Inside Higher Ed
March 21, 2022 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
Current admissions and enrollment decision-making involve common-sense thinking regarding location, price, and flexibility. Students at four-year institutions’ top responses for college choice include major or program of interest offered, strong academic reputation, proximity to home, quality of academics in the area of interest, price of tuition, and financial aid package/scholarships. Students at community colleges overwhelmingly chose based on proximity to home and cost.
Higher Ed. Dive
January 19, 2022 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
Transfer enrollment declined by less than 1% in fall 2021, compared to 9.2% last fall. It is up 2.3% among continuing students. Reverse transfers declined by 0.9%, while lateral transfers rose 0.2%. Upward transfer fell 1.6%. Increased transfers among continuing students were concentrated at private nonprofit four-year institutions and public four-year institutions.
Inside Higher Ed
January 10, 2022 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
A new report shows an unprecedented decline in college enrollment among high school graduates. College enrollment by the high school class of 2020 showed a decline between 4 and 10 percentage points. Preliminary data show freshman enrollment declined by 2.7 percent last fall. Overall postsecondary enrollment fell by 2.6 percent compared to 2020. Immediate enrollment fell from 55 percent to 45 percent between 2019 and 2020.
Higher Ed. Dive
January 04, 2022 Pre-College Outreach, Admissions
Highly personalized methods for enrolling students are expensive and difficult for institutions to scale. Virtual outreach tools like social media and online campus tours are particularly effective. Institutions need to employ a dynamic model for determining enrollment. They should be the ones to choose how many variables to include in the model as they pinpoint student enrollment patterns. Predictive models will help even if the pandemic has upended the traditional factors for forecasting enrollment.
Higher Ed. Dive
November 29, 2021 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
Only a small fraction of colleges accepting the Common Application required first-year undergraduates to submit admissions exam scores during the 2021-22 season. Just 5% of member colleges mandated test scores, falling from 11% in the 2020-21 admissions year. Testing experts predict that test-optional policies will remain as the health crisis subsides.
Inside Higher Ed
October 26, 2021 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
Undergraduate enrollment fell by 3.2% this fall. Since fall 2019, undergraduate enrollments have dropped by 6.5%. Wealthy and prestigious institutions have nearly recovered their lost enrollments. Certain highly selective institutions had increased enrollment this fall. Public two-year institutions continue to face declines, with a net decline of 14.1% since 2019. Black and white students saw the largest undergraduate enrollment declines.
Higher Ed. Dive
October 13, 2021 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
The average composite score fell from 20.6 to 20.3 compared to last year. Average scores dropped in every racial and ethnic groups except Asian and American-Indian/Alaskan Native students. For fall 2022, more than 1,780 institutions have moved to test-optional or test-free admissions. Fewer students who used the Common App submitted admissions scores in the last academic year, of which the lowest reporting rates were from students in the bottom quintile of the median household.
Inside Higher Ed
August 31, 2021 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends
A new report finds equity gaps in transfer rates during the pandemic. Colleges and universities lost about 191,500 students between July 2020 and June 2021. The report also found racial inequities in upward transfer enrollment, and major differences in upward transfer rates. A more granular breakdown of upward transfer enrollment reveals deepening racial and gender gaps.
Higher Ed. Dive
August 06, 2021 Pre-College Outreach, Admissions
Over two-thirds of four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. won’t require prospective students to submit an SAT or ACT score for the fall 2022 admission process. K-12 schools are looking at alternative ways to support high-schoolers’ applications, such as helping with writing skills or building online portfolios. Some high schools are also considering opening up schedules so students can enroll in college-level classes early in an effort to gain experience and save money.
Inside Higher Ed
July 27, 2021 Admissions, Enrollment Management Trends, Research
One in seven community college students in a four-year program earns a degree in six years. The typical student who tries to transfer between institutions loses 43% of their credits. Lack of coordination and communication between institutions and a superiority complex among 4-year institutions are contributing to these issues that directly impact student achievement. The Tackling Transfer Policy Advisory Board is working to ensure equitable post-secondary outcomes for Americans irrespective of their background.