Trusteeship - November/December 2021 - 40

A QUESTION FOR DONALD HOSSLER, PhD
What Do Boards Need to Understand
About Enrollment Management?
Donald Hossler, PhD, is an emeritus professor of educational
leadership and policy studies at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB). He
currently serves as a senior scholar at the Center for Enrollment Research,
Policy, and Practice in the Rossier School of Education, at the University of
Southern California. Hossler has also served as vice chancellor for student
enrollment services, executive associate dean of the School of Education,
and the executive director of the National Student Clearinghouse
Research Center. Hossler's areas of specialization include college
choice, student persistence, student financial aid policy, and enrollment
management.
What Does Enrollment Management
Encompass?
Boards must understand exactly what
enrollment management encompasses.
In fact, the term may be slightly misleading
because, as trustees should be made
aware, no college can manage or control
student enrollment patterns-they can
only influence them. " Enrollment influencing "
does not have the cachet of the term
" enrollment management, " but those who
engage in enrollment management are
deploying policies and tools to positively
influence enrollment outcomes. If managing
enrollment-or what may be more aptly
described as influencing enrollment-is so
important, boards need to understand what
factors underlie this function
In addition to the recruitment and
admission of students, enrollment management
encompasses the awarding of substantial
amounts of institutional financial aid.
Another important function that often falls
to enrollment organizations is to develop
policies that help encourage the retention of
students and their progress to graduation.
There are natural reasons for colleges and
universities to focus upon student persistence,
retention, and graduation rates-
which are frequently subsumed under
the term " student success. " Those reasons
40 TRUSTEESHIP NOV.DEC.2021
include ensuring that students
who have been admitted have
a good experience and thrive
at the institution. In addition,
at a pragmatic level, retaining
students provides tuition revenue,
and it is also less costly to
retain an existing student than
to recruit a new one. Moreover,
many states have adopted funding
formulas that reward institutions
with higher retention and graduation
rates. Even college and university accrediting
bodies use retention and graduation rates as
a measure of institutional quality.
What Should Boards Care About
Regarding Their Institution's
Enrollment Management Function?
Boards must also be concerned about
the impact of enrollment management
functions on their institution's reputation.
Generally, many college ranking schemes
include retention and graduation rates as
important measures of quality. In addition,
recent admissions scandals associated
with both athletes and university donors
demonstrate how, for the colleges involved,
serious reputational damage can result
from inadequate controls over admissions
policies and procedures. Finally, admissions
practices related to affirmative action and
efforts to increase the diversity of the students
enrolled can result in costly lawsuits.
Trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to
ensure that the policies and practices of
the offices of admissions and financial aid,
and other campus offices with whom they
work, are above reproach.
-Elena Loveland
AGB Resource
Understanding Enrollment Management:
A Guide for College and University Board
Members by Donald R. Hossler and
Jerome A. Lucido, AGB, 2020
AGB Members can download the
ebook online at www.agb.org/
enrollmentmanagement
COURTESY OF DONALD HOSSLER
http://www.agb.org/enrollmentmanagement http://www.agb.org/enrollmentmanagement
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