At The Cabinet Level: Enrollment Management

By Kendra Dane

Category: Leadership Development

As a senior/cabinet level officer of your institution, the expectation from your president and your board is that while representing your particular division, you are also able to effectively contribute in all other institutional areas, as well as articulate the challenges and goals facing your institution and the larger academic market.

Below is a broad overview of important institutional metrics in Enrollment Management.  As a senior/cabinet level officer, it is key to be familiar with:

  • Your institution’s enrollment goals for the year
  • Your institution’s financial aid budget
  • Your institution’s discount rate
  • The average financial aid package for your students
  • The amount of institutional aid available to your students
  • The annual cost of tuition, room, board, and fees
  • Know what your summer melt is
  • Your institution’s net tuition revenue
  • Your benchmark institutions—by US News tier, by athletic conference, by affiliation (i.e., women’s institutions, religiously affiliated, Land Grant, etc.)
  • Those institutions that you lose students to in the admissions process
  • The top feeder community colleges that your institution has articulation agreements with
  • The number of transfer students that arrive each semester.

“At The Cabinet Level: Enrollment Management” is the second installment of SJG’s Tips Series, a periodic blog series offering tips on higher education executive search, leadership, and career development.  Each series will address a particular topic or area of higher ed.  To follow the “At The Cabinet Level” series on Twitter, use the hashtag #SJG_Cabinet_Tips.

  • Your institution’s enrollment goals for the year
  • Your institution’s financial aid budget
  • Your institution’s discount rate
  • The average financial aid package for your students
  • The amount of institutional aid available to your students
  • The annual cost of tuition, room, board, and fees
  • Know what your summer melt is
  • Your institution’s net tuition revenue
  • Your benchmark institutions—by US News tier, by athletic conference, by affiliation (i.e., women’s institutions, religiously affiliated, Land Grant, etc.)
  • Those institutions that you lose students to in the admissions process
  • The top feeder community colleges that your institution has articulation agreements with
  • The number of transfer students that arrive each semester.

Kendra Dane

Search Associate - Spelman Johnson

Kendra Dane earned her BA from Mundelein College (now part of Loyola University) and her MS from National Louis University. During a career in higher education that spans over 30 years, Kendra has most recently served as assistant dean and director of admissions at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. Prior to moving to St. Paul, she served as executive director of admissions and marketing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), as well as the executive director of enrollment services at SAIC. Kendra began her career in higher education at National Louis University in Evanston, Illinois, where she served as an associate vice president for financial aid for many years. Kendra has been active in the Illinois Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (ILASFAA), held leadership positions in Midwest Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (MASFAA), and served in a volunteer capacity as a financial aid trainer with the U.S. Department of Education.