Enrollment Growth for a Small Bible College in Colorado

John W. Dysart
President
The Dysart Group, Inc.

There are exciting trends emerging at a small college in Colorado Springs. After a number of years of enrollment declines, a new growth spurt is occurring.

Nazarene Bible College has recently adopted a new recruitment and financial aid strategy. Working with The Dysart Group, Inc. positive outcomes are already being realized. In the seven months since new tactics have been utilized, the impact on recruitment has been significant.

– The application pool grew by 131%.

– The number of new students accepted for admission has grown by 43% compared to last year.

– New student enrollments for Fall 2013 have increased by 32% during a period when many colleges are experiencing declines in new student enrollment.

Dr. Harold Graves, Jr., the President, has set the tone for the rest of the campus by actively participating in the recruitment process. He has been meeting with prospective students and even making telephone calls to admission applicants to encourage them to enroll.

Dr. Laurel Mattson and David Church are leading the admission effort and have introduced new tactics such as telephone outreach, targeted text messaging and direct mail communication.

Dr. Graves even initiated a campus full court press in the month of August aimed at not only recruiting more students, but registering more returning students and encouraging stop outs to re-enroll. The outcomes were impressive as the academic advisors successfully registered an additional 116 students who had previously been coded as ?inactive?.

Nazarene Bible College is poised to grow in the coming years as new recruitment tactics are introduced, greater emphasis is placed on retention and the President continues to push for a comprehensive approach to enrollment management.