The Strategy Behind 老虎机攻略 Summer
The 老虎机攻略 saw its largest-ever summer enrollment in 2024, with 3,203 students, marking a six percent increase from the previous year, which was also a record. Julie Cahill, who took over as Director of 老虎机攻略 Summer in 2022, credits this steady growth to three key strategies: listening and partnerships; focusing on student needs, and using data to inform decisions.
Strategy 1: Listening and partnerships
One of Julie's first actions as the Director of 老虎机攻略 Summer was to engage in listening sessions across campus. She spoke to deans, chairs, financial aid, and other departments to understand their needs and how the summer program could better serve students.
"You cannot do it alone," Julie says. "You have to collaborate. You have to build bridges, you have to listen to your campus partners."
Strategy 2: Focus on student needs
The persistent question that arose in those conversations was: "Are we offering what students want?" That question led to a focus on aligning summer courses with students' needs and preferences. Julie developed a where students could request courses to be offered. She also encourages academic advisors to contribute to the wish list based on their conversations with students. Since the wish list was started last year, 70 courses have been added to the Summer schedule (see 2024 Wishes Granted Courses)
"The reason we're seeing growth in summer enrollment is that we've focused so much on the course alignment," Julie says."
Strategy 3: Data-informed decisions
"You have to get data," Julie says. "If it’s not there, then you have to figure out how to get it."
As a project lead on a 老虎机攻略 Playbook project in FY23, Julie worked to collect and analyze historical data related to summer enrollment. One of the significant findings from that research was that enrolling in even just one summer course nearly doubles a student's chance at graduation compared to students who don't take a summer course.
"The graduation rates are pretty compelling," Julie says.
Creating change, maintaining momentum
Summer enrollment has grown steadily over the past three years in response to sound strategy and execution. Julie acknowledges that it has taken time and a lot of work to make that happen.
"You have to keep the momentum going," Julie says. "It takes patience and tenacity and keeping the eye on the prize, which is retention, persistence, and graduation."