How HCU and EAB Created Demand and Doubled First-Year Enrollment in a Tough Market

Houston Christian University faced a difficult enrollment equation

Texas’s college-going population was shrinking, while students were applying to more institutions and becoming harder to yield. Sustainable growth would require HCU to reach students earlier, strengthen its presence in Houston, develop new markets, and make every stage of the enrollment funnel work harder.

HCU partnered with EAB across the enrollment journey

Connecting Cultivate, Apply, Yield, and its Appily Tour into a coordinated recruitment strategy. EAB helped HCU create behavior-based, multichannel campaigns that helped the university build affinity earlier, respond to student engagement, and give staff better intelligence for prioritizing outreach.

HCU enrolled 1,001 first-time, full-time students in 2025, more than double the enrollment benchmark from the beginning of their EAB partnership

As of Fall 2025, HCU increased first-year enrollment 36%, while the overall regional private-institution market remained nearly flat. What’s more, HCUs total enrollment growth outpaced every major institutional segment. The partnership has given HCU a stronger, more connected pipeline while positioning the university for continued growth in a less predictable market.