In the coming months, data from the federal government’s new Admissions and Consumer Transparency Supplement study—which collects seven years worth of admissions and enrollment data from US colleges and universities—is expected to be published. Once there, it will reignite the debate about how colleges decide who gets accepted and who doesn’t.
The National Association for College Admission Counseling and many higher education organizations are concerned about ACTS. Colleges have had very little time to collect their data, and in many cases, the data is incomplete because reporting policies vary across institutions. Federal courts even questioned the legality of the ACT: In April, a federal judge issued two separate injunctions barring the federal government from seeking it from the 17 states or universities involved in the ongoing lawsuit.
Still, colleges and universities should prepare ACTS data to shape the public conversation about admissions and enrollment for years to come. This is why it is important for institutions to communicate their registration issues now. Here are some steps colleges can take.
Write Everything
What elements make up your enrollment strategy, and how does that relate to your institution’s mission and mission? Have you accepted students to help meet a specific staffing need? Is your institution committed to enrolling local students to help serve your state’s interests? Write these features.
Prepare All Departments
Don’t let conflicting information undermine your credibility. Admissions, institutional research, communications, government relations and campus leadership must be aligned to consistently communicate how enrollment decisions are made and how they support the broader goals of your institution.
Let your community know
Create a plan to communicate your adoption story to your key stakeholders. There is already increased attention to adoption and registration from policymakers, regulators and the media, and this will only increase if ACTS is rolled out. Stakeholders will want to know what happened and, more importantly, why. Institutions that wait until questions arise may find themselves responding to issues created by others.
At many colleges and universities, this level of storytelling is changing. Transparency is being demanded of higher education institutions like never before, and those who will best navigate this changing landscape are the ones who explain and explain their decisions. Without storytelling, institutions risk others coming to their own conclusions.
Often, admissions is portrayed as an oversimplified process of selecting students with high grades and test scores. In fact, it is very complicated.
Colleges and universities are machine-driven institutions. They serve different students, pursue different goals and respond to the needs of their communities in different ways. A community college, regional public university, land grant institution and highly specialized research university register differently because their functions and responsibilities vary widely.
Consider this: An institution may need to expand its nursing and teacher education programs to address staff shortages, requiring it to hire more students who wish to pursue those pathways. One may invest in undergraduate research opportunities, or commit to serving students in low-income districts to help meet the state’s most vulnerable population development needs.
Factors like these influence admissions decisions every year. This is why data alone cannot tell the whole story.
Higher education is a powerful path to opportunity US research shows that college graduates, on average, earn about $1.2 million more in their lifetime compared to high school graduates. However, confidence in our colleges and universities cannot be taken for granted. Trust is built when they explain their work, answer tough questions and help the public better understand how they work.
The release of the ACTS data will generate discussion, skepticism and debate. Institutions cannot control every narrative that emerges from it. However, they can ensure that they are clearly communicating objective facts and what their data does and does not show.
Now is the time to tell your story.
