Scannell & Kurz Enrollment Management Blog

In a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Becky Supiano described the results of an experiment that shed light on the question of why high-achieving, low-income students don’t enroll as often in the selective colleges that high-achieving, wealthier students attend. The great value of the study stems from the fact that it was an experiment – not in the sense we often use the word (“I’m going to try this as an experiment.”), but in the scientific sense, where two similar groups are subjected to different “treatments” of some kind to assess whether they have a differential impact. This is just one example of the sort of questions enrollment managers routinely face when wondering what kinds of policy changes might affect…Read more

Have you read Robert Fulghum’s “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”? The first thing on his list is “share everything.” There are many people on college campuses whose professional positions require that they provide reports and data analysis. These professionals can often be categorized into two groups – data sharers and data hoarders. As their “types” would indicate, data sharers are quick to provide charts, tables, and reports to their colleagues to keep them informed about topics of common interest. Many of them are genuinely excited to share data and presentation techniques. Then there are the data hoarders. At times, they may get hung up on the power of information and tend to hold data close to the vest.…Read more

The conference season is approaching, and we’d love to connect with you! As you make your plans for professional development activities, consider a number of conference and webinar presentations S&K staff will be making over the next few months: Kathy Kurz will present financial aid webinars on May 9 and June 14. Click here for more information and to register. Shari Gnolek, a new member of our research team, will be presenting at the AIR Forum May 18-22 in Long Beach, CA. Mary Piccioli and Jen Wick will be presenting at the NACCAP Annual Conference May 29-June 1at Messiah College, Grantham, PA. Jen will be presenting at the ACT Enrollment Planners Conference July 10-12 in Chicago, IL. Kathy will be presenting at the NASFAA National…Read more

Institutions collect all sorts of data... some because they have to (IPEDS reporting, for example), some because they want to (say, for institutional research). They look at financial aid expenditures, socio-economic trends, enrollment behavior… you’ve seen the reports. But not everyone fully appreciates the value of their own data. With the rapid onset of data warehouses, CRM’s, etc., most institutions aren’t suffering from a shortage of data. But many are having trouble matching the increasing volume of data with the capability to put the data to use in improving institutional policies, decision making, and resource allocation. With the highly competitive marketplace that exists in higher education, institutions can’t afford not…Read more

How mobile-friendly is your campus website? With increasing numbers of prospective students and their families using mobile devices to access college sites, it’s more important than ever that your site makes it easy for them to do so. Several years ago, there was a move toward the development of dedicated apps for smartphones that allowed access to the information students were most interested in seeing. Then, some colleges began creating separate mobile sites, making it necessary to maintain content on two or even more platforms, as notebook computers and tablets also came into use. Most recently, responsive design, which adapts the website layout to the device it’s being viewed on, has become the preferred solution to the rapid proliferation…Read more