A note from...

Shane Pruitt, Ed.D., Senior Consultant, Retention and Enrollment

The Four Ps of Enrollment Management: A Framework for Future-Proofing Strategy

For decades, the classic marketing mix – Product, Price, Place, and Promotion – has served as a reliable compass for building consumer demand. In higher education, however, our work is not about selling a single product; it’s about building equitable student pathways, aligning operations across silos, and strengthening institutional resilience. At Iron Bridge Resources, we find that another Four Ps framework offers a sharper lens for assessing and optimizing enrollment strategy: People, Processes, Platforms, and Policies.

While there was a 4.5% rebound in postsecondary enrollment in Fall 2024, this increase was largely driven by older first-year students. Indeed, this gain should not be mistaken for a return to stability. Associate and bachelor’s degree enrollment still lags behind 2019 levels, and long-term projections, including the anticipated “enrollment cliff,” suggest continued turbulence. Strategic action is required – not just to sustain enrollment, but to future-proof it.

To drive sustainable enrollment growth, institutions must rigorously assess their infrastructure across these Four Ps.

People: Aligning Human Capital with Institutional Strategy

According to a 2024 United Educators report, 71% of campus leaders rank enrollment as their top institutional risk. This issue cannot be mitigated through staffing alone. The key lies in empowering the right people, in the right roles, and creating an environment where collaboration and student engagement are paramount.

Critical Focus Areas:

• Cross-functional alignment: Are marketing, admissions, financial aid, and advising sharing data and strategy, or operating in silos?
• Staff development: Are enrollment staff equipped to leverage data, understand emerging market trends, and support students in a personalized way?
• Community activation: Are faculty, alumni, and student ambassadors mobilized to tell the institution’s story and foster authentic engagement with prospects?
• Leadership and vision: Is there a clear enrollment philosophy across the institution, championed by senior leadership and implemented through clear metrics?

Institutions that invest in people and collaboration are better...

From the desk of...

Robert Weinerman, Director of Training

Let’s Talk about the Professional Judgment Issue When an Applicant is eligible for Maximum Pell Grant but a Contributor Reported Having a Foreign Earned Income Exclusion

As you may know, I provide an email helpdesk service. The service is available to institutions that invite me to provide training to their staff, and state and regional associations that invite me to provide training for their members through their professional development and training programs or have me provide sessions at their conferences. The service runs through the aid cycle for each relevant training year.

Prior to the pandemic, I offered, as a conference session, a summary of the top five questions I had been asked during the prior year’s helpdesk cycle. As we all know, the pandemic changed a lot, and was quickly followed by FAFSA Simplification, and this conference session got dropped by the wayside as we dealt with all the changes these challenges created.

But I am bringing it back as an option, and I thought I would celebrate by addressing the issue that I get asked the most about – ISIR Comment Codes 040, 076, 096, and 127. These codes will appeal on ISIRS of applicants who are flagged with Maximum Pell Grant eligibility based on the primary contributor’s (contributors’) AGI, which has been reduced by a manually reported foreign earned income exclusion (FEIE). Financial aid administrators (FAAs) are required to consider using Professional Judgment (PJ) to remove the student’s eligibility for Maximum Pell Grant in every case where one of these codes appears on the ISIR. This is a novel situation – as far as I know it is the first time FAAs have been required to consider using professional judgment for...