Enrollment Planning Network
The Enrollment Planning Network (EPN) began in 2006 with a small group of private research universities exploring an exchange of historical data and best practices in university administration. Enrollment managers, admissions directors, and financial aid officers gathered again at the 2009 College Board Forum to advance the organization begun only a few years earlier. The group solidified its objectives during the meeting and agreed to conduct annual meetings on the campus of a member school each year.
The central activity of the Enrollment Planning Network is the Annual Meeting where participating schools arrange panel discussions and data exchanges. For example, a recent meeting included a policy roundtable discussion with leaders in higher education from the One DuPont Circle offices, Capitol Hill, and the education press. Other sessions have included international recruitment, rethinking Pell Grants, and the impact of intercollegiate athletics on admissions. Representatives from attending school raise questions relevant to their own institution while others offer thoughts and suggestions in an open forum discussion. Annual Meeting sessions are lively, direct, and relevant to the common problems facing enrollment-driven, private research universities including a popular "round robin" event where each school updates colleagues about the most pressing problems on its campus from the previous year.
The Enrollment Planning Network also conducts “Quick Surveys” at critical times in the admissions cycle about applications, deposits, admission rates, and yields. While these data are available retrospectively from a variety of public sources like Guidebooks or the media, sharing the information systematically in a timely manner according to common definitions is highly valuable to those with responsibility for enrollment management. EPN also shares historical data from the Common Data Set and College Board profiles on a secure website with the calculation of benchmarks and strategic indices focused on admissions and financial aid.
The member schools of the Enrollment Planning Network include American University, Baylor, Boston College, Boston University, Brandeis, Bucknell, Case Western Reserve, Denver, Drexel, Emory, Fordham, George Washington, Lehigh, Miami, Northeastern, Notre Dame, NYU, SMU, St. Louis, Santa Clara, Syracuse, TCU, Tufts, Tulane, USC, and Villanova.
Small College Consortium
The Small College Consortium (SCC) began in 2015 with a small group of private small colleges exploring an exchange of historical data and best practices in enrollment management. The group first met for a lunch during the 2015 College Board Forum in Washington DC and began completing surveys about benchmark statistics shortly after the conference. It is currently recruiting members and beginning to establish an infrastructure to facilitate data exchanges, information sharing, the conduct of an annual meeting, and other collective activities.
The central activity of the Small College Consortium will become an Annual Meeting where participating schools arrange panel discussion, speakers, presentations, and an exchange of best practices. The first annual meeting is currently in its planning phase with more specific information to be announced in the near future.
The Small College Consortium also conducts “Quick Surveys” at critical times in the admissions cycle about applications, deposits, admission rates, and yields. While these data are available retrospectively from a variety of public sources like Guidebooks or the media, sharing the information systematically in a timely manner according to common definitions is highly valuable to those with responsibility for enrollment management. SCC will also share historical data from the Common Data Set and College Board profiles in this secure website with the calculation of benchmarks and strategic indices focused on admissions and financial aid.
The member schools in the Small College Consortium include Bennington, Claremont McKenna, Colorado College, Denison, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Grinnell, Holy Cross, Kenyon, Lafayette, Macalester, Muhlenberg, Occidental, Pitzer, Reed, Rhodes, Richmond, Rollins, Sarah Lawrence College, Scripps, Sewanee, Skidmore, St. John's, St. Olaf, Trinity University, Union, W&L University.