Increased Student Enrollment Exceeds Expectations

This academic year, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point experienced a rise in first-year student enrollment.

The 161-student increase exceeded the year’s expectations, resulting in a grand total of 1,792 new students, said Bill Jordan, director of recruitment and admissions.

Jordan attributes much of the university’s success to its application of Constituent Relationship Management software, which enables recruitment services to identify potential students and reach out to them early in the recruitment process.

“Through certain characteristics we can find out who those students are, and we can start to communicate with them even before they know they’re interested,” he said.

Jordan said he compared the recruitment process to a funnel. In a large pool of potential applicants, only a percentage actually apply. Of those, a smaller number make a deposit and register for classes, and the final number of students showing up to classes at the start of the semester is even smaller. By increasing the number of students interested in UWSP, the number of students who eventually enroll generally increases as well.

“What I think this CRM system has done for us is help us populate the top of the funnel with prospects and inquiries better than we’ve ever had,” Jordan said.

Use of new technology is not the only reason the university has been effective in attracting new students. According to Jordan, the human element has been equally important.

“We’ve got this cold, hard technology, but it also helps us really connect with the student and make him or her not feel like they’re not just a number,” he said. “Typically when a student gets here physically to check out the campus, it’s a gorgeous campus, and they’re sold on it.”

Naomi Frederick, freshman fisheries and water management major, said she considers this one of the reasons she chose UWSP over other schools.

“I really liked the fact that it’s got the Schmeeckle reserve on campus,” she said. “It’s in walking distance, and I can just go there whenever I feel like it.”

So far, an increased graduation rate means the total number of students at the university has not changed much, Jordan said.

However, the university is still restricted in how many students it can accommodate. Limited living space and class sizes make it difficult for too many students to attend the university, he said.

Although recruitment services has yet to establish a target for the 2016-2017 academic year, Jordan said he expects to aim for another 1,730 students for this exact reason.

Nevertheless, he looks forward to welcoming new students and watching them grow through the university.

“I’ve been at Stevens Point for 19 years, and I stay here because of the type of student I see down here,” Jordan said. “It’s very gratifying to me to see all the students come here and thrive, and especially gratifying for me to talk to graduates who are out there doing amazing things, who are people I recruited back four to five years ago.”

Matthew Wiltzius

Reporter

matthew.wiltzius@uwsp.edu