Application Growth:

We believe that the most important element in a successful recruitment program is an increased number of viable applications.  More applications make significant enrollment growth possible.  Increases in application pools are also required to improve academic quality.  Growth in the number of applications will enable institutional decision-makers to be more selective in the admission process based on a variety of possible characteristics such as academic quality, geography, gender, ethnicity, or program interest. Representatives of The Dysart Group have a record of working with campus leaders to significantly increase the number of applications for admission:

The number of freshmen applications at this institution has steadily increased 233% over a ten-year period.  This growth has enabled the institution to significantly increase the number of newly enrolled freshmen while steadily improving the academic quality. Implementation of a new recruitment model at this small, private college transformed the client institution.  Total enrollment has nearly doubled.  Academic quality has improved each year.  Financial aid costs have been reduced and increased revenue has radically improved the physical plant. Focused recruitment programs can also produce extraordinary results for transfer student recruitment and the recruitment of adult students.  Consider the application growth in these two populations at this client institution.

Academic Quality:

Increases in the number of admission applications enabled representatives at this University to systematically raise standards and improve academic quality.

Net Revenue:

Focus on institutional net revenue is critical.  Enrollment growth without a corresponding increase in available revenue is pointless.  One measure of institutional net revenue is the discount rate. The following client institution has been able to consistently reduce the discount rate.  The reduction in financial aid expenditures as a percentage of tuition occurred during a period of significant enrollment growth.  While the discount rate decreased, the number of freshmen applications for admission tripled, the number of transfer student applications more than doubled and total, full-time undergraduate enrollment doubled. The reduction in the discount rate during a period of extraordinary enrollment growth enabled the institution to fund increased services and facilities to support the growth. This College more than doubled gross tuition revenue by with the implementation of a new recruitment, financial aid and pricing model.

Ability to Pay:

This particular client institution sought to increase enrollment and increase the ability of their prospective students to pay.  The new recruitment plan emphasized initiatives designed to increase the economic diversity of the applicant pool.  The 63% increase in mean expected family contribution allowed the institution to redirect scarce, institutional financial aid resources to programs targeted toward academic quality rather then financial need.  While such an approach may not be appropriate for all colleges and universities, the goal for this school was in keeping with institutional mission and long-range strategic planning objectives. This is an example of the revenue impact at one institution in just one cycle.  Working collaboratively with institutional representatives, a new recruitment plan was devised to increase enrollments and significantly increase net revenue.  The difference ion net revenue for new students after the first year of implementation was an increase in net revenue exceeding $7,000,000!

Total Enrollment:

Significant enrollment growth in the undergraduate program was of paramount importance at this client university.  Freshmen applications for admission tripled, the number of students living in residence halls nearly doubled and total, full-time undergraduate enrollment increased 110%.