline 5.1%
543 Colleges
Northeast
Decline 5.1%
515 Colleges
South
Grow 8.2%
720 Colleges
Source: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
Projected changes in the
ethnicity of high school graduates
(2013-2027)
1.00
77.7%
0.75
64.8%
50.0%
0.50
44.1%
30.4%
29.7%
21.9%
0.25
19.7% 19.3%
14.6%
1.8%
9.3%
7.3%
5.6%
0.00
-0.25
-19.4%
-5.9%
-7.2%
-9.8%
-13.1%
-20.7%
Midwest
White (Non-Hispanic)
Northeast
Black (Non-Hispanic)
Source: Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
South
Asian/Pacific Islander
Hispanic
West
American Indian/Alaskan Native
Challenging times require
different leadership skills
 Strategic planning
 Data mining
 Entrepreneurial thinking
 Focus on return on investment
Expenses vs. investments
 Expenses = things you have to do
 Investments = things you choose to do
Admissions offices are
good at expenses
 “Because we’ve always done it that way”
 “The community loves this event!”
 “Our competitors all do this … we should too”
Framework for evaluating
recruitment investments
 1. Tie investments to progress towards institutional goals
 Follow enrollments back to first source of student inquiry
 How does each category of inquiry contribute towards your objectives?
 Higher academic ability
 Diversity
 Out-of-state markets
 Gender balance
 Building enrollments in specific academic programs
Framework for evaluating
recruitment investments
 2. Tie investments to financial outcomes
 Follow enrollments back to first source of student inquiry
 How does each category of inquiry convert to enrollment?
 How much are you investing in each inquiry category?
 What revenue does each source generate?
 What is your return on investment?
First-source analysis
(example)
First Source of Inquiry
Inquired
Applied
Admitted
Enrolled
ACT
Student Search
7,500
1,800
1,377
207
32
High School Visits
1,500
450
203
51
29
College Fairs
2,000
900
405
69
27
N/A
600
300
140
28
First-Source Application
First-source analysis
(example)
First Source of Inquiry
Inquired
Applied
Admitted
Enrolled
Out of State
Student Search
7,500
1,800
1,377
207
30%
High School Visits
1,500
450
203
51
24%
College Fairs
2,000
900
405
69
25%
N/A
600
300
140
28%
First-Source Application
First-source analysis
(example)
First Source of Inquiry
Inquired
Applied
Admitted
Enrolled
Retention
Student Search
7,500
1,800
1,377
207
86%
High School Visits
1,500
450
203
51
82%
College Fairs
2,000
900
405
69
82%
N/A
600
300
140
82%
First-Source Application
Compare ROI across
activity groups
Search
Cost (Full Cost)
High School
Visits
College
Fairs
$175,000
$50,000
$100,000
207
51
69
$15,000
$15,000
$15,000
Net Revenue
$3,105,000
$765,000
$1,035,000
Revenue Net of Program Cost
$2,930,000
$715,000
$935,000
$16.74/$1
$14.3/$1
$9.35/$1
Enrolled
Revenue per Enrollment Net of Institutional Aid
Return on Investment
Other important considerations: politics, productive relationships, relationship development
Topics for Discussion
 Introductions
 Context and Framework
 Case Study – Investing for Change at Case Western Reserve
 Case Study Continued – Measuring ROI at Case Western Reserve
 Questions and Discussion
August 2010:
Strategic Objectives
Baseline Results
GOALS
Metric
EC 2010
 Maintain enrollment
Enrolls
1,021
 Improve academic quality and selectivity
Average SAT
1363
 Improve geographic diversity
Out of State %
60%
 Manage discount and increase NTR
Indexed NTR
$10,000,000
New initiatives
 Application Marketing Campaign
 Inquiry Generation and Cultivation Campaign
Entering Class 2011 Inquiries – 44,930
Entering Class 2014 Inquiries – 88,399
Application submissions
Applications by Date
Entering Classes 2010-2014
25,000
21,695
20,000
18,342
15,000
14,784
13,514
10,000
9,472
5,000
0
8/7
8/21
9/4
9/18 10/2 10/16 10/30 11/13 11/27 12/11 12/25 1/8
EC 2010
EC 2011
EC 2012
1/22
2/5
2/19
EC 2013
3/5
3/19
4/2
EC 2014
4/16
Academic quality
250
1383
1363
1372
1351
1378
200
150
100
50
0
1030
1070
1110
2010 Enrolls
1150
1190
2011 Enrolls
1220
1260
1300
2012 Enrolls
1340
1380
2013 Enrolls
1420
1460
2014 Enrolls
1510
1560
1600
Enrollment, out-of-state
activity and discount rate
57%
Discount Rate
54%
54%
51%
1,372
1,400
1,200
1,021
1,000
52%
1,252
1,280
72%
76%
902
800
600
60%
65%
73%
400
200
0
Deposits
Entering Class 2010
Out of State %
Entering Class 2011
Entering Class 2012
Entering Class 2013
Entering Class 2014
September 2014:
Progress Towards Objectives
Comparative Results
Metric
EC 2010
EC 2014
Enrolls
1,021
1,280
 Improve academic quality and selectivity
Average SAT
1363
1383
 Improve geographic diversity
Out of State %
60%
76%
 Manage discount and increase NTR
NTR
$10,000,000 $14,102,536
GOALS
 Maintain enrollment
Topics for Discussion
 Introductions
 Context and Framework
 Case Study – Investing for Change at Case Western Reserve
 Case Study Continued – Measuring ROI at Case Western Reserve
 Questions and Discussion
Freshman class one-year
net tuition revenue (indexed)
$15,000,000
$14,102,536
$12,683,900
$10,000,000
$12,783,259
$10,000,000
$8,618,211
+41%
$5,000,000
Deposits
EC 2010
EC 2011
EC 2012
EC 2013
EC 2014
Enrollments by source
1,372
1,400
126
1,200
1,021
902
1,000
115
800
694
600
1,252
1,280
99
148
355
325
370
335
428
472
1,021
787
400
552
200
0
Entering Class 2010 Entering Class 2011 Entering Class 2012 Entering Class 2013 Entering Class 2014
Other Inquiry Sources
Royall Search Sophomores
Royall Search Juniors
Royall Senior Search
EC 2014 detailed ROI
*Tie investments to institutional goals
CWRU First Source
of Inquiry
Investment
Maturation
Period
Enrolled
SAT
Out Of
State #
Senior Search
148
1398
97
1 Year
Junior Search
325
1401
263
2 Years
Sophomore Search
335
1426
225
3 Years
Non-Search
472
1336
388
Varies
EC 2014 detailed ROI
*Tie investments to financial outcomes
Enrolled
Assigned
Credit
Incremental
Enrolls
Per Student
NTR
Incremental
1-YR NTR
Investment
1-YR
ROI
Senior Search
148
70%
103
$11,000
$1,133,000
$113,300
$9 to $1
Junior Search
325
50%
162
$11,000
$1,782,000
$178,200
$9 to $1
Sophomore Search
335
50%
167
$11,000
$1,837,000
$183,700
$9 to $1
Non-Search
472
0%
0
$11,000
0
-
-
CWRU First
Source of Inquiry
*All dollar figures indexed against baseline freshman NTR of $10,000,000
Investing in new markets
11,000
New candidates added to
the campaign
447
Applications generated
25
Enrollments generated
ROI by recruitment
channel – student engagement
MOBILE
DESKTOP
44%
42%
PAPER
16%
Topics for Discussion
 Introductions
 Context and Framework
 Case Study – Investing for Change at Case Western Reserve
 Case Study Continued – Measuring ROI at Case Western Reserve
 Questions and Discussion
Discussion