Higher Education Metrics That Reveal a College’s Health

At the last AMA Higher Education Marketing conference, President Mark Putnam of Central College made a provocative claim that he could assess the health of any college by looking at just two metrics: yield and retention rate. That got me thinking about what other metrics college presidents should consider indispensable. Here are the metrics I believe belong to every president’s dashboard:

1. Enrollment metrics and ratios, including

• #inquiries, #applications, #admits, #enrolls
• Acceptance rate: a measure of selectivity that can also influence perceptions of reputation. For highly selective colleges, rejection rate becomes the more conspicuous number.
• cost per inquiry, cost per enroll
• inquiry-to-app ratio, app-to-admit ratio, admit-to-enroll ratio (yield), and inquiry-to-enroll ratio
• Yield rate: the percentage of admitted students who enroll. Higher yield can indicate strong demand and fit, although it is also influenced by financial aid, geography, competition and admissions strategy.
• Discount rate, the difference between the sticker price and what a student actually pays, directly affects the net revenue or financial health of a college.
• Average test scores, which can signal a college’s brand position in the prestige hierarchy.

2. Student success metrics, including:

• Retention rate: one of the clearest measures of institutional health. If a college delivers on the academic, social and career promises it makes, the right-fit students are more likely to stay and succeed.
• degree completion rate
• job placement rate
• graduate school placement rate

3. Geographic reach of enrolled students, a measure of market reach, diversification and, potentially, institutional reputation.

4. Faculty credentials, including the percentage of faculty who hold terminal degrees — an important factor in attracting talented faculty and students.

5. Percentage of budget spent on technology: Research by Keeling & Associates suggests that spending less than 15% can negatively impact student retention rates over time.

6. Alumni giving rate, for small liberal arts colleges: roughly 30%-50%; for private research universities: roughly 15%-25%; and for large public universities: roughly 7%-12%.

7. Size of endowment, the financial war chest that can support financial aid, faculty compensation, facilities, research and other long-term institutional priorities.

The question isn’t whether a college has data. Every college does. The question is whether its leaders know which numbers reveal the institution’s underlying health — and whether those numbers are moving in the right direction.

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