Leveraging financial aid to achieve enrollment goals is one of the key strategies of enrollment professionals. For the prospective student, the ability to compare financial aid packages from various colleges is of paramount importance.
Deans of admission hold a diverse portfolio--recruiter, writer, human resource adviser, and budget manager--according to Angel B. Perez, Vice President and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid at Pitzer College. But the importance of financial matters in the portfolio is growing.
“I oversee a complex multimillion-dollar operation and I am charged with producing revenue,” Perez recently told Inside Higher Ed. “Yes, tuition at colleges means revenue and one mistake in strategy can have grave implications. I’m also a professional worrier. There are months of the year where I literally don’t sleep because the things I can’t control keep me up at night.” For example, he worries: Did I admit enough students? What if too many--or too few--students accept the financial aid offers?
“When you become an enrollment dean, your new best friends should be the director of financial aid and treasurer,” Perez advises. It is critical for an admissions dean to understand how financial aid fits with institutional priorities so that aid can be directed in ways that promote institutional and student success. One way for individuals in admissions and financial aid to improve mutual understanding is to implement cross-training.
Free cross-training webinar
Questions about need- and merit-based aid are currently at the forefront on the minds of enrollment deans. At the recently concluded SEM Conference that took place November 10-13 at the Chicago Hilton Hotel, Stanley E. Henderson, Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management and Student Life at the University of Michigan- Dearborn; Katherine Allen, Director of Financial Aid and Scholarships at the University of Michigan-Dearborn; and Christopher Tremblay, Associate Provost for Enrollment Management at Western Michigan University, shared riveting presentations exploring trends in need- and merit based aid. According to Stan Henderson, financial aid is now an integral component of effective strategic enrollment management; directors are now at the table.
AACRAO will be featuring this session from the SEM Conference as a free webinar—Financial Aid and Enrollment Management: Forces at Play. Presenters will review the intersections of recruitment and retention, merit and need-based aid, goals and allocated funds, compliance, leveraging and equity, and outreach and literacy -- all with the purpose of understanding the complexity of financial aid's role in enrollment management. Plan to register for this webinar to hear highlights from their thought provoking session at SEM.
Financial Aid session attendees walked away with strategies that they could readily implement on their campuses. According to Heidi M. Hoskinson, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and University Registrar, Friends University, “There are so many pieces to the enrollment management puzzle and this session really highlighted the critical piece that financial aid will continue to play in constructing the complete picture of college admissions and institutional retention efforts in the years to come.”
Other ways to up your game
If you are a professional in the field of enrollment management, there are a number of valuable professional development resources available on the AACRAO website, including:
SEM credentials. AACRAO offers an Endorsement Program (SEM-EP) to provide a well-defined career advancement track for SEM professionals; and
Lessons and libraries. Visit our SEM website—http://www.aacrao.org/key-topics/strategic-enrollment-management—for valuable and convenient programs, products and services. And check out the most up-to-date SEM methods and research as reported in SEM quarterly: http://www.aacrao.org/professional-resources/publications/sem-quarterly.
Save the date. AACRAO’s 24th Annual SEM Conference will take place October 26-29, 2014 at the J.W. Marriott in Los Angeles, CA. We hope to see you there!