Do you feel your school is losing opportunities to gather insight from all the student data your staff manages? While K-12 private and independent schools have a wealth of data and reporting capabilities at their fingertips, knowing how to gather and use data to make informed decisions can be challenging.
Sifting through data can be time-consuming, and we’re here to make it easier for you. We’ve compiled six critical insights on how schools can utilize key data insights to shape strategies across the student lifecycle, from admissions to retention. These insights come from our Shaping Your Tuition and Enrollment Strategy webinar hosted by K-12 experts Christie Davis, Shana Abner, and Christi Reece.
1. Explore Trends Across the Admissions Funnel
Has your school examined changes in the students and families applying to your school over time? Identifying data points and trends within your funnel can shape inquiry and admissions strategies. For example, are behaviors different at various entry points, such as kindergarten, middle, or high school? And more importantly, how do these trends shift year over year?
Utilizing demographic data can aid in creating personalized, targeted communication, making admissions marketing campaigns more effective. Additionally, tracking the original source of student inquiries and applications allows schools to determine where to allocate budget and resources for future outreach efforts.
2. Leverage External Data for Enrollment Success
We encourage schools to look beyond their data and explore external market factors to form effective strategies. Geographic, socio-economic, and national considerations are pivotal in student recruitment. For example, a school can regularly run a zip code report and identify which zip codes might need more recruitment efforts. This is especially useful when trying to increase diversity recruitment efforts. You might also note if your school recruits families from specific zip codes versus others in your region due to a short commute. Looking at a socio-economic example, a school with strong language support programs may attract families from varying linguistic backgrounds.
Analyzing local market trends and understanding external influences enables schools to tailor their outreach strategies more effectively. Schools can also consider hosting focus groups to learn directly from families about enrollment decisions
3. Define Financial Aid Goals
Setting financial aid goals allows schools to budget and allocate resources effectively, ensuring financial aid programs align with the school’s mission and objectives. Administrators can proactively use key financial aid data to inform strategic planning. Here are questions administrators can use when setting financial aid goals:
- What percentage of our student population needs financial aid?
- Is there a relationship between award size and income bands?
- Are awards matching the actual financial needs of families?
- What is the overall budget for financial aid?
- What impact will financial aid have on enrollment goals?
By establishing clearly defined goals and data insights, schools will enhance transparency and accountability internally and externally—demonstrating a commitment to socio-economic diversity and equitable access to education.
4. Maximize Net Tuition Revenue
A well-crafted Net Tuition Revenue (NTR) strategy can provide financial stability for your school. Before deploying an NTR strategy, you need to understand your capacity and demand at a micro level, starting with data analysis. Explore questions such as: What’s happening to drive more demand or capacity in specific grades, tactically from you and external influencers? What is changing over time? And what do you have the ability to influence that can build more stability?
Aligning the net tuition revenue strategy with the financial aid strategy is a key component in maintaining mission consistency, fostering socio-economic diversity, and enhancing accessibility. This ensures financial aid programs can make education affordable while also supporting a sustainable financial model.
Once you have examined data and aligned financial aid goals, you can create strategies that maximize NTR. Here is an example:
Student Y pays the full $15,000 tuition for grades 9-12, totaling $60,000. Student Z can afford $10,000 annually for grades 6-12, totaling $70,000. In this case, Student Z would be accepted with a financial aid grant instead of Student Y.
Your NTR strategy can remain flexible and adapt to your financial aid goals, admission and enrollment numbers, and external market factors.
5. Payment Activity as a Predictor of Enrollment Health
We think about tuition payments during the admission and enrollment process regarding financial aid and contracting, but examining existing students’ payment plans and timelines can also help schools estimate re-enrollment health.
Looking at current payment plan types and the timeliness of payments can shed light on potential indicators of enrollment risk. By analyzing this data, schools can understand and proactively address factors that may pose risks to re-enrollment—identifying challenges early on and implementing strategic measures to support families and the school’s financial health.
6. The Relationship Between Fundraising and Retention Data
Families engaging in annual giving or fundraising events is a positive sign—it reflects their investment in your school’s success. In this way, analyzing annual giving data and trends can be correlated with overall satisfaction and a positive predictor of retention.
Analyzing reports on individual family donations, overall participation, grade-level involvement, and total monetary contributions can help a school gauge each family’s commitment level. It can also help a school determine if there’s a healthy retention rate and pinpoint which grades might experience attrition.
Remember, it’s essential to understand and strike a balance between the amount your school is awarding in financial aid compared to the estimated fundraising income. For this reason, many schools are moving to an advancement model—combining development, admissions, and marketing offices to align strategies.
Discover Additional Data Analysis Insights
By harnessing the power of data, schools can make informed decisions, adapt to changing trends, and ultimately create an environment conducive to growth and success. Watch our on-demand webinar, Shaping Your Tuition and Enrollment Strategy, for an in-depth look at each of these six insights.
