From declining numbers of traditional-age high school graduates and changing student demographics, to the overall concern among consumers about the value of a higher education, anxiety will haunt enrollment administrators moving forward. "Last year was a stressful year for many colleges, and it has just exacerbated because of market conditions," says John Lawlor, principal and […]
More transfer students will now have the chance to obtain an associate degree—with-out extra administrative burden—thanks to a Lumina Foundation grant that National Student Clearinghouse received to provide an automated solution for exchanging reverse transfer student data. With this technology (currently in phase-one development in Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin), four-year schools will send academic data […]
The number of posted transfer credits for incoming students at Madison College in Wisconsin has risen steadily, from 2,814 in 2010 to 4,119 in 2013—nearly a 50 percent increase in just three years. The college receives approximately 18,000 applications for admission each year. The 24,076 degree-credit students enrolled earned a total of 66,000 transfer credits […]
For years, new student orientation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida required the creation of information packets that were labeled with stickers and contained as many as 10 sheets of paper. The packets, which were prepared by Records and Registration staff with help from other departments, directed students to where they needed to go during […]
The coming change in how student loan default rates are calculated may mean bad news for some colleges and universities. With the new calculations, the rate at which a group of students later defaults on loan payments will increase for most institutions, and schools with a particular default rate for three consecutive years will lose […]
Rather than dealing with the intensive labor involved in sending and receiving paper transcripts—and frustration from students and graduates accustomed to automation—most colleges and universities have implemented electronic transcript capabilities. The process allows administrators to capture lots of valuable electronic data, but the majority of schools are not utilizing that information beyond sending or receiving […]
Five years after the Great Recession's official end, higher ed endowments and fundraising are finally recovering, but there is no rising financial tide that's lifting all boats—especially smaller ones that depend heavily on tuition. Instead, a new "economic normal" is being keenly felt at smaller, tuition-driven universities and colleges, forcing campus leaders to diversify their […]
Student loan default can affect an entire campus, as high default rates negatively impact an institution's federal funding. Therefore, it is essential to keep cohort default rates as low as possible. The right education and communication strategies can help borrowers gain the financial skills necessary to avoid default. This web seminar, originally broadcast on February […]
When it comes to online education, careful course development is hardly the only piece needed for successful student outcomes. "Some institutions, eager to jump in the field, think once they've developed their online courses, they are set to launch," says Jacqueline Moloney, executive vice chancellor at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. "But many neglect to […]
When its credit card fees hit $1.6 million in early 2011, Missouri State University officials decided there must be a better way. "Because it became so common for students and their family members to pay by credit card, the fees became unmanageable," recalls Doug Willson, the bursar for the 23,000-student institution based in Springfield, Mo. […]
