While the Plan articulates many goals and approaches, including specific enrollment targets, it also calls for what amounts to a new state of mind in the area of enrollment. Prior to the implementation of the Plan, the communications office reported to the development office; admission reported to the president; institutional research reported to the dean of the faculty; financial aid reported to the treasurer; and the Frances Perkins Program and the registrar were under the direction of the dean of the College's office. As a result of Plan directives, these offices were melded into a team to form the enrollment division; they now work synergistically to meet a common set of enrollment and external relations goals.

żEnrollment planning means approaching enrollment as a student continuum--with the prospective student at one end and the graduating senior at the other--and thinking about enrollment holistically rather than as a series of separate chunks--such as admission, financial aid, and retention," says Jane Brown. Brown came to MHC in 1997 as the College's first dean of enrollment, a position established as part of the Plan. A highly respected and experienced administrator at the forefront of the field of enrollment planning, Brown is now the College's chief strategist for student recruitment and market positioning, and her title was recently changed to vice president for enrollment and College relations.

In embracing the enrollment planning model, which has its origins in work done at Boston College in the 1970s, and which began taking hold in higher education in the 1980s, MHC embarked on a path that required broad-based support from the College community. "Enrollment planning is an organizing concept," says Brown. "By integrating the functions of this set of offices and reorienting staff to think outside their own areas and to focus on enrollment as a whole, efficiency is increased and resources are used more effectively; decisions are made more strategically." For example, working together, the admission office and the Frances Perkins Program developed new approaches that proved effective for recruiting both transfer students and Frances Perkins students.

Jane Brown, vice-president for enrollment and College relations.

Brown's early dialogues with operational managers, faculty groups, deans of student life, and students were key in helping to establish what she describes as "a state of mind so that the whole campus, rather than just the enrollment division, was thinking about how each person's work had an impact on enrollment." From the way groundskeepers trim trees and cut grass to make the campus attractive for a tour by prospective students to the manner in which a staff member in the registrar's office responds to a student who requests a transcript, "everyone plays a critical role in the student experience, and therefore, has an influence on enrollment," says Brown.

Guided by institutional research conducted by MHC professors Michael Robinson and Janice Gifford and a comprehensive marketing and positioning study, Brown and the enrollment division senior management team spent the first months of her tenure examining how MHC was perceived by prospective students. They also identified the characteristics that set the institution apart from its competitors and analyzed how Mount Holyoke could best use financial aid resources to meet institutional goals. In addition, the group looked at how Mount Holyoke was meeting the needs of current students.

Among the enrollment initiatives the team has set in motion is the development of a newly-designed approach to recruitment within the department of admission. New strategies are directed toward specific target groups, such as athletes, artists, performers, legacy candidates, ALANA (African American, Latina, Asian American and Native American) students, and transfer students. Admission has also developed programs to target specific kinds of high schools--such as the United World College high schools and math-science high schools--that attract academically talented and culturally diverse students, the type of students that MHC wishes to enroll.

Admission has also developed the successful Senior Fellows Program and is working with volunteer alumnae, faculty, and parents as part of its outreach restructuring plan. In order to facilitate the recruitment process at all levels, the department is increasing its use of electronic media and is developing an interactive Web site, including a virtual tour. This year, for the first time, prospective students could apply to the College online and participate in special chat rooms with parents and MHC faculty, coaches, and students.

Diane Anci, dean of admission, feels the College's new enrollment approach is not only "helping to increase applicant numbers from a wider variety of groups, but has allowed a broader constituency to participate in and influence enrollment and the future of the College. Doing our work within an enrollment unit," she says, "strengthens the overall effort of recruiting and retaining students."

Related enrollment changes brought about since the Plan's inception--and reflected in such details as the deceptively subtle semantic evolution of "financial aid" to "financial assistance"--signify new attitudes and services. "With the creation of the enrollment division model, the financial assistance office is now integrated with other departments, resulting in increased efficiency and the capability of assisting families in affording a Mount Holyoke education," says Jill Cashman, director of financial assistance. "From an office that essentially determined need and aid packages in the background, we now are an integrated part of the College, and strive to be considered by students and their parents as an office that is here to assist them in financing a Mount Holyoke education--regardless of whether or not they qualify for need-based aid."

Once the enrollment division helps students secure the financial resources they need to afford an MHC education, the division also works to keep them at MHC through graduation. "Our retention is impressive against the national average," says Brown, "but nevertheless, we would like to retain more of our entering students." The most prominent initiative to address issues of retention has been the establishment of the Committee on the First Two Years. While Brown points out that "there is a substantially high rate of satisfaction among our graduates," the College has recognized that the first two years are critical when it comes to maintaining students.

The new committee--composed of faculty, administrators, and students--devised ways to create "a more compellingly powerful learning environment" during key early semesters. Focusing on the theme of connectedness, the team identified ways of strengthening relationships between students and faculty, and within the curricular and cocurricular experience. The group contended that advising, the first-two-year curriculum, and cocurricular planning were the "entry points" for change. Mentorships were noted as key to developing meaningful connections between students and faculty.

The enrollment division has also been focusing on issues surrounding the third year of the MHC experience. Since a high proportion of MHC juniors spend their third year abroad, enrollments tend to ebb and flow. "Our successful study-abroad program provides an opportunity for the College to enrich the community through offering one-year study experiences," says Brown. "The one-year postbaccalaureate program (consisting largely of students who plan to go on to medical school) and the international guest student program enrich the community and provide important tuition revenue for the College that replaces funds lost as a result of study abroad."

Finally, Brown notes, the increase in the use of technology, and the launching of the student information system project will contribute significantly to enhancing the MHC experience. She also points to the success of the communications office in getting the word out about MHC and in honing the College's image. Describing the office as "a critical part of the enrollment team," Brown has high praise for the strategic support it has provided for "all of the initiatives of the enrollment division and the College as a whole."

"Any great institution, if it is to thrive and remain vital, will continually challenge itself to further its achievements," says President Joanne Creighton. "That's our enrollment plan in a nutshell."

Next: Largest Applicant Pool in History for MHC's Class of 2004