“Enrollment managers sit at the intersection of many of the most pressing public policy issues in higher education right now,” says Don Hossler, Director of the Center for Postsecondary Research & Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Indiana University Bloomington. “For example, enrollment managers need to sort through priorities around student persistence and graduation and campus-based financial aid.”
“Affirmative action, access issues, student debt, concerns we won’t have enough college educated people in society as boomers retire—all of these pressures affect enrollment managers,” Hossler says. “And there are no perfect tools or solutions.”
Metrics make a difference
The College Completion agenda is getting a lot of attention right now, he says. Policymakers want higher retention and graduation rates, and forcing campuses to put a lot of focus on those issues.
In addition, access to higher education for underserved communities and graduates’ towering student debts are bringing issues of campus-based financial aid to the fore, as well.
“AGB and NACUBO have developed a tool that will be helpful to enrollment managers sorting through campus priorities in terms of how they spend campus dollars,” Hossler says. This tool helps institutions better understand how to spend financial aid dollars by sharing information among peer institutions. Hossler writes about the tool in this article on AGB’s website. Find more information about the Metrics Benchmarking tool at NACUBO's site.
Bringing it all together
AACRAO is pleased to announce that Hossler will give the closing plenary presentation, "Student Persistence and Campus-Based Financial Aid: Policy, Data, and Technology and How They Come Together," at the AACRAO Technology Conference, Tuesday July 8 from 8am to 9am. For more information or to register for the co-located 2014 Tech and Transfer conferences, click here.
Also, join the 24th AACRAO SEM Conference this October. Registration will open later this month.
In addition, Hossler will present at the Institute for Senior Professionals in Academic and Enrollment Services, a collaboration between AACRAO and Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education and Human Development.