Brain Waves Blog

With the demographic shift and many other changes happening on higher ed campuses, leveraging graduate enrollment as a campus growth opportunity is top of mind for many. Before you begin development, it’s critical to think through how to build competitive graduate programs and understand how to effectively recruit and retain graduate students. 

The topic of graduate enrollment growth is having a moment in higher ed. With the FAFSA delays and decreasing undergraduate enrollment, expanding graduate programs feels like a quick and easy solution for many campuses.

If, like me, you’ve launched new programs from the C-suite, you’ll know that the path to success is extremely challenging. Navigating the potential risks requires careful planning and consideration in a market where data sources are limited and frequently out of date. 

Strategic planning is an opportunity to evaluate and prioritize resources so your institution can optimize its strengths and achieve its goals. Every campus has a strategic plan, but the process and approach for developing that plan varies. 

In Campus Sonar’s latest industry trends report on “Rebuilding Trust in Higher Ed,” we explored the gap between trust and value to understand what audiences discuss about a college degree using social intelligence. We focused on how audiences explain the purpose of higher ed, the value of a degree based on current outcomes, and how those outcomes could evolve if trust and values aligned. 

You’ve been giving your president and board the wrong information from social media, and you need to fix it as soon as possible. I’ve spent the last few weeks listening carefully to trustees, current and former presidents, and the people who advise them. These were positive conversations, but they revealed a huge gap. One former president put it plainly.