Undergraduate Enrollment History and Goals

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2016 Recruitment Plan University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point 2 | P a g e Recruitment Goals 2015-2016

Undergraduate Enrollment History and Goals Fall, Spring Spring Fall 2015 2015 2016 2016 Actual Year Actuals Goals Goals s New First-Year Students 72 100 1792 1730

Transfers 260 260 681 750 Average ACT - New First Year 23 23 22.4 22.6 New Freshman Diversity 5 10 202 230 New Freshman WI Residency 33 40 1524 1450

New Freshman Minnesota Reciprocity 0 59 60 New Freshman MSEP 4 5 133 135

New Freshman Other Out-State 12 15 76 85 Recruit 3 National Merit Scholars 0 0 2 3

These goals were developed in discussion with the AVC for Enrollment Management, Director of Admissions and the Admissions staff. Fall 2016 numbers are conservative. We also expect to see an increase in enrollment from California this year and an increase from the DC/Maryland region. 3 | P a g e Strategies and Action Plans

Bachelor of Applied Studies – Adult Student Program Promotion Marketing the Program

 Will increase the first two years of marketing investment and decrease out years as the program enrollment stabilizes.  Will use the following marketing tools to push the program o Pandora Ads – focused by age and geography with guaranteed web hits in the thousands o Facebook Ads o Google Search Ads o Investigate Hulu Ads o Purchase of last two years of Associate Degree grads from Nicolet, NTC and MSTC to be placed in CRM for outbound marketing and tracking. o Purchase of direct mail list for region of target age group with Associate Degrees CRM for outbound marketing and tracking. o Development of promotional brochure o Development of post card for direct mail campaign. o Potential billboard placements on 39 and in Wausau

Marketing of the program will promote the following advantages of the BAS:  Face to Face experience  Local/Proximity to where prospective students work and live  Up to 12 credits more transfer from a tech college to UW – Stevens Point than the leading UW program. A maximum of 72 credits towards a bachelor degree. This offer is comparable to Lakeland’s transfer offer.

 Savings benefit of time and transfer.

 8 week blocks for classes– get the program done faster, save time and money

 Our program can be provided at a work site if the demand exists.

 Offerings can be in Wausau and Stevens Point.

 Books are included in the tuition.

Recruitment Strategies  High level admissions manager visits to Northcentral Technical College, Mid-State Technical College, Nicolet College and Fox Valley Technical College in January to promote the BAS option to counselors and students.

 Follow-up campus visits by admissions recruiter to tech colleges later in January.

 Early evening info session nights promoted by Enrollment Management; one in late January and one in late February.

Focus on Service Quality to Improve Competitive Advantage Strategies 4 | P a g e  Through a process of continuous improvement monitor the quality and provision of Admissions, Financial Aid, and Orientation/Registration services to ensure best of breed operations. Actions  Execute realignment of transfer admissions process with new student admissions process.  Review the readmit workflow process.  Financial Aid will develop a talking points document for Admissions Counselors on the aid application process.  Train admissions counselors in reconfigured aid programs that students may be eligible for. Explain deadlines and requirements for eligibility.  Train key managers and team members within Enrollment Management on business analysis, lean and process improvement to shorten the time cycles needed to provide key services to students.  Continue focus on improving the quality of the on campus orientation experience.  Upgrade the quality and follow-through of the distance advising/registration process for out of state students.

Improve Communication with Students and Key Constituencies in the Admission Process Strategies  Ensure that financial aid communications are leveraged in the recruitment process.  Focus on developing new parent communications to ensure they are provided with the knowledge to leverage an admission decision in favor of UW – Stevens Point.  Ensure that the message of affordability and quality are maximized. Actions  Implement a parent communication flow that includes admissions and financial aid.  Develop a parent bulletin for new student orientation.  Develop an on-campus event for high school guidance and college transfer counselors that showcases the wide variety of offerings at UW – Stevens Point and provides an overview of services and opportunities for students.  Continue to increase presence of UW – Stevens Point recruitment in key North Central Wisconsin high schools, technical colleges and UW Colleges.  Develop an admissions advisory group of high school guidance counselors, teachers and contacts from the UW Colleges and Technical Colleges.  Develop a communication flow with students who submit a FAFSA to UW – Stevens Point, but no admissions application.  Admissions counselors will continue to call admitted students after receipt of their aid package to see if they have any questions regarding their financial aid.  Develop and email a high school counselor newsletter several times a year to counselors in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan.

Increase the Size of the Inquiry and Applicant Pool Strategies  Grow Suspect Pool to 75,000  Grow Prospect Pool to 9000  Grow Applicant Pool to 5000  Grow Admit Pool to 4025 Actions  Increase purchase of qualified or best fit names to 75,000 from 50,000.  Increase Wisconsin and Mid-West (MSEP) ACT score purchase range from 20 – 36, was 23- 36.  Ensure continuous purchase of lists for UW Colleges graduates and technical college graduates to promote increasing transfer opportunities to UW – Stevens Point. 5 | P a g e

Improve the Quality of the Applicant Pool Strategies  Maintain a 22.6 ACT average for new students for the incoming class.

 Focus on building a key population to seek membership to National Merit Scholarship Program.

Actions  Develop new academic factors admit matrix to ensure admission of the most qualified students.

 Review the outcomes of the conditional admit program and make adjustments based on needed improvements.

 Design and implement follow-up process for Strong Start applicants at UW Marathon.

 Increase and target more merit based aid at the 24 – 27 ACT range as those students have the most potential for enrolling at UW – Stevens Point and the greatest financial need.

 Develop and implement a targeted effort to recruit at least three National Merit Scholars.

Increase Non-Resident Enrollment Strategies  Increase the number of partner high schools in the out of state network.  Increase admission yields from out of state partner high schools.  Localize recruitment efforts with partner high schools.

Actions  Arrange an on campus visit/event for California partner schools personnel.

 Develop opportunity to provide distance instruction to California partner schools.

 Hire PT high school staff members within DC/MD metro areas to work with partner schools. This will reduce travel costs and improve linkages to the local community. The PT recruiter will be trained in key advising issues related to academics and financial aid. The PT recruiter will make home visits to students and their families. Implementation date January 2016.

Partner Schools - Out of State

Los Angeles, CA: Specific high schools are listed below. Marc Young and Scott West visited these high schools and have started creating a “pipeline” of students. Again, this is a developing market that will take several years to fully cultivate.

 Environmental Charter High School of Los Angeles  Charter High School for the Arts  DaVinci School Design and Science  Idyllwild Arts Academy, Idyllwild CA

New York City/Washington DC/Baltimore, MD: Continue to build relationships with the following out of state high schools.  The SEED School, Baltimore, MD and DC  LaGuardia School of the Arts, NY 6 | P a g e  Friendship Collegiate, Washington, DC  High School for Environmental Studies, NYC  Northwestern High School, Hyattsville MD

Increase Diversity of New and Transfer Students Strategies  Increase the number of on campus recruitment opportunities for diversity students.  Develop strong relationships with regional tribal communities and colleges.  Develop pre-college educational opportunities for on-campus experiences for diversity students and their families.  Support the on-campus visit from partner school counselors and teachers to deepen their knowledge of UW – Stevens Point.

Actions  Develop a Guaranteed Transfer Agreement with the College of the Menominee Nation.

 Continue to promote and develop pre-college recruitment activities in partnership with the Ho Chunk Nation Education Department.

 Develop family visit opportunities for diversity students.

 Implement a new multi-cultural camp for Hmong students from the Wausau region - carried over from previous year.

 Develop new guaranteed transfer articulation agreements with Northern Virginia Community College and. Prince George’s County in Maryland. We will refer students who we deny from DC/MD region to these community colleges and remain in touch with them during their first year to encourage transfer based assuming a successful first year at college.

Increase Enrollment of New Students and Transfers from within North Central Wisconsin Strategies  Maximize the number of enrolled students from Central Wisconsin regional high schools.  Increase the number of transfer students from Central Wisconsin regional UW Colleges and technical colleges.

Actions  Develop a Guaranteed Transfer Agreement with the College of the Menominee Nation.

 Market the Guaranteed Transfer Agreement for Technical Colleges to UW – Stevens Point.

 Work with UW Marathon County to ensure maximum enrollment within the new Strong Start program.

 Plan recurring on campus visit days for regional high schools, UW Colleges, technical colleges and tribal colleges that promote application generation.

Improve the Utilization of on Campus Events to Increase Admission Yields Strategies  Increase the attendance of prospective students and their families at on campus events.  Improve the quality of the on campus visit experience. 7 | P a g e

Actions  Increase number of Saturday Visit days which are well attended (100+ students).

 Move one Viewpoint day to a Saturday to increase attendance.

 Review and monitor the quality of the on campus tour including an annual campus walk through with Facilities.

 Review the process for classroom visits by prospective students to ensure an optimal experience.

 Will continue to offer online application and deposit payment “one stops “at Viewpoints.

 Continue the newly established Admitted Student Visit days.

 Review the current mix of visit days/Viewpoints to determine needed improvements for FY17 recruitment.

Historical Data on ViewPoint

# of # of # Attending Daily # Attending Transfe Transfer Year Visitor ViewPoint r ViewPoint s Visitors 2012-2013 2659 1510 253 225 2013-2014 3108 621 (fall 196 287 only) 2014-2015 4968 2086 248 153

Improve Institutional Marketing Focused on Student Recruitment Strategies Overall marketing efforts for the University need to be more focused and directed toward increased recruitment of students. To that end the following strategies will be undertaken:

 Focus on improving print recruitment materials including the viewbook, financing a college education and other key leave behinds to ensure a linkage to website and online services.

 Develop consistency in the look and feel of admissions publications.

 Enhancement of marketing technologies used to recruit new students.

Actions  Revision of existing viewbook by Spring 2016.

 Establish regular meetings with URC/College Marketing and Enrollment Management to ensure alignment of activities for university recruitment.

 Purchase and implementation of YouVisit campus tour. 8 | P a g e  Purchase and implementation of Hootsuite for social networking marketing and management.

 Increased purchasing of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Google Search advertising.

Improve the Quality of Online Services for Prospective Students Strategies Quality online services are essential in college admissions. UW – Stevens Point is dealing with several admission process gaps because of a lack of digital functionality. Online tracking of key admissions documents and events for a prospective student can more effectively steer the prospective student through the admissions, housing and orientation processes.

In order to better promote retention programs it is necessary to capture student interests online so the data can be shared with campus organizations to promote student engagement in their specific activity.

The admitted student portal would have a common place to advertise and collect registration for retention programs. This will allow us to determine the academic profile of students entering retention programs and manipulate enrollment to ensure the students with the greatest need receive the services.

The admitted student portal completed the design/build process during Summer/Fall 2015 and will be in place for Fall 2016 admits. It will include functionality specified below:

Actions Build an Applicant Portal to enhance the existing features within CRM  Would provide applicant tracking of document and test score receipts by UW – Stevens Point  Would provide opportunities to register for on –campus events.

Build an Admitted Student Portal features to include:  Payment of housing and admission deposits.  Ability to complete housing forms online.

 Ability to register for retention programs.

 Optional survey to collect student interests to share with on/off campus organizations that students typically join.

 Ability to register for orientation online.

 Orientation Advising Survey online.

Perform Analysis of Key Trends and Operational Metrics Strategies  Regularly review competitor data and operational metrics to look for competitive advantage opportunities and to ensure a solid understanding of the admissions market in Wisconsin.

 Establish departmental metrics to measure effectiveness of efforts and to use for continuous improvement processes.’

Actions  Admitted/Not Enrolled student data will be sent to the National Student Clearinghouse to provide insight into where accepted students who did not enroll at UW – Stevens Point did attend. This will provide a solid understanding of direct competitors. 9 | P a g e  CRM reports will be developed that will measure communication campaign effectiveness, yield rates for applicants by student type and review of yield rates to recruitment events.

 Increase CRM knowledge for Admissions staff through additional training opportunities.

 Utilize new Hootsuite product to determine impact and measures for social networking activity related to Admissions.

 Utilize new Hootsuite technology to benchmark social media operations against that of other UW competitors.

Promote STEM Programs at UW – Stevens Point Strategies Increasingly students and their parents are focusing on STEM programs as career options because of significant market demand and good paying job opportunities in these fields. Because the UW – Stevens Point excels in the following STEM areas increased promotion of these programs is essential to enrollment growth.

 Life Sciences

 Physical Sciences

 Health and Wellness

 Information Technology

 Graphic Design

While life science programs are at maximum enrollment, the Biology department is revising academic progression requirements to ensure a higher quality program. The other programs listed all possess the opportunities for enrollment growth.

Actions  Continue to work with College of Letters and Science to promote STEM opportunities through on campus and off campus visits that include engaging activities for prospective students.

Website Enhancements to Promote Effective Recruitment Strategies Effective web based recruitment is core to an intake strategy to increase the overall student enrollment. Based on review of Google Analytics data we know that students are typically entering the UW – Stevens Point site via program pages.

Actions  Development of new graduate program pages.  Development of faculty videos for department pages.  Parent newsletter page is being developed via orientation to ensure we are working with parents.  Work with URC on the implementation of Hootsuite social networking analytics.  Increase the spend for online marketing efforts within Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan.

Reallocating Out of State Waiver Resources to Improve the Quality of the Admit Pool Strategies 10 | P a g e Review existing out of state waiver resources and new UWS TAG resources to increase enrollment of higher achieving students.

Actions  Revise out of state waivers relative to new State of Wisconsin legislative requirements to award only for “merit” and “deserving” students. Merit is determined by academic measurements such as test scores, high school GPA, etc. Deserving as defined by the Board of Regents.  We will increase the dollars allocated toward merit to increase the number of students with financial need that possess high quality academic credentials.  We will develop a funding pool that will ensure net revenue for out of state enrollments that benefits the fiscal position of the University.  We will maintain graduate assistantships, Lane Tech scholarships and Trailblazer scholarship commitments previously made through a revision of existing out of state waiver procedures.  TAG monies from UWS will be used for retention of existing students and recruitment needs to increase enrollment of high achieving students. Development of a Dedicated Scholarship Function for the Enrollment Management Unit  Reassignment of tasks of new, transfer and continuing student scholarship management to a position within enrollment management reporting to the AVC.

 Position will manage:

o New and existing scholarship awarding.

o Out of state tuition waiver assignment and processing.

o Promotion of institutional and third party scholarship offerings.

o Student and staff interaction related to the disbursement of scholarships.

o Creation of scholarship committees to vet specific scholarship applications.

o Interaction with Financial Aid and Admissions to ensure an excellent service level to students.