If you care about survival and success of small colleges, this session will pull the curtain back on what effective leadership looks like at financially strong small, private institutions.

Small, private colleges and universities are in trouble. Every few weeks we see a new story about a small, private, nonprofit institution in financial trouble closing or "merging" with a much larger and wealthier neighbor. The higher education marketplace is more competitive than ever, as flagship publics and highly selective, well-endowed private institutions continue to see increases in enrollment and media attention.  How can small college survive in today's higher education landscape?

Learn how three financially successful small, private, moderately selective colleges have made their way swimming with the sharks. Based on 19 in-depth interviews with executives, faculty and trustees at these three campuses, you will learn the tactics and strategies employed by senior leadership at these institutions that have achieved strong financial results. You will leave with real insights from leaders at financially strong small colleges and the lessons they learned - all of which can be replicated on your campus.

This episode of Bluey is called...MarComm and Admissions Play Nice!

Discover how the beloved children’s show Bluey offers lessons in synergy between a central university marketing team and an admissions marketing team. We often hear about campus marketing teams becoming territorial, siloed, and even combative. But when we work together and align our goals and strategies, we can create cohesive, compelling work that resonates with prospective students.

Embracing Bluey’s themes of teamwork, empathy and creativity, Brogan Boles and Victoria O’Malley from Colorado School of Mines will delve into ways to foster unity between marketing teams. Learn how marketers at Mines work together to present a united front, leverage the strengths of each individual, and pool resources to get more bang for their buck.

We’ll explore practical techniques inspired by Bluey's ethos of hard-work and curiosity, empowering participants to enhance collaboration, drive enrollment success, and play nice! The goal of this session is to break down silos, find ways to collaborate across a large or small institution, and find common ground. We’ll discuss how to divvy up roles and responsibilities, face difficult conversations with your counterparts, leverage technology to ensure transparency and teamwork, infuse some fun into the work, and engage in continuous improvement and a feedback loop in order to enhance relationships.

There may even be a round of keepy-uppy at the end...

Whether you’re a parent who can recite the Bluey theme song by heart on all the right beats, or you’re unfamiliar with the Australian Heeler family, you’ll find value in this session if you’re looking for ways to improve relationships across campus and hear from marketers who lead with empathy, fun, and transparency.

In the small school universe, you don't need Stark Industries' budget to become a data-powered Avenger! This session is your origin story, transforming scattered information into your mighty arsenal of actionable insights.

Feeling like you're facing an Ultron-level data overload with post-snap level resources? Fear not! We'll show you how to wield the existing data Infinity Stones – trusty sources like IPEDS, U.S. News & World Report, and CollegeBoard – to lessen your burden and amplify your impact with the pinpoint accuracy of a Hawkeye arrow.

Do your campus data platforms feel like the fractured Avengers before Nick Fury brought them together? We'll help you identify your data heroes (and the Hulks who operate independently), devise a strategic plan to bridge communication like a well-timed Quinjet deployment, and forge powerful integrations to work as one cohesive team. You'll learn to navigate the complex data landscape with the stealth and intelligence of Black Widow, uncovering hidden connections and crucial insights.

Every hero needs their squad! Discover the data allies on your campus, learn how to assemble your own "Data Avengers Initiative," and explore the power of collaborative data missions.

Ready to visualize your victories with the flair of a Stark Expo presentation ? We'll explore accessible data visualization tech – from the sophisticated like JARVIS (Tableau/PowerBI) to the dependable like a well-maintained Iron Man suit (Excel graphs) – empowering you to create compelling narratives for your inner circle (senior leadership and faculty) and the wider world (prospective families and high school counselors). Learn strategic deployment schedules for your reports when real-time data feels like calling for Thor's lightning.

Don't let a modest budget, limited bandwidth, or systems older than Captain America deter you! This session will equip you with the heroic skills to forge useful and engaging data-driven strategies, no matter the size of your resources. Prepare to assemble your data, find your data allies, and unleash your school's heroic potential! Data Assemble!

In an admission world that's constantly shifting, data isn't just helpful—it’s your secret weapon. This session will show you how to take the guesswork out of recruitment travel and territory planning by using real data from your institution and partners. We’ll break down how to turn reports and dashboards into smart, strategic moves that make your travel work harder (and smarter) for you.

You'll leave with fresh ideas to help you become more fiscally responsible, avoid burnout, and make the most of your time on the road. Whether you’re new to the field or a seasoned pro, this session is perfect for anyone looking to be more efficient, effective, and extraordinary in their recruitment strategy. Ideal for counselors ready to balance impact with intention—and prove that when used the right way, data doesn’t just inform your decisions—it transforms them.

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The higher education market is not getting any easier, challenging demographics, weakening governmental support and an increasingly skeptical public for the value of a college degree. Whereas the state flagships and premier private universities have less concern, they to have upped their game. Regional and smaller universities need to accelerate their competitive posture and initiate aggressive change to win in this market. These institutions, public or private, have a unique opportunity to find the “Goldilocks” position of not being “too big” or “too small” but “just right,” but taking advantage of it, is always the challenge.

This presentation will look at some of the obstacles of building an integrated SEM structure to support this market position and offer some options for action-based campus-wide strategies to create campus understanding of the “Goldilocks” position, how to aggressively sell its value, achieve its value expectations, and finally validate its proof points to complete the cycle.

For years, these smaller and mid-sized universities have squandered their opportunity to grow market share through levels of complacency and an aversion to institutional change. Currently there is no choice, it’s Time to Kick It Up a Notch!

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Enrollment growth is more than new student headcount. This session will go over how the restructuring of reporting lines at the senior leadership level has led to an increase in enrollment over the past three years. The Chief Operating Team: Provost, VPEM, and VPSE have combined to review various processes that used to lead to higher summer melt and lower retention of first-year students.

Hear how past experiences, combined with the new internal leadership, increased first-year retention almost 10% over three years and decreased summer melt.

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Considering a tuition reset or reduction? The decision alone won’t drive success—how you get there is just as critical. In an era of heightened price sensitivity and enrollment volatility, missteps in communication, design, or execution can derail even the most well-intentioned efforts. That’s why a strategic, evidence-based process is essential.

This session presents Winthrop University’s recent "Tuition Transparency Initiative" as a case study in intentional change management. Grounded in the principles of Improvement Science and Program Evaluation, the initiative followed a structured Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle to evaluate, design, and implement a tuition reset that aligned with institutional values and market realities.

Enrollment leaders will come away from this session with a clear, actionable framework for navigating their own tuition strategy conversations. Whether you're just beginning to explore pricing reform or are further along in the process, this session will provide practical insights, pitfalls to avoid, and tools to ensure your tuition reset is mission-driven, data-informed, and stakeholder-supported.

Small colleges often bill themselves of functioning like a family, but as we all know, families have their own dysfunctions (at worst) and tensions (at best). One way this can manifest is in the typical faculty-staff divide. This is problematic when faculty and staff depend on each other for reaching critical enrollment goals. How can you bridge this divide and get your PhDs to be ‘Pretty Helpful Delegates’ in your enrollment efforts?

Through creating structures to promote communication and relationship building amongst faculty enrollment staff and outlining clear expectations for faculty participating in enrollment activities, Franklin College saw a record incoming class last year. This session will explore insights from a VPAA to help you better understand the mindset of your faculty and use that information to create strategies to incorporate faculty into your recruiting initiatives.

If you’ve ever sat in a meeting with your CFO or university president and heard something along the lines of, “We need to increase enrollment, but there’s no additional funding available,” then you’re not alone. And if you haven’t had that conversation yet—consider yourself blessed and highly favored.

The truth is, many of us in enrollment management have faced this exact challenge: growing numbers without growing budgets. It can feel like being asked to build a house with the same handful of tools—but it is possible.

This session is about getting real. We’ll explore how to leverage what you already have—your grit, creativity, and available resources—to drive enrollment growth.

At Charleston Southern University, we’ve seen measurable increases in enrollment over the past few years without significant budget increases. And we’re here to share what worked.

Our goal? To walk away with a few practical, actionable takeaways that you can start implementing right away—without a heavy lift or a budget overhaul.

Let’s get to work.

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This episode of Bluey is called...MarComm and Admissions Play Nice!

Discover how the beloved children’s show Bluey offers lessons in synergy between a central university marketing team and an admissions marketing team. We often hear about campus marketing teams becoming territorial, siloed, and even combative. But when we work together and align our goals and strategies, we can create cohesive, compelling work that resonates with prospective students.

Embracing Bluey’s themes of teamwork, empathy and creativity, Brogan Boles and Victoria O’Malley from Colorado School of Mines will delve into ways to foster unity between marketing teams. Learn how marketers at Mines work together to present a united front, leverage the strengths of each individual, and pool resources to get more bang for their buck.

We’ll explore practical techniques inspired by Bluey's ethos of hard-work and curiosity, empowering participants to enhance collaboration, drive enrollment success, and play nice! The goal of this session is to break down silos, find ways to collaborate across a large or small institution, and find common ground. We’ll discuss how to divvy up roles and responsibilities, face difficult conversations with your counterparts, leverage technology to ensure transparency and teamwork, infuse some fun into the work, and engage in continuous improvement and a feedback loop in order to enhance relationships.

There may even be a round of keepy-uppy at the end...

Whether you’re a parent who can recite the Bluey theme song by heart on all the right beats, or you’re unfamiliar with the Australian Heeler family, you’ll find value in this session if you’re looking for ways to improve relationships across campus and hear from marketers who lead with empathy, fun, and transparency.