If you are about to send your child off to college, you wonder a lot about how your student will succeed, and you may also wonder what the college will do to help your student succeed.  There are a lot of individual offices, departments, programs and personnel who will intersect with and support your student.  Sometimes, it may seem impossible to keep it all straight.

The college’s Strategic Enrollment Management process will help the college ensure that there is a comprehensive plan in place to help shape the school’s enrollment and support its students.  Colleges want to build the best entering class, but also help those students succeed and graduate.

Enrollment Management, often referred to as Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) is comprehensive process which institutions use to help them shape their enrollment and meet their goals.  Essentially, rather than many different areas of the institution work independently, Strategic Enrollment Management allows the institution to look at the entire process of how they recruit, admit, enroll, retain and graduate students.  It often also includes how the institution intersects with its alumni as well.

It is helpful for parents to realize that most institutions now work systematically and comprehensively to coordinate the entire process and to align their resources to best help students succeed.  This may begin by analyzing enrollment data to understand what type of students succeed best at the school and then working to recruit, admit, and enroll those students.  Once students arrive, the school works to understand which students may need help and support and to provide helpful services and then track what works.

Strategic Enrollment Management, when done well, puts important focus on students.  It provides a framework for the student experience from entrance to graduation and can include activities and programs such as admissions processes, financial aid awards, orientation programming, academic advising, learning communities, first year seminars, tutoring and support services, career counseling, community service, health and counseling centers, and sports programming.

A good Strategic Enrollment plan is just that — strategic.  It views the entire student experience from recruitment through alumni relations as one picture rather than discrete parts.  The entire campus works together toward the vision and goals of the institution — and its students.

Most students and their parents may never hear directly about a school’s Strategic Enrollment Management.  It is largely an internal, institutional plan in place for administration, faculty and personnel.  However, it is important to know that each school has a plan and process in place to work with your student from entrance to graduation and beyond.