Noel-Levitz helps Utah State gain academic success
With state funding giving way, administration and faculty are tugging at programs to find weak spots and help Utah State University better shoulder its responsibilities.
Joyce Kinkead, vice provost for Undergraduate Studies and Research, said one of the first places they have focused on is the flow of the student population.
Limited resources have to be well-directed, and President Kermit L. Hall has made it clear USU’s are headed straight into academics, Kinkead said.
With that firmly established, the administration is trying to figure out how to attract and keep students best-suited to USU’s environment.
Eight months ago, the university contracted with Noel-Levitz, an enrollment management consulting company, to help the administration step back and look objectively at the whole picture – what kind of students are coming in, what do they expect, what is USU actually offering them?
Like a marketing company for universities, Noel-Levitz scrutinizes policies and programs affecting recruitment and retention with a business-like eye.
Kent Hopkins, the Noel-Levitz associate vice president working with USU, said selling education is not like selling detergent, for example. But a lot of decision-making for higher education on the institution’s part and the students’ part is based on the same kind of principles.
“We have to make sure data drives our planning processes. In any situation like this you really have to look at what you have and ask: What are we offering? What exactly do we want people to understand when they’re looking at our specific product?” Hopkins said. “And then, in this case, we have to figure out if we’re reaching the right students with our recruiting efforts.”
So who does USU want to attract? Cast in this new marketing light, USU is polishing its two main selling points: academics and the rural environment, Kinkead said.
USU can offer even beginning students a place in research labs, where they can immediately become part of important contributions to the fields they are interested in.
“Research opportunities for undergraduates are wonderful,” Kinkead said. “It’s exciting and motivating.”
Hopkins said over the next few years, the university will capitalize on this, implementing different strategies to attract strongly academic- and achievement-oriented students. Fellowships will be granted to incoming freshmen. The minimum admissions index, calculated from a student’s ACT score and high school grade point average, will raise from the high 80s to the 90s. Relationships between faculty and students will be strengthened – a very important factor in Noel-Levitz’s experience, he said.
The administration hopes the natural environment will help attract ambitious students with varied interests and a lot of energy, Kinkead said.
Hopkins said these are the kinds of connections Noel-Levitz likes to see.
“You’re a very complex research university. You have such a beautiful residential environment. There’s a lot to work with here,” Hopkins said.
The company is still looking at USU, tracking information and creating databases for broader and deeper analysis. A lot has been uncovered already, though, he said.
Eric Olsen, director of Recruitment and Enrollment Services, said, “It’s been a productive partnership. They’ve given us new ideas. It’s nice to have an outside perspective to tell us what we’re already doing right … and offer some best-practices advice.”
The average student won’t be affected as changes come. But over time, the hope is the process will sharpen USU’s vision and deepen its achievements, Olsen said.
Noel-Levitz is now in its third of a four-quarter timetable for the initial analyses. They are looking specifically at retention. The company will continue its relationship with USU, consulting periodically as the changes are implemented and afterward.
-lara@cc.usu.edu