Analyzing the evolving challenge of recruiting traditional students

Colleges and universities that serve traditional-aged students as an important part of their enrollment portfolios must keep abreast of this market’s dreams, desires, and evolving expectations. While the age and stage of 18-year-olds fresh out of high school may appear relatively stable—especially compared to adult learners—we know that this market is constantly changing. Changing demographics, changing generational themes, and the changing value construct of higher education are all very much in play. The fundamental mistake that most colleges and universities make is thinking that the traditional student market is homogeneous by nature. Rather, institutions that investigate their students’ potential pathways through college will be most successful in building their brands and values.

How We Help

Partners in Eduventures Research & Advisory Services benefit from our latest insights into the traditional student market demand, competition, and innovation. Our data, research, and analysis are designed to support decision makers by providing deeper insights into what motivates prospective traditional students. Additionally, our deep understanding of technology offerings can help you to capitalize on opportunities and drive success. We help you:

• Recruit the right students by identifying target student mindsets and profiles.
• Improve retention and student success by developing a customized communication strategy that speaks to targeted candidates.
• Achieve operational success through the implementation of technology solutions.
• Map and integrate enrollment goals to institutional success.

Eduventures provides sophisticated market research that illuminates the traditional student market with a level of insight that allows institutions to not only recruit traditional students effectively, but also to build student experiences that resonate.

Recent and Upcoming Research

• High Sticker Price – Is the Effect Real or Imagined?
• Qualifying Prospects – Defining a Personalized Recruitment Strategy that Resonates
• Enrollment Management Top Traits – Looking to the Next Generation of Leadership
• Financial Aid Technology Deep Dive
• 2018 Prospective Student Research Survey™
• 2018 Admitted Students Research Survey™

Who We Serve

We continue to build an extensive library of research focused on issues and innovations in enrollment management of both traditional and nontraditional students. This research is relevant to:

• Vice presidents of enrollment management
• Marketing leaders, admissions leaders
• Academic leaders focused on student success initiatives

Meeting the Needs of Today’s Adult Learner

Providing career-relevant and high-value education that addresses the constantly shifting demands of the workplace.

The explosion in adult enrollments boomed in the 1990s and peaked in 2011. We have seen a marked decline since then. While some decline is expected, the adult higher education value proposition has come into question. But change is coming. According to the National Student Clearinghouse, undergraduate students who enrolled at age 25 or older have a 50 percent chance of completing a degree or other credential within six years, and the ratio is below 30 percent for part-time and mixed-mode adult students.

Recent years have also seen notable growth in degree alternatives, such as boot camps and paid MOOCs, that speak directly to what the typical adult learner wants: a career-relevant, flexible, and high-value education. Many of these providers are staking their reputations on getting jobs for their graduates—even promoting money-back guarantees—and the federal government is considering whether to open student aid to some of these nontraditional providers.

All this makes for a challenging environment for colleges and universities committed to the adult learner. The fact that many more schools are now upping recruitment of adult enrollments, seeking to offset demographic decline in traditional-age students in many parts of the country, means more colleges are chasing fewer adult prospects.

How We Help

Partners in Eduventures Research & Advisory Services benefit from our latest insights on adult demand, competition, and innovation. We help you:

• Assess your academic portfolio and new program ideas.
• Recruit and retain the right students.
• Create a differentiated in-person, blended, or online experience.
• Build sustainable operations and evaluate external partnerships.
• Create a technology road map for the life cycle of an adult student.

Recent and Upcoming Research

• Adult Learners – What They Want and Where Schools Are Missing the Mark
• OPM Market Overview – Size, Segmentation, Dynamics, and Growth
• Enrollment Trends – Mapping Areas of Growth and Decline for Schools of Education
• Key Insights from the Graduate Admitted Students Research Survey for School of Education
• Quality Matters Partnership Survey
• 2018 Adult Prospect Research Survey™
• Deconstructing CBE: Portraits in Implementation
• Online Program Management Market Analysis 2016

Who We Serve

Eduventures continues to build its extensive library of research focused on issues and innovations in enrollment management of both traditional and adult learners. This research is relevant to:

• Provosts and other academic leaders
• Vice presidents and directors of adult, online, and continuing education programs
• IT leaders responsible for selecting and implementing supporting technologies

Rethinking the cause and effect of student success

The imperative to improve student success metrics has never been stronger or more visible, and higher education institutions of all kinds are feeling the pressure to deliver. In an era when students and families take on an ever-increasing share of the cost of higher education, having a poor record of student success is fast becoming a brand killer. With an abundance of choices, why should students consider paying tuition at a college or university that is unable to deliver on the core mission of higher education?

Improving student success is not a simple task. It requires stakeholders from across campus to come together to develop a sound institutional strategy, plans for execution, systems of accountability, and the right mix of data and technology to make it all work. Knowing which institutions are making significant gains and how they do it is a critical place to start, as is understanding of the technology tools that can accelerate your efforts to improve.

 How We Help

Eduventures’ data, research, and analysis are designed to support decision makers in evaluating innovations that enable institution-wide student success programs. From data analytics platform selection to best practices research, we can help identify strategies that support, retain, and graduate both traditional and nontraditional students. Additionally, our deep understanding of technology offerings can help you capitalize on opportunities and drive success.

Our research services can guide critical decision-making about student success, technology adoption, and student enrollment management efforts. We help you:

• Evaluate your institution’s record on student success relative to peers.
• Identify proven student success strategies that will work at your institution.
• Understand innovative strategies like competency-based education (CBE).
• Consider new approaches to student success.
• Strengthen recruitment strategy.
• Develop an effective technology and solution provider road map.
• Support the technology vendor system selection and contract negotiation process.

Recent and Upcoming Research

• Improving Student Success – Is Your Institution Really Ready?
• Student Outcomes – Five Key Steps Toward Improvement
• LMS Deep Dive – An Overview of Learning Management Systems
• Retention Solutions – Six Cases of Integration
• How Institutions Improve Student Success: Case Studies of Top Performers
• Eduventures Outcomes Report
• 2017 Student Success Ratings

Who We Serve

Expanding college access, affordability, and student success are the issues facing every institution.

We help higher education leaders make the best-informed decisions on setting strategy, ensuring the financial sustainability of the institution, and making sound technology investments that accelerate student success and further the mission of the institution. Our research is relevant to:

• Presidents
• Provosts
• Institutional leadership teams

Encouraging idea generation for new program viability

As the economic and career landscape evolves, it is more critical than ever to ensure that academic program portfolios keep pace with demand—while also maintaining a commitment to each institution’s unique mission and goals. The pressure to both recruit and retain students challenges schools to put in place innovative approaches to teaching and learning and the right mix of programs to prepare graduates with new skills, a broad knowledge base, and a range of competencies to enter a more complex and interdependent world. All of these efforts must begin with a quantifiable means to evaluate both existing and new program offerings.

 How We Help

With the deepest experience in the industry, the Eduventures approach to academic program feasibility, prioritization, and innovation draws on a variety of data sources, including Eduventures’ proprietary data, labor forecasts, conferral data, competitive intelligence, and internal performance data. Whether you are looking to add new programs, prioritize existing ones, or evaluate innovation delivery methods, we can provide you with the hard data combined with deep expertise about how programs are likely to be received in the market, how they will be impacted by the competitive landscape, and how they should be positioned.

By becoming a member of Eduventures for Higher Education Leaders, we can help you with the following initiatives:

• Assess your academic program portfolio and determine necessary next steps in eliminating and/or adding disciplines.
• Recruit and retain the right students.
• Create a differentiated online and classroom experience.
• Deep dive into a single program area to assess its viability.
• Get the data you need to obtain buy-in from faculty and other stakeholders.
• Learn the right steps to launch a new program.
• Tap into deep analyst industry expertise to inform your program strategy.

 Recent and Upcoming Research

• Deconstructing CBE: An Assessment of Institutional Activity, Goals, and Challenges
• Adult Learners – New Insights into Alternative Credentials and Emergent Innovations
• Trends in Alternative Teacher Preparation
• Alternative Credentials – Supplement for Schools of Education
• Academic Program Market Update
• Deconstructing CBE: Portraits of Implementation Success
• Implementing CBE: Choose the Right Technology

 Who We Serve

Eduventures continues to build its extensive library of research focused on issues and innovations in program innovation. This research is relevant to:

• Provosts and other academic leaders
• Vice presidents and directors of online and continuing education programs
• IT leaders responsible for selecting and implementing supporting technologies

Drive a new generation of students with increased expectations and experiences

New entrants into the market, maturing standards, and increasing demand for interoperability are changing the technology landscape for higher education. With an over $25B spend on products and services annually, higher education leaders are using technology to support faculty and administrators; effectively market, recruit, and enroll students, and create new methods of instruction to deliver innovative programs.

Unique dynamics and successful strategies require a partner that understands established and emerging technology platforms, tools, and services. With hundreds of edtech offerings on the market, it is essential to get the right mix to meet the needs of your institution.

 How We Help

Eduventures’ data, research, and analysis is designed to support decision-makers as they evaluate innovations in technology adoption by delivering deeper insights into what strategies and methods lead to successful selection and implementation. Our deep understanding of the technology landscape can help you capitalize on opportunities and drive success for every part of the institution.

We can help you with the following initiatives:

• Create a blueprint to navigate the technology landscape throughout the student life cycle.
• Better understand vendor ratings, best practices, and ROI studies in important markets like competency-based education tools, learning management systems, and online program management solutions.
• Analyze emerging, disruptive technology markets within higher education.
• Assess the current technology landscape that covers both mission-based tools and enterprise-wide platform offerings at a strategic level.

 Education Technology Coverage Areas

• Social recruitment
• E-portfolio solutions
• Constituent relationship management (CRM)
• Financial aid solutions
• Competency-based education (CBE)
• Student retention
• Online program management (OPM)
• Analytics solutions
• Integrity solutions
• Student information systems (SIS)

 Who We Serve

Eduventures continues to build its extensive library of research, focused on issues and innovations in the changing education technology sector. This research is relevant to:

• Provosts and other academic leaders
• CIOs and technology teams
• Functional area leaders responsible for selecting and implementing supporting technologies

For Technology Vendors

Technology Vendors interested in briefing Eduventures on your higher ed products and services, please click here.