Laurie Koehler, vice president for marketing and enrollment strategy, shared updates on student enrollment and retention, including exciting metrics from the past recruitment cycle that indicate long-term success for future enrollment strategies.
IC’s updated admission and finance models for the next several years are centered around a target class of 1,380-1,420 new students each year. Over 1,410 new students enrolled for Fall 2022 — exceeding budgeted numbers by 40 students. The demographics of this incoming class also included a higher percentage of first-generation students and students of color, and the cohort was academically stronger as measured by high school grade point average.
Additionally, IC saw a three-point increase in yield for this recruitment cycle, defying national averages of a one-point decline in yield each year. Koehler attributed this success to the work of the marketing and enrollment strategy team in collaboration with campus partners. New efforts this past cycle that contributed to outperforming others included a new yield communications campaign, clearer financial aid packages and individual Zoom appointments with students and their families, virtual engagement with admitted students, and a strong emphasis on visiting campus.
Fall Open House engagement is also significantly on the rise, with a 96% increase in prospective students attending from Fall 2021 and 86% of prospective students who register for the events actually attending, a strong indicator of interest in Ithaca College.
“When we see a three-point jump in the yield, that’s pretty remarkable,” said Koehler. “I wanted to understand, was this a weird year for yield for other schools too, was this an exceptional situation? We asked our external partner, who works with about 70 other schools, to compare our yield to their other clients. What we saw was that our yield outperformed others, who on average, actually declined by 0.6 points. The work that we all put in mattered, and it worked, and the work continues.”
Koehler also provided an update on student success and retention. While the third-semester retention rate dropped one point to 83.2%, the number of returning students exceeded the college’s goal by 30 students.
The Center for Student Success and Retention (CSSR) has been fully staffed since August with three full-time employees dedicated to improving retention on campus and supporting student success. Retaining students year-after-year is critical to both the Ithaca College mission and the financial health of the institution, and the CSSR team is conducting research and collaborating with partners across campus to develop new initiatives to improve outcomes.
“Our faculty and staff are doing really outstanding work toward [improving retention]. It’s not going to be easy, but it absolutely is doable,” said Koehler. “I’m grateful for the number of faculty members and staff members who have raised their hands and said, ‘How can I help? What can we do?’”
