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Enrollment Management Update: August 2022

Below is the August installment of the Enrollment Management Update. At the beginning of every semester, it’s shared with our entire campus community, to make sure all employees have an opportunity to opt-in. If you are interested in receiving updates about what is going on in Enrollment Management at EIU, you can do so here.

Enrollment Update:

While our enrollment picture is still uncertain with hundreds of additional registrations anticipated through the next two weeks, we are grateful to anticipate growth in the majority of our new student categories. However, the pandemic has driven change in the college selection process for our prospective students, impacted the retention of our current students, and shifted EIU’s market position. These are significant factors that will take a unified effort by our University community to address this year.

What this past cycle has taught us is that in-person connection is critical, for our new incoming freshmen especially, if EIU is to help our prospective students and their families find their fit as they navigate their college selection process. This year it will be absolutely critical that we live our brand and go the extra mile for our current and prospective students. The recruitment and retention of our students has never been more important. We proved it as we emerged from the Illinois budget impasse and I am convinced of it today: there is nothing we cannot accomplish as an institution of higher education if we work together and put our students first.

Top 10 Enrollment Management Highlights to start the academic year:

• EIU’s new virtual tour has launched! We are excited for future panthers to get a better look at what our campus has to offer! The new tour includes dozens of 360-degree photos around campus and inside buildings.

• The Annual Strategic Enrollment Plan is underway for 2022-2023 and includes 59 different action plans with teams from across the University working to move us forward in the areas of enrollment, recruitment, student success, retention, brand development, and awareness.

• EIU was ranked 4th in the nation as one of 2022’s best value colleges and universities – you can click here to learn more.

• MAP and Pell Grants have increased for our students. With the effective maximums for Pell ($6895 from $6495) and MAP ($7200 from $5496) increased, combined maximum MAP/PELL Pell grant amounts increased from $11,991 to $14,095 for a difference of $2,104. These increases are reflected in our students’ award letters for aid year 22-23 now. Maximum MAP and PELL Pell now completely cover tuition and fees.

• Freshman/Transfer Connection launches with a meet and greet for students on August 21. This program continues to effectively improve the retention and persistence of at-risk student populations. The program is also growing in size this year with more Freshman and Transfers engaged for Fall 2022 in peer mentoring groups, University Foundations, and the programs’ dedicated living and learning communities.

• AIM HIGH Scholarships have been reconfigured. You can check out the details here.

• EIU’s new net price calculator is live. The net price calculator allows prospective students to get a general idea of their cost before they even apply.

• The Panther Portal will launch this Fall. The Panther Portal is a system dedicated to the success of our students and for connecting departments that play a crucial in supporting student success. It will be a central hub for supporting tracked communication via phone, email, and text messaging, so that those departments involved can work collectively to serve our students.

• New University branding resources are available including a PowerPoint template for your use.

• Our Marketing and Media Plan has been approved for this year, including some new media channels such as Hulu and digital billboards.

I want to leave you with an email excerpt from an email sent from our Director of Admissions to our processing staff who went above and beyond for one of our students to ensure he could make the transition to EIU:

I don’t know if you all remember a student named _______ ?  He was a football walk-on who was having a super difficult time getting his official high school transcript. His school had closed so we helped him through the process. 

Yesterday, I was walking into Wal-Mart and was waving at this cute little boy, not paying attention to the parents.  I grabbed a cart and started into the store and I hear,  "Mrs. Miller?"  The dad asked if I remember him and I asked him to help me out.  He said, "I’m _______.  You helped me get back in school.  I wanted you to know that I graduated and this is my family."  Melted my heart.

Just wanted to pass this along.  He was one of those students who was in our office quite a bit and nothing seemed to ever go right for him.  Sometimes we don’t ever know what happened to the students we helped along the way.  Good job team!!

It is critically important that we do not take our foot off the gas when it comes to recruiting, serving, and supporting our students. I hope we are all excited to rededicate ourselves to telling the world how EIU is committed to making an extraordinary investment in every student, and living it out each day. Thanks for all you do, and all you continue to do, to keep us moving forward.

Thanks to all of you for your continued advocacy for Eastern Illinois University! 

Josh Norman
Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management
jlnorman@eiu.edu | 217-581-6077