Balancing Passion and Pressure: The Dual Challenges of Enrollment Professionals

By Guest Contributor Laurie Koehler, Consultant and Coach, Koehler Consulting, LLC

Laurie Koehler is a national leader with over two decades of experience in developing and establishing a vision and direction for student recruitment and marketing at higher education institutions. Laurie has held leadership positions at George Washington University, Bryn Mawr College, Cornell University, Miami University and University of Virginia. Most recently, Laurie served as Vice President of Enrollment and Marketing Strategy at Ithaca College, before forming her consulting firm to support leaders in managing change across their institutions.

As I spoke with a group of entry-level admission counselors recently, I was both energized by their passion for admissions as a profession and also saddened to witness the group somewhat defeated in speaking about their roles. Their income required them, some several years out of college, to continue to share an apartment with two or three other young professionals. But they all also felt conflicted about their thoughts of leaving higher education, as they spoke of loving their jobs, believing in the institution they worked for, and being hungry to learn and grow in a field that speaks to their intrinsic values. This group was super excited about their work, and also struggling to figure out how to sustain it over time. I walked away from this discussion committed to elevating these challenges in front of our community of admissions and enrollment professionals, with the hope that we could come together to solve them. 

During this same period of time, my individual conversations with multiple senior-level enrollment leaders revealed how the pressures from all sides have left them exhausted and often feeling quite lonely on their campuses. But when asked about their leadership challenges, their own issues took a backseat; instead, they consistently expressed frustration with their inability to devote the kind of time they would like to mentoring and developing their staff members. 

We know from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) retention surveys that, even if it has slowed a bit, high percentages of surveyed staff in higher education – particularly in student affairs and enrollment management – continue to leave or are considering leaving their jobs. The long-term implications for our field are concerning.

As long ago as 2014, leading higher education journalist Eric Hoover described enrollment leaders’ positions as the “hottest seats” on campus. This was long before new factors – some anticipated, like the decline in high school graduates (referred to often as “the enrollment cliff”), others unexpected and catastrophic (the global pandemic) – exacerbated the sense of urgency around enrollment, particularly for highly tuition-dependent colleges. In today’s climate, the intensity of pressure is no longer contained to the chief enrollment officer; the trickle-down effect on even entry-level admissions professionals is real. 

Tightened and sometimes radically reduced budgets at some colleges have left fewer people to meet even more challenging enrollment goals. Enrollment professionals who may have entered the field because of their commitment to the transformative power of higher education, have been asked, even expected, to take on more and more, often without meaningful pay increases or changes in title. Further, many admission offices’ structures haven’t changed dramatically since I entered the field more than 25 years ago. Technologies have evolved dramatically, the use of data has become paramount, and generational behaviors and expectations (of both staff and prospective students and their supporters) have shifted. Yet our position descriptions and linear, hierarchical progression from admission counselor to assistant and then associate director, have remained fairly static. And for enrollment leaders, the hot seat Hoover initially described has only gotten hotter. It’s thus not surprising that it has become tougher to attract and retain staff at all levels in the enrollment field.

Nearly a year ago, primarily for family reasons, though not completely decoupled from what Hoover described in 2014 and 2023, I stepped away from a wonderful institution and role as vice president for marketing and enrollment strategy. The pandemic was a catalyst for reflecting on my priorities and whether my actions were aligned with those priorities (they weren’t). Yet the mentoring, advising, and coaching roles I have played over the years have brought me tremendous joy and satisfaction, and the work focused on strategic innovation fed my brain. I felt I still had a lot to contribute to our profession, including in the areas of staff and organizational development.

At the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) national conference in September 2023, my friends Jennifer Desjarlais, Liz Cheron, and I got together to debrief what we were learning. A frequent challenge we heard was staff retention across all levels of admission organizations (something we had observed in financial aid offices as well). Simultaneously, we heard from mid-level professionals contemplating whether to pursue dean or vice president-level positions: how could they identify and acquire the skills needed for these types of roles? And in today’s higher education and enrollment landscapes, did they even want the jobs?

In this environment, we felt we had a role to play. Together we prepared a NACAC pre-conference seminar for the 2024 conference in Los Angeles, designed for professionals considering whether to make the leap to chief enrollment officer. Of note, we are only one of several workshops and professional development opportunities our national professional organization has supported or developed to address the issue of retention in the field. NACAC, under the leadership of CEO Dr. Angel Perez, is filling a professional development void our industry has felt for a long time.

When thinking about growing future enrollment leaders, it’s sometimes easiest to turn to the practical and tactical skills that are expected of today’s chief enrollment officers. Analyzing data, developing strategy, and understanding markets are clearly necessary. Those seeking greater leadership roles, including as VPs, would be wise to consider some of the other key areas of focus we have identified:

• Stepping into a cabinet role requires a new way of leading. While you will always be expected to bring your enrollment expertise to the table, you will also need to think more broadly, learn about the other areas that comprise the institution (philanthropy, finance, student affairs, etc.), and help make decisions for the institution as a whole. This could mean making tough choices that prioritize another area’s needs over your team’s - for example, using college budget monies to hire more mental health professionals rather than filling vacant admission positions. Understanding and practicing this, admittedly, can be challenging, but doing so demonstrates maturity as a leader.

• Related, thinking of enrollment strategy as institutional, not something solely owned by an admission office or even an enrollment team, is critical. Truly effective EM leaders see how institutional strategy drives enrollment strategy and vice versa. The academic program mix, physical plant, alumni engagement levels, philanthropy, and overall student experience are just a few of the factors that impact enrollment success.

• Seeing this connection isn’t enough, though; it also requires an ability to collaborate, communicate, and build relationships across all other areas of the institution in ways that facilitate genuine understanding, engagement, and eventually, a truly holistic institutional approach to enrollment management. 

• Being able to recruit, develop, and retain talented and diverse team members is a must, today more than ever. Intentionality, time, emotional intelligence, and self-awareness are necessary. Reframing how we think about supervising, from a management mindset to a coaching mindset, can be powerful in building effective teams and retaining great staff members. 

• Staff development isn’t just about sending team members to conferences and workshops. It’s about bringing team members into conversations about the work, even if initially they don’t have a direct role to play in it. Sharing knowledge, deepening understanding about the whys of practices and decision-making, and gleaning insight from more junior staff members, can be incredibly empowering. One of the fastest ways to lose people is to hoard information and exclude them. This isn’t Oz…bring people in and practice authentic transparency whenever possible.

• VPs and aspiring VPs must continue to prioritize their own professional growth and development. Not only are you feeding yourself, but you are also setting the tone by demonstrating that you and your organization value learning. 

Through our collective experience, Jenn, Liz, and I are hopeful we can contribute in meaningful ways to support our colleagues as they consider their own professional growth. We recognize the abundance of talent in the field and are eager to help cultivate and retain it. If you are weighing what comes next and looking to engage with like-minded colleagues, please join us.