Here’s how to start an effective strategic enrollment management plan

Community colleges across the country are experiencing declining enrollments, from 20% reductions in New York to 25% in Oregon¹. Further, more than one in ten community college presidents are concerned that their college may merge or close in the next five years². Clearly solutions are needed to succeed within this troubling future. To help get a handle on this tough enrollment situation, many colleges are turning to strategic enrollment management (SEM), as it offers a straightforward way to prioritize efforts for a successful fiscal future.

SEM is traditionally a tool used by four-year institutions to prioritize marketing and recruitment efforts. As open-access institutions, community colleges haven’t spent time here, instead focusing their energies on serving the students who showed up on the first day of class.

However, shifting demographic and economic trends, funding decreases, and state mandates have dramatically changed the enrollment landscape, such that many colleges are facing an uncertain future. The bottom line is that in order to maintain financial viability, community colleges must evaluate external and future forces impacting enrollment, then prioritize resources for the efforts that make the biggest difference.