ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT | Case Study

Improving Clemsons Enrollment Management Strategy to Align with University Goals

THE OPPORTUNITY
For years, Clemson University has enjoyed increasing numbers of applicants, rising SAT scores, and growing interest in Clemson as a school of choice. Nevertheless, Clemson missed its institutional enrollment target for freshmen by 300 students in 2011. In addition, state appropriations to Clemson had decreased 47 percent since 2008, making it critical for Clemson to stabilize enrollment, identify potential new revenue sources, and evaluate the links among admissions, nancial performance, and institutional priorities. As competition to enroll the best students has intensied nationally, Clemson faces increasing challenges in converting applicants to enrolled students (Figure 1). Clemson asked Huron Education to evaluate its admissions, nancial aid, and marketing activities to help develop a clear path to aligning and coordinating enrollment management with the universitys mission and resources. In addition, Clemson requested analysis and recommendations in areas related to the universitys future undergraduate enrollment size and expected net revenues (i.e., after institutional nancial aid investments). Clemson has experienced continuing admissions successes for several years. Freshman applications to Clemson have doubled since 1997, with the university receiving more than 17,000 applications for a Fall 2011 freshman class of roughly 3,000. In addition, mean SAT scores for enrolled students had increased by 16 points. Yield, however, had fallen steadily in recent years to less than 29 percent in 2011. With state appropriations also plummeting, creating a stable, long-term enrollment strategy is an imperative if Clemson is to stabilize its planning capabilities and provide resources to fund strategic objectives. Leadership previously considered increasing the freshman class size to provide additional revenue but was concerned that a signicantly larger class could affect core values of enhancing student quality, diversity, and academic standing. In addition, Clemson leaders emphasized the importance of maintaining the intimate campus environment responsible for the Clemson experience as an important consideration in any discussion of growth among the members of the board of trustees and Clemson alumni.
Clemson University is South Carolinas landgrant institution. Divided into ve colleges, Clemson enrolls more than 15,000 undergraduate and 4,000 graduate students, approximately 65 percent of whom are South Carolina residents. A member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the universitys NCAA Division I athletic programs are a major draw for prospective students. Clemson has continued to improve its academic standing in recent years, climbing into the top 25 in US News and World Reports Top Public Universities ranking. Clemsons key strategic goals for 2020 include providing engagement opportunities for all students while enhancing quality and performance.

THE APPROACH
Huron approached Clemsons questions with a comprehensive enrollment evaluation to diagnose the underlying factors contributing to Clemsons enrollment challenges. This assessment was comprised of an analysis of historical admissions and nancial aid data, a review of policies and procedures, an assessment of related technology and the use of analytics in measuring success, an evaluation of the effectiveness of marketing and communications, and an organizational and qualitative review of stafng. Simultaneously, Huron addressed Clemsons revenue concerns by analyzing both tuition and fee revenues, nancial aid, and educational and infrastructure expenses to develop potential nancial models for consideration.

FIGURE 1: CLEMSON FRESHMAN APPLICATIONS AND YIELD RATES

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ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT | Case Study

The analysis included both first-time freshman and transfer student populations of recent incoming cohorts, and closely examined the impact of the in-state/out-ofstate residency mix on revenues and expenses. Huron supplemented its analysis with interviews with university leadership, staff from the admissions and financial aid offices, members of the department of undergraduate students, college deans, and current Clemson students to understand the context and environmental factors affecting the universitys enrollment. Huron continued with a comprehensive assessment of organizational dynamics, analyzing key data and structures to understand administrative, organizational and operational components of the business units supporting the universitys enrollment management functions, particularly related to marketing and communications. Huron identified challenges in coordination affecting these departments ability to work together smoothly. Throughout the enrollment review, Huron compared Clemsons data with information and practices at peer institutions (Figures 2 and 3), identifying a number of resource constraints that could undermine Clemsons admissions effectiveness. Huron found that Clemson was spending far less to recruit students than peer institutions, resulting in an overburdened admissions staff with fewer resources to target outreach efforts to the best students. As part of the evaluation, Huron focused on understanding current patterns in prospective student behavior, as well as aligning those patterns with South Carolina and national student demographic trends that will impact admissions in the coming decade. While applications to Clemson had increased over the past decade, Hurons assessment identified very different trends between in-state and out-of-state students and between freshmen and transfer students (Figure 4). As demographic challenges in South Carolina grow in the coming decade, Clemson will need to pay increasing attention to attracting in-state freshmen students to continue to match the success it has had out-of-state.

Our States appropriation trends highlight the importance of identifying new funding sources to help Clemson achieve its strategic goals. Huron helped us engage key stakeholders to focus on prioritizing improvements to our enrollment processes that can lead to new revenue opportunities.
Brett Dalton, Vice President for Finance and Operations

FIGURE 4: IN-STATE AND OUT-OF-STATE APPLICATIONS Despite the success of Clemsons admissions and financial aid offices in enrolling increasingly talented students of increasing academic quality over the past decade, Huron observed challenges in both areas related to legacy technology systems, a recruiting philosophy focused more on capturing interested applicants than active recruitment of students who Clemson desired, and financial aid award strategies for out-of-state students that were no longer competitive relative to other institutions. Supplementing Clemsons own enrollment initiatives, Hurons evaluation identified opportunities to further focus resources both financial and operational more actively on the most academically talented admitted students to improve yield. While financial aid plays an important role in improving yield, many institutions struggle to recognize the importance of relationship building throughout the student recruitment life-cycle; the benefits of utilizing various communications tools including print, the web, social

FIGURE 2: ADMISSIONS STAFF BENCHMARKS

2011 NACAC Metrics Cost Per Enrolled Student (including salary costs) Cost Per Enrolled Student (excluding salary costs) Clemson University $512 $209 Public Institutions $987 $265 10,000 + Enrollment $907 $197 All Institutions $2,408 $1,397

Figure 3: Cost to Recruit Benchmarks

FIGURE 3: COST TO RECRUIT BENCHMARKS

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ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT | Case Study

media, and other electronic communications; and the role of campus visits and national recruiting events to build strong connections with prospective students and alumni. Hurons review identified opportunities to develop a coordinated strategic plan for recruitment, including a comprehensive communications plan focused on the distinctiveness of Clemsons academic programming. Analyzing data from students who had been admitted to Clemson but didnt enroll, Huron determined that Clemson could better utilize its distinctive academic programs to differentiate and attract top academic students. FINANCIAL ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF GROWTH STRATEGIES In tandem with the enrollment evaluation, Huron reviewed educational costs, tuition pricing, financial aid discounts, and the role of state appropriations in supporting educational costs for in-state students. According to South Carolinas State Appropriations Mission Resources Requirements (MRR), appropriations were originally intended to cover 50 percent of in-state student costs. State appropriations, however, have not met that MMR requirement in recent years falling to only 38 percent of that guideline in 2012 (Figure 4). While state appropriations appear to have stabilized, they are not likely to return to former levels in the near future. Clemsons strategic initiatives require that the university explore other sources of revenue to support needed investments. To assist in the universitys revenue analysis, Huron evaluated differences in net tuition revenue by student type: in-state and out-of-state freshmen students and in-state and out-of-state transfer students. Based on the analysis of differences among these groups, Huron developed a quantitative enrollment model to help Clemson explore possibilities for strategic growth by segment in the undergraduate student population while also identifying incremental costs needed to support that growth.

THE RESULTS
Huron made a series of recommendations that will help Clemson achieve additional revenue while maintaining the culture and infrastructure that create such a strong sense of community at Clemson. Some of Hurons key recommendations included implementing: A new organizational structure for enrollment management to elevate its importance within the university and highlight the need for improved coordination to achieve long-term enrollment goals A long-term, strategic, and data-driven methodology for admissions and financial aid with a commitment to a long-term strategy for financial aid A plan for enrollment growth leading to a stable enrollment target, using output from the Incoming Cohort Dynamics Model developed by Huron specifically for Clemson Incentives for faculty to create new interdisciplinary programs focused on market-based needs, using Hurons analysis of Clemsons academic strengths and key demographic trends to identify opportunities A clear academic identity focused on highlighting the distinctive character of many of Clemsons unique academic differences

FIGURE 5: STATE SUPPORT FOR EDUCATION AND GENERAL EXPENSES

These and other Huron recommendations will help Clemson align institutional mission and resources with enrollment management strategy. The universitys Board of Trustees accepted Hurons recommendations, and directed the administration to move forward immediately with implementation.

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