March 27, 2026

Dr. Kyle Brantley
Senior Vice President of Strategic Marketing & Communications

Here's our biggest piece of advice. Don't create a 75-tab spreadsheet that nobody opens. We've all seen them. They're impressive. They're comprehensive. They’re also overwhelming.

Instead, think in layers.

Executive Dashboard

The 10–15 metrics your president, cabinet, and board should see every month.

Operational Dashboard

The deeper metrics admissions, marketing, and financial aid teams use every week to make real-time strategic decisions.

Territory Dashboards

The metrics that matter per individual territory that can help admissions counselors level up to become true territory managers.

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How does it all work?

Ok, before we go, here’s one example of how tracking all of this data leads to a smarter enrollment strategy.

As we know, metrics don't improve enrollment. People do. Metrics simply help us decide where to act and when to act.

This is where it's helpful to understand the difference between lagging indicators and leading indicators.

Lagging indicators tell you what has already happened. Enrollment, tuition net revenue, and census fall into this category. They're incredibly important, but by the time you're looking at them, there's often little you can do to change the outcome.

Leading indicators are different. They give you an opportunity to intervene while there's still time to influence the result. Inquiry growth, application conversion rates, campus visits, and FAFSA completion are all examples. When these metrics begin trending in the wrong direction, they serve as an early warning system that something in your funnel needs attention.

That's why every metric on your dashboard should answer a question, and every question should lead to an action.

Think of it like this:

See what happened there?

The metric identified a potential problem. The question helped define it. The action gave your team something concrete to do about it.

That's how great enrollment leaders use data. They don't collect metrics simply to report on last month's performance. They use them to identify opportunities, remove barriers, and improve tomorrow's results.

Other examples:

Question	Metric	Action
Are we generating enough interest?	Inquiry volume	Increase lead generation
Are students moving?	Conversion Rates	Improve communication flow
Are finances blocking students?	FAFSA Completion	Launch outreach campaign
Are students engaging?	Campus Visits	Strengthen visit invitation
Are we losing students?	Melt %	Expand summer communication

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What if you don’t have the right tools to report well?

One more thing.

You may be reading this thinking, “This all sounds great, but our CRM can’t produce/store half of this data.”

Or perhaps your team spends hours every week pulling data from your CRM, SIS, financial aid system, and a handful of spreadsheets just to piece together the information you need to get by.

Unfortunately, that’s not uncommon. And while it certainly makes enrollment management more difficult, it doesn't mean you shouldn't measure what matters.

So what are your options?

1. Panic*
2. Develop practical workarounds. Even if your reporting isn’t perfect, find ways to bring together the most important metrics so your team can make informed, real-time decisions.
3. Make the case for better tools. Educate your president and cabinet on the strategic value of a modern CRM and robust reporting capabilities. A CRM isn't simply a database—it's a decision-making platform. If your team spends more time assembling reports than acting on them, the institution may be paying a much higher price than it realizes.

*Not a good long-term solution.

Your CRM should be working for you, not the other way around.

If your institution lacks the reporting tools needed to effectively manage enrollment, start the conversation. Share this article with your president or cabinet. Explain how better reporting leads to better decisions, and how better decisions ultimately lead to healthier enrollment outcomes.

Again, the goal isn't simply to collect more data. It's to equip your team with the information they need to build the class your institution is counting on.

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Final thoughts

When an airline pilot is in the cockpit, she doesn’t glance at one gauge, like speed or altitude, and hope for the best. She is checking dozens of instruments to know that she’s on the right course.

Not because she expects something to go wrong, but because those instruments immediately alert her when something does. The sooner she recognizes a problem, the sooner she can make a correction before a small issue becomes a serious one.

Enrollment leaders should think the same way.

The institutions that consistently build healthy classes aren't simply better recruiters. They're better observers. They identify trends earlier. They ask better questions. They make adjustments before small issues become big problems.

As you kick off another recruitment cycle this August, don't just ask, "How many apps do we have?"

Because metrics don't exist to fill spreadsheets. They exist to inform strategy and drive better decisions.

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CHE Challenge

So, in this most hallowed higher ed month of August, take 30 minutes this week and perform a pre-flight check of your enrollment dashboard.

• Are you tracking five years of historical data?
• Are you measuring conversions, not just counts?
• Are you monitoring leading indicators like FAFSA completion, visits, and melt?
• Do recruiters have access to vital territory metrics that will help them become better?
• Can your president understand it in five minutes?

If you answered "no" to more than one of those questions, you've just identified one of the biggest opportunities in your enrollment operation.