The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which enrollment management exists within the 15 community colleges in Mississippi. This study also obtained specific information on enrollment management implementation, as well as the benefits and barriers to that implementation. Analysis of the data collected in this study indicated the five major findings. First, enrollment management concepts and practices have been implemented to some extent within the 13 community colleges surveyed. This was evident by the use of the word “enrollment” within several of the titles of participants that were surveyed. Another enrollment practice revealed was the enrollment management structure used by the majority of the community colleges that participated in the study. The majority of the colleges reported either using the coordinator model, in which a midlevel manager oversees enrollment management, or the division model, in which a vice-president is responsible for overseeing enrollment management. The study also revealed that the majority of the community colleges reporting did not have a long-term enrollment plan in place. Only a small percentage of the reporting institutions reported using any type of formal plan, and an even smaller percentage reported having a long-term enrollment management plan in place. Second, all reporting institutions reported that improved graduation rates and student retention had been the received benefits of their current enrollment management structure. Third, all reporting institutions reported understaffing and limited financial resources as a barrier to effectively implementing enrollment management within their institution. The fourth major finding was that of the strategies listed within the survey, 100% reported using an increased collaboration with high schools as a strategy to increase enrollment. This strategy was followed in frequency by the expansion of online courses and the presidents placing an emphasis on the importance of enrollment management. The fifth major finding was that the majority of the reporting institutions felt that their current enrollment management structure had met or exceeded their enrollment management expectations.

This study examined the work experiences of individuals who perform recruitment activities for the California State University. Based at four campus settings, the objectives were to: 1) analyze the ways in which professionals regard and enact system-wide and institutional enrollment management policies; 2) explore their professional orientations in regards to college access; and 3) examine the congruence of system-wide and institutional formal policy and the perspectives of different groups of professionals.The analysis centered on two levels, the institutional and the ground level perspective. The principal data sources that informed the study were interviews and campus level and system-wide documents. To frame the data gathering and analysis, two theories were used to understand the perspectives of the set of professionals; the study modified the classic conceptualization of `street-level bureaucrats' (Lipsky, 1969) and latent social roles of professionals (Gouldner, 1954). For the broader organizational perspective, the study relied on institutional theory and academic capitalism in the new economy to offer context to the university's move to enrollment management. Findings indicate that professionals varied in how they enacted recruitment practices depending on the institutional context. So, while enrollment management practices are being implemented at the Cal State system, the extent to which the actions were strategic was dependent on the campus environment and the priorities of that university.

Thesis advisor: Karen D. Arnold / This mixed-methods study examines admissions professionals' consciousness and perceptions of the role that institutional culture plays in attracting and enrolling graduate-level students. This research identifies and describes how graduate admissions professionals learn culture and how that culture is communicated to applicants. Data were gathered through a web-based survey that queried 102 admissions professionals at 236 graduate schools of theology throughout the United States of America and Canada. Additionally, eight semi-structured interviews were conducted with practitioners directly involved in communicating culture to applicants. Survey and interview data were triangulated with a document analysis of printed promotional materials and website text. Findings suggest that graduate admissions professionals consider culture a crucial factor in their efforts to recruit potential students, regardless of such factors as years of experience working in higher education or working specifically in graduate admissions; professional title; or school's religious denominational affiliation. Across these categories, graduate admissions professionals perceive culture as a leading factor in enrollment decision making. Likewise, graduate admissions professionals indicate that culture is highly and intentionally incorporated into marketing and recruitment strategies. Findings also indicate there is little difference in how culture is viewed between those graduate admissions professionals who have had direct institutional academic experience as a current student/alumnus of the school and those graduate admissions professionals who have not. Although the two populations may experience different ways of learning culture, both indicated similarly high perceptions of culture's importance in the enrollment process. While digital technologies continue to create new potentials for communication methods, face-to-face communication--most notably through campus visits--is still viewed by graduate admissions professionals as most effective. This research highlights the importance of facilitating student discernment within the larger context of the admissions decision-making process. The findings also suggest that external candidates who are hired for their admission expertise can learn and communicate institutional culture effectively. Ultimately, this study reveals culture's perceived importance in the admissions process and its potential as a principal factor in enrollment decisions. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Although master's institutions enroll a substantial student population in the United States, a large percentage of which are minorities, relatively little has been written with regard to how master's institutions approach enrollment management. This mixed methods study examines the enrollment priorities and recruitment strategies of master's institutions to reveal how master's institutions are prioritizing their commitments to institutional quality, access, and financial stability, the types of recruitment strategies these institutions are utilizing to uphold their commitments, and the impact of these recruitment strategies, particularly upon issues of access. The study also makes use of a theoretical framework informed by academic capitalism theory, game theory, and institutional theory to explain why master's institutions may be prioritizing certain enrollment goals and adopting particular recruitment strategies. Findings from this study suggest master's institutions may be embracing market-oriented enrollment behaviors that prioritize revenue maximization, consequently reinforcing the advantages of the privileged and serving as vehicles for social reproduction.

No description available.

Enrollment management practices, principles, and administrative structure are changing the behavior of the contemporary university. Through an examination of public Carnegie Research Intensive and Extensive universities in states anticipating growth in the high school graduate population, the study seeks to provide a greater understanding of enrollment management. The theoretical lenses of institutional theory (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983), resource dependence (Tolbert, 1985), and academic capitalism (Slaughter & Leslie, 1997; Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004), are employed to develop a new view of administrative behavior in current enrollment management organizations. In depth interviews with the individuals leading enrollment efforts at selected universities identify the enrollment manager as an administrator, educator, and entrepreneur. These individuals operate in complex political environments balancing their personal educational philosophies with the needs of their universities. Comprehensive reviews of the strategic enrollment plans at study universities reveal three main goals across all institutions: maintaining financial stability, increasing student and institutional quality, and increasing student diversity. Administrative behavior shows that all three goals are not treated equally and that revenue enhancement activities are prioritized. The administrative behaviors detailed in this study suggest a new ideology related to revenue enhancement for public higher education in the United States.

This study sought to provide empirical evidence regarding the use of spatial analysis in enrollment management to predict persistence and graduation. The research utilized data from the 2000 U.S. Census and applicant records from The University of Arizona to study the spatial distributions of enrollments. Based on the initial results, stepwise logistic regression was used to identify spatially associated student and neighborhood characteristics predicting persistence and graduation.The findings of this research indicate spatial analysis can be used as a valuable resource for enrollment management. Using a theoretical framework of the forms of capital and social reproduction, cultural and social capital characteristics were found to influence persistence at statistically significant levels. Most notably, the social capital proxy of neighborhood education levels, and the cultural capital proxies of the number of standardized tests a student has taken, and when the application for admission is submitted all significantly influenced a student's probability to persistence and graduate. When disaggregating by race and ethnicity, resident Hispanic students from highly Hispanic neighborhoods were found to persist at higher levels in the first year of college attendance. Also, resident Native Americans were found to have a higher probability to persist when evidencing cultural capital characteristics. Since spatially based student and neighborhood characteristics can be quantified and mapped, target populations can be identified and subsequently recruited, resulting in retention-focused admissions.

No description available.

No description available.

Enrollment management structures, models, and activities have been embraced by many colleges and universities as an institutional practice. Some institutions, however, experience challenges to implementation because of a lack of human and financial resources, campus understanding and awareness. For minority serving institutions, particularly a number of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), this is the case. Shifts in student populations, policy, internal and external challenges exist. These challenges are evident at the HBCU (called Truth University in this document) where the current study was conducted. First, leadership at the HBCU questioned whether the financial investment was worth onboarding enrollment management. Second, there has been unstable leadership which impeded the critical decision making process necessary to support enrollment management. Finally, there was a question of whether enrollment management practices were an affordable and feasible option at Truth University with low enrollment numbers and constant staff turnover. This study examined faculty and administrators’ perceptions of enrollment management practices at this Historically Black College and University on the East Coast. Purposeful sampling of a cross section of 124 faculty and administrators employed at the institution with direct and indirect influence on enrollment management was used. Data were collected on the various enrollment components including: marketing, recruitment, academic advising, career services, academic support, institutional research, orientation, and financial aid, retention, and student services. Survey questions sought responses to the existence, effectiveness and the importance of 54 individual enrollment management components at the institution. Additional data were collected on two additional questions regarding the perceived existing enrollment management structure at the institution and the perceived enrollment management structure most important to effective enrollment management implementation at the institution. With only a few exceptions, faculty and administrators exhibited an overall lack of awareness of enrollment management practices at Truth University. To the extent that they are aware of what practices exist at Truth, they generally feel that the activities are not effective. However, the respondents acknowledge the importance of enrollment components. Interestingly, there were few differences between the faculty and the administrators in these perceptions. The implications of these results for Truth University were discussed in light of these findings. / Educational Administration