ProEd Consulting Services
Strategic Undergraduate & Graduate Enrollment Management Services
- Financial Aid
- Pricing strategies
- Affordability strategies
- Educational debt, risk and financing assessment
- Institutional risk assessment
- Credit counseling services
- Debt management services
- Recruitment
- Admission policies
- Scholarship program development
- Retention
- Quantitative analysis
- Qualitative analysis
Financial Aid Pricing and Affordability Strategies
ProEd uses advanced econometric techniques to analyze individual applicant data supplied by an institution to estimate admission, enrollment, financial aid and retention models. Each model is specifically tailored to the individual institution and allows for inclusion of institution-specific variables and responses.
The models can be used to:
- identify factors that are important in the enrollment or re-enrollment decision;
- determine the impact of institutional grants on the probability of enrolling;
- identify the price sensitivity of each applicant or continuing student;
- suggest changes in financial aid packaging that would be revenue enhancing;
- simulate the impact of changes in acceptance policies and financial aid packaging on net tuition revenue, class quality and other class characteristics;
- analyze competition at various stages of the admissions process;
- identify trends in inquiries by region, source, interest, etc.; and
- analyze yield patterns by subpopulations.
The process includes:
- a review past planning documents, statistical analyses, and external/internal reports, and conduct interviews with several senior members of the community;
- collection of institutional data that are normally available in most college admissions and financial aid offices. For best results, we suggest using admitted-student data from the previous three years. Examples of data include:
o academic quality indicators (grades, test scores);
o financial data (need, grant awards offered); and
o demographic fields (ethnicity, gender, state of residence).
Consultation Services
o initial campus visit: services begin with an initial campus visit, which includes facilitated campus discussions to reach consensus about the role of the consulting team in achieving enrollment objectives and to establish a target implementation calendar
o subsequent campus visits to: gather related data from various sources, assemble and cleanse data prior to analysis and report on results and recommendations, and training to effectively use the secure web-based Report Manager;
o perform analysis and construct the predictive models;
o written analytical research report (generally 80 to 100 pages);
o customized and comprehensive regression and table analysis.
o recalibration of the model each year to determine effects of new data;
o update analytical report with new year’s data and recommendations for changes in the model based on an evaluation of the effectiveness of policy changes from the previous year; and
o consultation with campus administrators about the model used and exploration of recommended changes to admission and aid strategies going forward.
o n updated comprehensive regression and table analysis.
o identification of agreed-upon benchmarks for the upcoming recruitment cycle;
o analysis of current pricing and yield relative to cross-applications, admits, and enrollment;
Based on our analysis and modeling, we will deliver:
- findings on the current performance of the institution relative to the competitive set;
- scenarios illustrating the effect of different pricing/discount rate options on class size, gender balance, geographic reach, diversity, and net total revenue;
- recommendations for near- and longer-term pricing changes.
- an implementation program that includes activities, schedules, and measured outcomes.
Key outcomes:
- optimal pricing and discount levels
- institutional aid policies that are fiscally responsible and enrollment efficient
- increased net tuition revenue and improved net tuition per student
Operational Assessments & Audits
- Enrollment management business practice review
- Admissions operations assessment
- Financial aid operations and award strategy assessment
Additional Services
- Implementation services
- Training and staff development services
- Interim admission and financial aid placement
- Executive searches
Enrollment Management Business Practice Review
Many institutions have increased both operational efficiency and enrollment outcomes by improving business practices in their Admissions and/or Financial Aid Offices. Drawing upon the long-term experiences of our team members as practitioners and providers of enrollment services, our consultants provide expert analysis of existing business practices and will make recommendations for achieving result-oriented, modern and leading-edge improvements in operational efficiencies.
Admissions Operations Assessment
Our assessment of the Admissions operations is a high level, comprehensive review of admissions office strategies, tactics and operations -- from prospect development and cultivation to post-deposit follow-up strategies. Our assessment includes but is not limited to reviewing budgets, staffing, data management, travel plans, direct mail strategies, communication flow, campus visit planning, interview techniques, tele-recruiting, and professional development. Assessment reports include a comprehensive evaluation of the current program and specific recommendations to improve results.
Financial Aid Operations and Award Strategy Assessment
Operational assessments typically involve a review of organizational structures and job descriptions, staff training programs, system and paper flow process, standard reporting protocols, linkages with other offices, and policies that impact timeliness and customer service.
Using financial aid effectively to influence student choice is also a critical element of any recruitment program. ProEd will review financial aid office operations to make certain they are in compliance with Federal regulations, but more importantly, we will assess whether or not the staff is oriented toward recruitment and the achievement of institutional objectives. For example, we will review packaging strategies to determine if aid is being awarded in a way to maximize institutional enrollment goals for both new and returning students. Depending on our findings, we may also recommend conducting an analysis of institutional data to develop strategies to increase the quantity and quality of enrolled students and to increase net tuition revenue.
Financial Aid Leveraging
Need-based and non-need (merit) aid programs
Affordability strategies
- ProEd Enrollment Management Tools -- “Tools for Schools”
- Enrollment management analysis report
- Admission tracking reports – by market & admission counselor
- Strategic financial aid budgeting tools & monitoring system
- Preferential packaging matrices (admits/enrolls/withdraws)
- Yield analysis
- Expenditure prediction tool
- Institutional aid summary analysis
Database Scoring
Score the Prospect and Applicant Databases With the Probability of Enrollment Indicator. This is another new service that ProEd can now provide!
Essentially, this service involves scoring the college’s prospect database with enrollment probability indicators to indicate which students were more likely to enroll and which are not. This way, admission counselors could spend more time recruiting students who have a higher degree of propensity to enroll and less time with those that have a very low probability of enrollment. We would determine which variables in your database were the most meaningful for making these probability estimates and would develop a specific algorithm for the college. We annotate each record with a probability of enrollment score along with some descriptive reports and would return the scored database back to the college within 48 hours or less.
We recommend re-scoring the prospect/applicant database a minimum of 5 times throughout the admission cycle, but colleges can choose to score the database more frequently.
Implementation Services
Our clients upload institutional admission and financial aid data to our secure web portal called simply the “Report Manager.” The uploaded data is downloaded to our secure company servers for analysis by our proprietary systems and methodologies. A set of reports are uploaded back to the Report Manager showing summarized information on actual data compared to predicted goals and objectives. Our implementation services include weekly conference calls with the appropriate staff at the college to discuss the implications and trends found in the data analysis that is performed every week. During these discussions, policies and practices are discussed and modified according to meeting the institutional objectives. Staff training and development also take place simultaneously with implementation.
Training and Staff Development Services
In addition to working with college staff to develop institutional strategies, we often find that our training by way of skill, experience and knowledge transfer become an integral part of the success our clients have in implementing our policy recommendations. Typically, financial aid offices are not equipped with sufficient decision support systems to enable them to fully understand, track and assess the effectiveness of institutional aid policies. For example, many aid offices practice fund management, which does not answer the pivotal questions like: who gets what aid and how much should they get? We provide this training and support through a mix of operational competency with strategic objective attainment. In the process we mentor college staff members by sharing our subject knowledge and expertise and by giving them the tools to make good data-driven decisions through problem solving techniques on critical issues. This service is on-going with our college clients on a week-to-week basis through conference calls, e-mails and in person campus visits.