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To Grow or not to Grow? That is the Question.

The GDA Enrollment Growth Feasibility and Advisability Study

An institutional dilemma: What if your college or university wants or even needs to grow its enrollment, but you are not sure if it is feasible or advisable? While declines in enrollment can be devastating, uncontrolled growth has its own pitfalls. An overly optimistic expansion in facilities, programs and staff with an expectation of growth that is not forthcoming can also cripple an institution. On the other hand, growth in enrollment could be advantageous to your institution by providing a better experience for your students. Or, your institution may simply need a greater number of students to sustain it.

GDA Integrated Services announces its Enrollment Growth Feasibility and Advisability Study, an exclusive, comprehensive analysis of your institution’s opportunities for and challenges to significant and sustainable growth.

What qualifies GDA Integrated Services for this?

• 20 years of experience in the marketing and promotion of colleges and universities
• Experience with more than 400 colleges universities throughout the nation
• An extensive environmental scanning operation that looks beyond higher education
• A large market research component that annually surveys more than 70,000 college-bound students, their parents, current students, alumni, guidance counselors, etc.

At GDAIS, a feasibility and advisability of enrollment growth study includes the following:

• A review of your institution’s academic offerings to determine which have the best potential to attract a greater number of students and which are likely to sustain enrollment or actually decline. In this case, we look at high school enrollment data, regional employment and educational needs, as well as economic trends that may affect growth.
• Suggest new, low-cost academic programs that are organic to your institution but should attract new students and contribute immediately to the net revenue. We base these recommendations on regional occupational needs and projected student demand.
• Recommend “packaging” of current academic and out-of-class activities that will attract students who would not necessarily attend otherwise. For example, does your institution have the opportunity to “package” current activities into a Professional Development Certificate, or are you effectively promoting the opportunity to major in two fields, one of the fastest growing areas for private colleges.
• Recommend new academic and out-of-class activities that we know have potential for attracting new students while not necessarily being difficult to provide. Does available research about your inquiring students suggest a need for a special program for students who have not decided on a major field, or would a combined five-year bachelor’s and master’s degree work at your institution?
• Conduct a competitor analysis in- and outside your region to determine the academic fields, student services activities, and even sports where your institution can more successfully compete for college-bound students.
• Review regional forecasts for job openings for the college-educated workforce and compare current course offerings to the region’s employment demands.
• Examine your institution’s three- to five-year enrollment trends by major discipline (e.g., science and math, social sciences, business, etc.) as well as review historical persistence rates by class year, major, demographic background (women, students of color), financial aid, and distance from home.
  
• Offer an outside assessment of your student recruitment operation to determine if it can effectively handle a greater volume of students. Our assessment includes an operations evaluation as well as a review to ensure your admissions operation is budgeted for growth.
• Identify what staffing and resources are necessary to meet academic and support service needs to accommodate growth in enrollment without compromising your institution’s mission and ethos.
  
• Evaluate the physical plant and facilities to determine if your institution has the capacity to increase enrollment and, if so, what changes and additions may be needed.

In all cases, we project increased enrollment numbers of all new and current undersubscribed programs. Because GDA Integrated Services has consulted with more than 400 colleges and universities, we will recommend when appropriate what we have seen are best practices.

Our report will include:

• Feasibility of increasing enrollment and what growth the institution can rightfully expect
• Advisability of increasing enrollment and by how much
• Projections of enrollment growth by current major fields and new academic programs
• Projection of enrollment growth by “repackaging” or adjusting current activities
• Projection of cost for each new program or program enhancement
• Recommendations for meeting all the projections