To boost enrollment quickly, focus on reducing the effort required to enroll

Losing Students Before They Start Community colleges are seeing alarming increases in students who apply to the institution but drop out before attending their first class. Between 2011 and 2013, the percentage of applicants who completed their enrollments fell by 7%. Heading off this early attrition not only helps more students achieve their goals; it is also one of the fastest routes to boosting enrollment. At a mid-sized community college receiving 12,000 applications, raising the applicant conversion rate back up to the 2011 average of 49% would produce close to $3 million in additional tuition revenue. Don't Just Improve "Customer Service" Many colleges have tried to improve their student intake process by providing their staff with the kind of customer service training used extensively in the private sector. With methods pioneered by companies such as Disney, these initiatives train staff to be polite, express concern, and listen carefully. They don’t, however, address the fundamental problem: the amount of effort it takes students to enroll. While college staff often see the intake process as a linear path from application to matriculation, students report widespread frustration with the time and effort required to figure out and complete all the steps for enrollment. We interviewed dozens of students who described confusion about the sequence and number of enrollment steps, difficulty locating buildings and offices, long wait periods to advance from one step to the next, confusing websites, confusing terminology, no guidance on how to get questions answered, and being shuffled from one department to the next for answers to inquiries. Check out our Chutes and Ladders infographic on new student intake→ Across 2014, members of our research team visited more…