Quantifying Athletics Impact on Enrollment

In this episode of Perspective on Athletics, we discuss the issue of enrollment management and the role athletics plays.

Many small campuses are tuition dependent, if not tuition driven, institutions. In other words, hitting enrollment targets plays a critical budgetary role for the entire campus. The relationship between athletics and admissions departments can make or break an institution’s recruiting efforts.

Key issues:

will the campus meet its enrollment target?
will coaches get their top recruits
are all coaches effectively recruiting student-athletes?
will the discount rate provide enough net tuition revenue?
if enrollment projections are low on May 2nd, how will the institution secure more deposits?
will students stay past their first year, or first semester?

Athletics plays an important role in answering all of these questions. To effectively leverage athletics recruiting, campuses must also answer these two questions:

Do your president and vice president of admissions/enrollment management understand the key role athletics plays?
Do your coaches understand how their recruiting efforts impact the institution as a whole?

While many athletics administrators and coaches anecdotally talk about the impact of athletics recruiting, too often campus administrators fail to recognize, let alone, acknowledge the critical role it plays in the institution’s viability. Coaches, particularly at the NAIA or NCAA III levels, spend more time on recruiting than on actual coaching. In these situations, athletics directors must take it upon themselves to gather data and demonstrate how athletics recruiting supports campus efforts. Anecdotal stories about recruiting activity and successes are not enough.

Coaches must be fully engaged in campus conversations about enrollment goals and targets. They are out there on the front lines interacting with potential students and their families. Coaches have to understand the value their efforts bring to the larger campus purpose. Meeting with a prospect even though he or she may not have a significant impact on the team is still important customer relations activity.

Once students are on campus, retaining them is the next most crucial issue for small institutions. One of the biggest reasons students leave is a lack of connection to the institution. Athletics and the relationship built between coach and student-athlete is one of the most powerful connections on campus. Again, too often senior administrators fail to recognize and acknowledge this important role for coaches.

Here are four strategies to employ that will help athletics directors track and demonstrate the role and impact athletics has on campus enrollment management.

1. Develop A Working Relationship With Enrollment Management

Shared goals, targets and strategies (profile, geography, etc.)
Common data base and communications systems (ranking system, mail/email contact.. don’t overload)
Meet and communicate regularly (coaches / counselors school visit schedules, game schedules, etc.)
Share success (give credit where credit is due)

2. Establish An Accountability Model

Coaches must develop recruiting plan with yield targets
Reverse engineer targets for contacts, applications and admits to generate desired yield
Shared accountability for dual sports
Effective for coaches who under perform in recruiting

3. Quantify student-athlete net tuition revenue

Stats on discount rate for student-athletes
Financial impact of having XXX student-athletes on campus
Many schools have added sports by developing a sound business model based on the additional net tuition revenue that will be generated (which far exceeds the athletics expenses required to support it)

4. Annually assess recruiting effort jointly with admissions staff

what worked, what didn’t (coaches are on “front lines” and hear different things)
Analysis of athletics recruiting investment (expenses) and yield vs Admissions expenses/yield
Tweak strategies for the coming year

Closing thoughts:

Don’t mistake activity for productivity.
Never close the door on a recruit, even after they’ve said no thanks.
Assume campus administrators know nothing about athletics recruiting, but don’t hold it against them, educate them.

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