Breakthrough Leadership: Navigating the Confusion Zone

As transformational leaders, we recognize the silver lining of any crisis: the opportunity for breakthrough.

Rethinking Admissions To Increase Enrollment

In a high-level presentation to VPs of Marketing & Admissions, Rob Westervelt, formerly of George Fox University, presented the challenges GFU faced and the 7 Success Principles they applied to successfully grow admissions by 37% in a single year and enroll three consecutive record Freshman classes despite lower inquiry and application rates.

Mitigating Summer Melt is a problem not for the fainthearted. According to research, the percentage of prospective students who melt away—do not enroll after completing an application and making a deposit—may be as high as 40% for some higher educational institutions. So what are the solutions? 

I recently sent a follow-up email to a VP of Enrollment who wanted to engage us to train his Admissions Staff on our Value(s) Based Enrollment Methodology (VBEM). Within a day I received his email reply, sharing that due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, his President asked every department what they could do to cut their budget by 20%. 

In light of the COVID-19 reality, some of the questions Presidents, CFOs, Vice Presidents and Cabinets are asking are: “Do we entrench, hunker down, even retreat a bit and try to conserve cash? Do we mark time, ride out the storm, and wait to get through it? Or do we step out, try to advance, and even grow during tough times like these?