Unlocking Enrollment Transparency: Four Critical Questions Higher Ed Marketers Should Ask
Apr 25, 2025
The long-awaited enrollment cliff in higher education is no longer a distant concern—it’s here. Since the Great Recession, declining birth rates have led to a shrinking pool of high school graduates, and universities are feeling the effects. According to theNational Center for Education Statistics (NCES), college enrollment has dropped by 15% since 2010, with 2.7 million fewer students enrolled today than a decade ago. And the outlook is only getting worse.
Who are my right-fit applicants?
Marketers must go beyond basic demographic data and explore the nuanced characteristics that truly define their right-fit students. Admissions and engagement offices’ existing data systems can uncover these details.
Where do I find better-qualified students?
While traditional tactics like college fairs, print mailers, and commercials still matter in higher ed marketing, digital channels now play a critical role in reaching right-fit applicants. Platforms such as social media, search (including YouTube), and programmatic display offer powerful ways to connect with prospective students, but effectiveness depends on understanding audience behavior.
How do I reach applicants with my marketing dollars?
Digital marketing offers the flexibility and cost efficiency needed to do this, enabling personalized content and precise segmentation based on academic interests, geography, demographics, and psychographics. By continuously refining audience segments and reallocating budgets toward high-performing channels, institutions can maximize impact, improve efficiency, and adapt quickly as student behavior and market dynamics evolve.
What did I learn from the data about my investment?
Data-driven decision-making is essential to effective higher education marketing, extending beyond individual campaigns to inform the entire enrollment journey. By tracking conversion rates across each stage of the funnel and layering in spend, channel performance, and real student data, institutions gain clearer insight into applicant behavior and key decision points.
Take control of your enrollment strategy
Reach out to learn more about our higher ed data solutions, or see how we helped a public, four-year university increase total applicants by 40% year over year.