Making the ROI Argument for SEM: It Makes More than Cents

This article highlights the challenges, triumphs, and setbacks experienced by a mid-sized, public institution in Eastern Canada that is now more than two years into the SEM process. It shares how a team built a sense of urgency in an institution with historically-low retention rates and developed a variety of strategies and structures to improve these rates. The article offers the specific financial model and enrollment projections developed to support requests for funds and what they look like today. It explains these efforts in the context of COVID-19, and the consequences on the university and the plan. Importantly, the article shows how the use of institutional data and primary data collection for the effectiveness of programs was key to the university’s success.