With a looming enrollment crisis, colleges must explore new efforts for developing strategic and sustainable partnerships that support institutional advancement. As such, Kent State University (KSU) partnered with three regional, two-year institutions developing high-impact pathways to expand upon the transfer student experience and success rates.…

This study examined factors influencing veterans' postsecondary institutional choices. Individual interviews were conducted with 30 veterans separating from military service and twelve military education officials and counselors. Results indicated most veterans transitioning from the military who aspire to enroll in postsecondary education intend…

Many factors, including free two-year college commitments in states like New York, Tennessee, and Oregon, have led to increases in students attending two-year schools with the ultimate goal of graduating with a bachelor's degree. Bachelor's degree granting institutions should, and arguably have an obligation to, make that transition as seamless as…

The transfer function is comprised of the characteristics of the system that supports student transfer among higher education institutions. Student transfer is complex; although students meet competencies and learning outcomes--measured as courses, credits, and grades represented on a transcript--it is difficult to translate the learning…

As widespread restrictions to in-person instruction continue to impact higher education, community colleges in particular are seeing significant enrollment declines. Implications to budgeting, the success of students, and the uncertainty of current and future recessions are challenging enrollment managers across the United States. This article…

Collaborative decision-making and shared responsibility across departments can be messy and time consuming. However, working collaboratively in a well-constructed cross-functional team (CFT) can create a culture of self-responsibility and accountability and improve institutional practices. The following paper will describe a successful model for…

Ten North Carolina community colleges participated in a large-scale experimental study of technology-enabled success coaching funded through the U.S. Department of Education's First in the World program. Results reveal positive impacts on longer-term retention, especially for Black students, suggesting that technology-enabled success coaching can…

This article seeks to make the case for how relationships are essential to meeting the tapestry of student needs by examining experiences and challenges of several student threads in that tapestry, using both two-year and four-year institutional perspectives. How faculty, staff, and administrators respond--or don't--in building rapport and…

During the 2019 American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Conference, there was much discussion about how important change management is for successful SEM implementation. While we have known for some time that SEM needs institution-wide collaboration and support to achieve its…

This article describes the step-by-step process of how data science, marketing and communications, and higher education improved access and success for students. Over the last three years, strategic planning efforts helped develop a data-informed culture on campus. The work described within the playbook required time, energy, and a lot of…

The number of nontraditional students in U.S. higher education is growing significantly, especially at for-profit postsecondary institutions given their shorter programs and career training. Yet these students have vastly different needs than their traditional-aged counterparts. A mixed-methods study of practical nursing students (n=36) enrolled…

This study sought to understand the Community College Career and Technical Educational (CTE) deans' perceptions of the internal and external forces they perceive as influencing their decision making; what evidence exists to demonstrate the influence of the completion agenda on CTE deans' decision making; and if there is a perception that there is…

In this article, the author describes her personal journey at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C). Early in her career, the author often focused on the immediate projects and priorities that she was asked to lead. The author gave much less thought to what the next leadership opportunity might be. While experts may advise against this lack of…

This article follows a small piece of one community college's SEM [strategic enrollment management] journey in using its student retention data to identify opportunities to deploy re-enrollment strategies. The re-enrollment rates of new students who did not return following their first semester served as the starting point of the investigation;…

Medicine Hat College implemented its first strategic enrollment management (SEM) plan in 2015/16. The implementation required a variety of stakeholders, and initially Medicine Hat College found it difficult to create a diverse cross-campus team. Recognition of the unique cultures within the organization advanced SEM efforts and supported…