With freshman discount rates once again on the rise, it will be more important than ever for institutions to review whether their methodologies for developing a budget for financial aid are sufficiently robust. Using a cohort-based budget approach is critical for understanding the implications of replacing a "cheaper" senior class with a more heavily discounted […]
When making decisions about Hope College’s website redesign, project team members found themselves looking at a photo of Adam, an 18-year-old freshman, to gauge what he might think is the most logical place for a piece of content—or whether he thinks the content should be there at all. And then, knowing Adam’s mom is very […]
For decades, colleges and universities have used big data to track high-risk students and intervene as needed. Now a growing number of institutions are using data tools to track and analyze another group: successful students. It is a radically different approach that many campus administrators believe will help them understand what makes students successful—developing a […]
Several years ago we shared with University Business readership our prognostications on contemporary polytechnic institutions popping up across the U.S. In relatively short time, higher ed is still surfing the Polytechnic Revival wave at engineering schools, colleges, and universities across the Nation. The common heritage of Classic Polytechnics extends back to the 1745 founding of […]
Picture this: sticky notes on every screen. And if there are none on the monitor, lift up the keyboard. Nothing there? Try opening the pencil drawer. Unfortunately, it’s not hard for the wrong person to find these notes, and it’s the passwords written on these innocuous slips of paper that worry IT administrators at every […]
Colleges and universities are under intense pressure to maintain enrollment, increase student retention and ensure student success. Predictive analytics can play a crucial role in these efforts at institutions of any size, by providing actionable data that can drive more effective strategic decision-making. In this web seminar, originally broadcast on May 5, 2015, an executive […]
With YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets, virtually nothing escapes the pubic's notice, and judgment. It's one reason higher education is paying much more attention to risk management now than in the past. There are also more risk-generating contingencies, such as mass shootings, and accountability standards, such as for the prevention of sexual […]
It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child. To make a huge change at a university, it takes the entire village, a.k.a. a really good team, to make it happen. Here's our story. Millersville University of Pennsylvania has 7,500 undergraduates, 1,000 graduate students, seven unions representing faculty and staff, and […]
In just three years, enrollment at Lone Star Community College grew by about 50 percent. The six-campus system, located in the north Houston metro area, now has more than 95,000 students and has experienced explosive data growth, as well—from 40 terabytes to 1.6 petabytes. A data collection that big is hard to imagine. But as […]
A family's willingness to pay for a college education relies heavily on an institution's ability to articulate return on investment. Discounting tuition through scholarships and other financial aid is the most common approach to increasing a college's perceived value, as these strategies reduce the net cost to the family. Many efforts are being implemented to […]
