Students need classes when they want them, and we need to be open to change. This flexible mindset is necessary to help others change. Leaders in higher education must be change makers to create a stronger institution.”
The Solution:
Using Data to Improve ROI
Partnering with Ad Astra, Northern could create an ROI for each class that included all the costs and all of the expenses. Using this information, the institution can look at a program and determine the breakeven point or the growth point. Data also provides the information to make a cost-effective decision to adjust a program or retire it. Using Align, Northern can determine the types of schedules to build and the modalities needed to strategically reduce the number of cancellations and increase enrollment ratios – furthering increasing financial health. During registration, Monitor is used to track and manage section growth and its data allows Loveless to demonstrate to Department Chairs how flexibility and better schedules benefit Northern’s students.
With better schedules in place, Northern was able to reach its enrollment goals and students can plan the rest of their life around these schedules. When students can also be full time at 15 hours, they increase Degree Velocity® and boost the likelihood to graduate on time and enter the workforce expediently.
Using this foundation, the institution can now take a closer look at the impact of toxic combinations on the schedule. If students have to repeat a class, it costs the institution more and students feel an impact on their time and resources. Northern is also looking at DFW rates because this impacts the institution based on performance funding. Both efforts further assist financial health and help students create a better ROI on success.
“In this current environment, those who want to sustain their institution and improve student success need to throw away all the old models and start thinking of new ways to attract students because we don’t have the same students that we used to,” Loveless concluded.
Every improvement Ad Astra makes helps us to create financially healthy programs that assist our students in becoming more successful and gaining financial independence.”
