January 6, 2026 · Episode 293
The Case for a Chief Enrollment Management Officer in Higher Education
38 Min · By Dr. Drumm McNaughton
Enrollment challenges persist when no one owns the system. We examine the case for a Chief Enrollment Management Officer in higher education.
Enrollment pressure in higher education is structural, not cyclical. Demographic contraction, shifting student expectations, workforce alignment demands, and persistent fiscal stress have exposed a leadership gap many institutions have avoided naming. Enrollment is routinely treated as a shared responsibility spread across admissions, marketing, student services, and academics, yet rarely is a single executive accountable for whether the system works.
The case for a Chief Enrollment Management Officer draws on the perspective of Dr. Dan Predoehl, assistant dean of Extended Learning and director of the Emeritus Institute at Saddleback College. Dr. Predoehl brings more than 20 years of experience across enrollment management, academic administration, and student services in both two-year and four-year institutions. His work focuses on holistic enrollment management and the Chief Enrollment Management Officer role as a cabinet-level function designed to align enrollment strategy with institutional mission, student success, and long-term viability. His doctoral dissertation examined the application of the Chief Enrollment Management Officer model within California community colleges, including in-depth interviews with 16 sitting community college presidents on leadership structure, enrollment accountability, and institutional alignment.
The central argument is straightforward. Enrollment outcomes are determined less by individual tactics or offices and more by whether institutions have an executive owner responsible for aligning inquiry, onboarding, student support, academic pathways, completion, and post-completion outcomes into a coherent system.
Enrollment Is a System, Not a Department
A central insight of this analysis is that enrollment management fails when it is treated as a narrow operational function rather than an institutional system. Admissions offices may be effective at generating applications. Marketing teams may succeed in increasing visibility. Student services may deliver strong individual programs. Yet without a unifying executive framework, these efforts operate in parallel rather than in concert.
The result is fragmentation. Students experience handoffs instead of continuity. Departments optimize locally while institutional outcomes stagnate. Leaders assume enrollment is being addressed because multiple offices touch pieces of the process, when in reality no one owns the system end to end.
The Chief Enrollment Management Officer role exists to address this exact failure mode. It is not a rebranding of admissions leadership. It is a cabinet-level function designed to integrate strategy across governance verticals that traditionally operate independently. Instruction, student services, marketing, finance, workforce partnerships, and alumni engagement all influence enrollment outcomes, but none can coordinate them alone.
Why Presidents Cannot Carry This Alone
Many presidents implicitly act as de facto enrollment leaders, particularly in institutions without a formal CEMO role. While this may be unavoidable in the short term, it is unsustainable as a long-term strategy. Presidents are responsible for governance, fundraising, external relations, board alignment, and institutional vision. They cannot simultaneously manage the operational complexity required to optimize enrollment systems.
Institutions that rely on presidential oversight rather than executive specialization often struggle to move beyond incremental improvements. Without a dedicated leader focused on enrollment as a strategic system, institutions default to reactive measures such as short-term marketing pushes, discounting, or program proliferation, none of which address root causes.
A CEMO provides presidents and boards with a clear point of accountability. Instead of asking whether admissions numbers are up or down, leadership can evaluate whether the enrollment system is functioning as designed and aligned with institutional mission.
Enrollment Strategy Is Mission Strategy
One of the most consequential realities for institutional leaders is that enrollment management is inseparable from mission fulfillment. Institutions frequently articulate commitments to access, student success, workforce preparation, and community impact. Yet these commitments break down when enrollment decisions are disconnected from academic design and student support capacity.
Treating enrollment as everyone’s job allows institutions to avoid hard choices about whom they serve, how they serve them, and what outcomes they can realistically support. The CEMO role forces these decisions into the open. It requires institutions to define their ideal student populations, align curriculum portfolios with labor market needs, and ensure that support structures match the complexity of the students they enroll.
This is particularly evident in open-access environments such as community colleges, where institutions may feel pressure to serve all learners without differentiating pathways or support models. Open access does not eliminate the need for strategic focus. In fact, it increases it.
Retention and Completion Are Enrollment Outcomes
A persistent failure in higher education leadership is the separation of enrollment from retention and completion. Admissions is often measured on volume. Student services is measured on utilization. Academic units are measured on course delivery. Graduation outcomes are discussed later, as if they are downstream effects rather than core design objectives.
This analysis reframes that logic. Retention and completion are enrollment outcomes. If students leave before completing credentials, the enrollment system has failed, regardless of how many students entered.
A CEMO is uniquely positioned to address this because the role spans the full student lifecycle. Early warning systems, advising models, co-curricular alignment, and alumni engagement all feed back into enrollment effectiveness. Institutions that centralize these functions under an executive enrollment strategy are better equipped to identify friction points and intervene before students disengage.
Workforce Alignment Is an Enrollment Imperative
This analysis places particular emphasis on the relationship between enrollment strategy and workforce alignment. Institutions increasingly operate in environments where students and families evaluate higher education based on outcomes rather than prestige. Career readiness, employability, and economic mobility are central to enrollment decisions.
A fragmented institution may develop strong workforce partnerships in isolation while enrollment messaging remains disconnected from labor market realities. Conversely, a CEMO-led model integrates employer input into academic planning, program development, and recruitment narratives.
This approach shifts enrollment from a transactional function to a value proposition grounded in real outcomes. It also strengthens institutional credibility with employers, donors, and policymakers who increasingly scrutinize return on investment.
Faculty Partnership Is Non-Negotiable
A common concern about executive enrollment roles is perceived encroachment on academic autonomy. Effective enrollment leadership does not bypass faculty or impose market logic on curriculum. Instead, it requires deep partnership.
Faculty expertise is essential to anticipating how disciplines will evolve and what competencies students will need over the next decade. A CEMO works with faculty to align academic offerings with future demand while preserving academic integrity.
This partnership also supports more strategic hiring, professional engagement, and curricular adaptation. Without an executive leader coordinating these conversations, institutions risk stagnation or misalignment between academic programs and enrollment realities.
Culture Change Is the Hardest Work
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of implementing a CEMO role is cultural rather than structural. Institutions accustomed to decentralized authority may resist centralized accountability. Departments may view enrollment as someone else’s responsibility or fear loss of autonomy.
The cost of avoiding this culture change is far greater than the discomfort of undertaking it. Status quo governance structures were designed for a different era. Demographic decline and fiscal pressure have made incrementalism untenable.
A CEMO does not solve enrollment challenges alone. The role succeeds only when institutions commit to cross-functional collaboration and shared accountability for student outcomes. The risk of not making this commitment is continued erosion of enrollment, morale, and mission impact.
Equity Begins at Inquiry
Equity gaps are not solved solely through downstream interventions. Equity begins at inquiry. Who feels welcomed by institutional messaging, who receives timely and accurate information, and who encounters barriers during onboarding all shape outcomes long before students enter classrooms.
A CEMO-led enrollment strategy ensures that equity considerations are embedded throughout the system rather than siloed within specific programs. This includes marketing practices, advising structures, financial aid communication, and support services.
Institutions serious about closing outcome gaps must treat enrollment design as an equity strategy, not an administrative afterthought.
The Strategic Risk of Diffused Responsibility
When enrollment is treated as everyone’s job, it becomes no one’s responsibility. Accountability diffuses, decision-making slows, and institutional outcomes suffer as a result. Diffused ownership creates plausible deniability but not results.
Institutions often hesitate to create new executive roles because the payoff is not immediately visible in a single budget cycle. That hesitation carries real consequences. Without clear ownership of enrollment strategy, institutions respond to pressure with short-term fixes that do not change underlying outcomes. Over time, this leads to continued enrollment erosion, inconsistent student experiences, and growing misalignment between mission, programs, and market demand.
Institutions that fail to adapt their leadership structures to match contemporary enrollment realities are effectively betting that external conditions will improve on their own. This is not a defensible strategy.
Three Takeaways for University Presidents and Boards
Enrollment outcomes reflect system design, not departmental effort. Without executive ownership, even strong individual units cannot produce sustained results.
Retention, completion, and workforce alignment are enrollment responsibilities. Treating them separately obscures accountability and weakens outcomes.
The cost of maintaining the status quo is higher than the cost of change. Institutions that delay structural alignment risk long-term instability.
Quick Overview
Enrollment challenges are structural, not temporary
Admissions success does not equal enrollment effectiveness
Executive ownership is required to align enrollment systems
Presidents cannot sustainably carry enrollment strategy alone
Retention and completion are core enrollment outcomes
Workforce alignment strengthens enrollment credibility
Faculty partnership is essential to strategic enrollment leadership
Equity begins at inquiry and onboarding
Culture change is the primary barrier to progress
Diffused responsibility undermines accountability
This analysis provides higher education leaders with a clear lens for evaluating whether enrollment challenges stem from execution gaps or from leadership structure. It argues persuasively that without a Chief Enrollment Management Officer or an equivalent executive function, institutions remain exposed to strategic risk they can no longer afford to ignore.
About Our Podcast Guest
Dan Predoehl, Ed.D., is an accomplished higher education leader who has centered his 20 year career at the intersection of enrollment, academics, and student services. At Saddleback College, he serves as Assistant Dean of Extended Learning and Director of the Emeritus Institute, where he led record-breaking enrollment growth, expanded noncredit-to-credit pathways, and strengthened alignment with labor market needs. His doctoral research focused on creating the role of Chief Enrollment Management Officer, reflecting his integrated approach to strategy and mission. His work demonstrates how enrollment strategy, academic innovation, and equity-driven leadership can transform institutions and the students they serve.
Connect with Dr. Dan Predoehl on LinkedIn →
About the Host
Dr. Drumm McNaughton is the founder, CEO, and Principal Consultant at The Change Leader, Inc. A highly sought-after higher education consultant with 20+ years of experience, Dr. McNaughton works with leadership, management, and boards of both U.S. and international institutions. His expertise spans key areas, including accreditation, governance, strategic planning, presidential onboarding, mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances. Dr. McNaughton’s approach combines a holistic methodology with a deep understanding of the contemporary and evolving challenges facing higher education institutions worldwide to ensure his clients succeed in their mission.
Connect with Drumm McNaughton on LinkedIn→
Read the Podcast Transcript →
Transcript: Changing Higher Ed podcast 293
Introduction to Changing Higher Ed®
Welcome to Changing Higher Ed®, a podcast dedicated to helping higher education leaders improve their institutions. With your host, Dr. Drumm McNaughton, CEO of The Change Leader, a consultancy that helps higher ed leaders holistically transform their institutions. Learn more at changinghighered.com. And now, here’s your host, Drumm McNaughton.
[00:00:31] Introduction and Guest Welcome
Drumm McNaughton: Thank you, David. My guest today is Dr. Dan Predoehl, assistant Dean of Extended Learning and Director of the Emeritus Institute at Saddleback College. California’s largest community college. Dan has led record breaking enrollment growth, expanded non-credit to credit pathways, and strengthened alignment with labor market needs through holistic enrollment management, what he calls the Chief Enrollment Management Officer (CEMO).
Dan centered his 20-year career at the intersection of enrollment academic student services. And in his role at Saddleback, he demonstrates how this enrollment strategy, academic innovation, and equity driven leadership can transform institutions and the students they serve. CEMO, Chief Enrollment Management Officer is a position and a concept that most higher education institutions haven’t embraced as yet.
Dan joins us to discuss how your institution might benefit by taking this holistic view of marketing, enrollment, student support, and alumni services that will enable you to grow enrollment, retention, and graduation.
Dan, welcome to the show.
Dan Predoehl: Thanks so much, Drumm. I’m so happy to be here with you today.
Drumm McNaughton: I’m glad you’re here as well. I think we’re going to have a great conversation about the importance for Chief Enrollment Management Officers in higher education.
[00:02:08] Dan Predoehl’s Background
Drumm McNaughton: But before we get into that, please tell my listeners a little bit about you. What’s your background? What really makes you excited every day?
Dan Predoehl: Well, again, thank you so much. It’s a beautiful day here in Southern California, so that is one of the things that gets me up every day. But I’ve had the opportunity to be in higher education for 20 years, both inside and outside of the classroom, serving in enrollment management, co-curricular activities, and here in academic administration.
So I’ve had the chance to work in private higher ed, public higher ed. And the community college system as well, and I’m really looking forward to chatting with you and your listeners today about that Chief Enrollment Management Officer position as it relates to California community college enrollment, but also its translation and parallelism with the four-year university system as well.
[00:03:00] Saddleback College Overview
Drumm McNaughton: Well, you’re at Saddleback College right now, which is one of the biggest community colleges, not only in California but in the country.
Dan Predoehl: Yes. Saddleback College was actually just named as one of the top, 10 community colleges in the country and the number one community college in Orange County based both on transfers and also wage gain earns after graduation. So we’re topping out about 28,000 individual students here at Saddleback.
We have an amazing, cornucopia of programs, both on the credit side and on the non-credit side. And it’s in the non-credit side where I work right now running California’s largest older adult education program called the Emeritus Institute.
Drumm McNaughton: Wow. So with that, you’re seeing a lot of different things. You’re seeing a regular community college perspective. You’ve seen. The private and public areas for four year and comprehensive, and now you’re seeing it from senior learners.
[00:04:05] Enrollment Management Challenges
Drumm McNaughton: What are some of the differences that you’ve observed, especially from an enrollment perspective?
Dan Predoehl: Sure. Each institution obviously has its own culture, and I know we’ll talk a little bit later about potentially what that ideal student at the institution looks like or who they are. But it is always so fascinating to talk about the different, if you will, types of students and reasons why students come to the community college system.
Like I said, right now we’ve talked, and we hear in the news and inside Higher ed and The Chronicle, we talk about the enrollment cliff happening, and even here in Southern California, a decrease in the number of high school students graduating and then going to. The community colleges or four-year institutions.
And while there have also been that there is that fear, we also know that a lot of institutions around the country have also pivoted to focusing on that young adult, young, middle-aged adult, if you will, that 30 to 45-year-old, seeing them as a potentially growing market.
[00:05:13] Community College Demographics
Dan Predoehl: And at the same time, in places like Southern California or other, if you will, high wealth retiree locations, we also, as a community college want to serve the other parts of the community, which includes, in this case, older adults.
The average age here is 71. And so each of those segments provide an opportunity to really niche out. Parse out your enrollment management strategies.
Drumm McNaughton: It is so important, and when I take a look at the purpose for community colleges or what their typical demographics are, you’re educating people in the trades, your feeders. For four-year colleges or comprehensive, although there are more and more community colleges putting in to do three year bachelor’s degrees and even four year bachelor’s degree, but those are the minority and then the continuous learning for seniors.
We’ve got friends of ours. Who love to go back and take courses or go on something called the Rhodes Scholar, R-O-A-D-S instead of R-H-O-D-E-S, for trips, but there’s always an educational component on it.
Dan Predoehl: Exactly.
[00:06:32] Lifelong Learning Programs
Dan Predoehl: Yes, I was just going to say, one of the, when we talk about older adult lifelong learning here in the California Community Colleges, the Saddleback Emeritus Program, amongst many of them, we really promote the academic rigor of the program. These are free non-credit, full semester classes, yet it actually levels the educational playing field.
We have older adult immigrants who may not have attended higher education for whatever reason, and yet they are also getting the chance to sit in the classroom with those who have terminal degrees also, wanting to pursue their hobby or their educational experience, doing oil painting, going in theater classes, learning how to improve their investment investments.
So the purpose of education really extends. Beyond just the, that initial, I need to go to college to get a job. This gives people the opportunity to engage in those educational passions that they may not have pursued in their career. And that is a market of students that higher education seems to forget a lot about, but there are potential enrollment.
Ramifications that excluding those people can actually continue to, leave out a bunch of potential enrollments and increase your fiscal solvency.
Drumm McNaughton: Absolutely. And it’s nice that it’s free there in California, but it is also a potential revenue stream. See, continuous learning is one of those things. That colleges and Michael Crow at a SU has talked about continuous learning. When you sell somebody, and I hate to use the term sell, but frankly that’s what the enrollment piece is, and admissions is you’re selling somebody on your college and why it’s the best fit for them.
If you do that once, it’s a heck of a lot easier to do it for a master’s degree. Continuous education certificates, and again, Michael Crow has really championed this at a SU.
Dan Predoehl: ASU program has been one of those programs that has been the slow, steady. And integrative. Lifelong learning programs that has infiltrated higher education and really shown what great customer service looks like, what great external partnerships looks like, and keeps students coming to the institution.
It is one of those great success stories of, you don’t obviously just need an on-campus presence. ASU online has been a fantastic feeder for. Adults across the country to continue in, traditional undergrad, graduate, and even those lifelong learning education programs. So it’s a great success story.
Drumm McNaughton: Yes.
[00:09:31] The Role of CEMO
Drumm McNaughton: Which brings me to the Chief Enrollment Management Officer. This is something that you’re very familiar with. You. You did your dissertation on it as applying it to the California Community Colleges, but many institutions are starting to wake up to the need for a CEMO.
Dan Predoehl: That’s correct.
[00:09:56] Strategic Enrollment Management
[see our podcasts and blogs about enrollment management: https://changinghighered.com/category/students-and-enrollment-management/]
Dan Predoehl: In previous episodes of your podcast Drumm, you’ve talked about what is enrollment management and what is the purpose, and what that looks like again, is basically living out and accomplishing the brand promise of your institution, both for the students’ success.
Whatever that is defined as. And also, to ensure that the institution’s fiscal stability is maintained or even strengthened, and yet many institutions outside of that four-year institutional bracket are now, as you say, waking up to this position saying, oh, we have this enrollment cliff coming. Oh, our demographics are changing. I don’t know what we’re going to do. I’m looking around at my cabinet and saying, I don’t know necessarily if we have the right people for all of the enrollment management challenges that are coming up for us. Hence, enter the potential chief enrollment management officer.
Drumm McNaughton: Yes, and that makes perfect sense as somebody who’s cabinet level, who has a good understanding and grasp of marketing, enrollment, admissions, somebody who can balance both the internal and external perspectives of the institution.
Dan Predoehl: Exactly it is. It is a unique, maybe, almost unicorn type of person. Who can sit in that Chief Enrollment Management officer role, because when we think about what that role actually entails, it sits outside of those traditional governance verticals that we think of instruction, student service, administrative, and finance.
And it actually is the role at the cabinet that thinks about the priorities. Of each of those different governance verticals and streamlines across them the way that the strategy of the institution comes to life to ensure that students are experiencing the brand promise, experiencing the educational outcomes that the institution is saying that they will get and ensures that instruction, student services, administration, and finance are all aligned.
For the benefit of the whole institution. So it’s this wildly unique position, and it’s extremely powerful because it touches everything in the institution, but by itself, it can’t do anything without the partnerships internally with administration, staff, and faculty.
Drumm McNaughton: And you bring up a really interesting point, digging back in my own grains, gray cells for a law. Long period of time. When we do strategic planning you have strategies that go across the institution. It’s almost like, I don’t know if you remember from your childhood, but you go to the beach and you’ve got these webbed chairs that you sit on. You’ve got strategies, and then you’ve got that go across all the different quote silos or departments. A CEMO has to do that, but there’s got to be one key piece with that.
[00:13:15] Holistic Approach to Enrollment
Drumm McNaughton: It’s more than just admissions. You’ve got to look at it. It’s a holistic approach focused on the student. Does that make sense?
Dan Predoehl: It absolutely does. When I interviewed 16 California community college presidents for my dissertation, many of them said, well, I don’t know about this role because I’ve never heard of it. Or, well, we don’t have one. And so my role as the president is to think or to act like the Chief Enrollment Management Officer, and yet an individual sitting in the presidency also has larger priorities and may not be able to get a little bit more in the weeds, like as Chief enrollment management officer does.
Certainly, a C-Suite position is higher level and isn’t in that daily interaction with students. But it is that individual who weaves through each of those other governance areas and thinks, how do I make sure. Our admissions, our marketing, our external communication, our internal retention communication, our alumni are all woven through to ensure that our career outcomes are guaranteed as much as we can.
And next year’s budget comes in with knowing that we’re going to be able to have all of our employees have jobs and continue to grow enrollment, hopefully, to continue the. The impact on the world that such and such institution really wants to have. So I think it’s a great analogy that woven share.
I haven’t thought about those since a lot, a while. But it’s a great analogy. I should have used that in the dissertation.
Drumm McNaughton: Well, you can always go back and revise it, but I don’t know anybody who wants to do that. Follow on research.
Dan Predoehl: right.
Drumm McNaughton: It’s interesting because I just had a conversation with Colleen Lee, who is the assistant dean for Enrollment Management Student Success, at the Craig Newman Graduate School of June.
Journalism at CUNY and Small School. And you see this at small schools. They’ve integrated their admissions, student services, career services, and alumni services. This is kind of a good model for what a O should be doing.
Dan Predoehl: I. When we think about the we, when we think about those verticals again, we also know that a lot of the time, for lack of a better word, they’re working in their own priorities. We’ll use the word silo simply because when you are focused on just your work, everybody else’s work isn’t on top of mind. And so when we consider centralizing either the most.
Important offices about enrollment management or the tangential ones that are like, okay, career center, maybe not always about enrollment management, but as soon as you bring that area onto the enrollment management team, all of a sudden career readiness, career and workforce placement, internships, apprenticeships, all become aspects of your brand promise that you have a lot more control over and actually get to.
Sell the institution to use your words again, even better. And it creates those partnerships with outside organizations to say, Hey, look, we are preparing our students for you by our own internal organization. Conversely, in many of our California community colleges and frankly community colleges across the country, most institutions are still open access institutions.
We are still focused on getting everybody in the door. And so one of those fears, one of the pain points about even considering a chief enrollment management officer in a community college is the fact of, hey, we’ve got thousands of students coming in who don’t necessarily fit into any one type of cohort.
How in the world. Could we centralize, let alone have individual marketing communication trails for the types of students we have. It’s first come and all served, so that is one of the challenges with incorporating the chief enrollment management officer here, yet at the same time. It’s vital because we also see enrollment in community colleges, even here in California, continuing to decline.
So these two things can’t exist at the same time. There has to be a choice made. Do we want to continue down the enrollment declining, or are we willing to say, what do we actually want to do, even if it changes our whole organizational structure?
[00:18:21] The Importance of Retention
Drumm McNaughton: And I come back to the holistic approach that we’re talking about. I remember. Having a conversation with a VP for. Enrollment or admissions, I’m sorry, VP for admissions. And his comment was, it’s my job to bring him in the door. After that, it’s everybody else’s problem. And I’m going, oh my gosh, this is not smart.
You’ve got to look at it. One, there are very few functions. That cut across an entire higher ed institution. Finance is one of them, and enrollment management should be the other. As you talked about, fulfillment of the brand, pro promise, but you’re selling the students, getting them in the door. Once they’re in, are you going to be able to keep them?
That’s the retention piece. And that’s student services, that’s academics. It could be mentoring.
[00:19:20] AI and Student Success
Drumm McNaughton: I spoke to one president today who has developed, AI tools. That can indicate when a student may start struggling so they can reach out. They assign students, mentors. These are all things that can go into and be part of enrollment management.
If you’ve got your enrollment up, if you’ve got your persistence up, your graduation rate is going to improve. This school that I spoke to this morning, they’re looking at 92% graduation rate in six years, and this is a high tech school. It’s ranked in the top 50 in the country for education opportunities.
They’re doing it right.
Dan Predoehl: Exactly. I think that position, as you already mentioned, has to consider that individual’s student journey as the. The parallel to how the institution actually functions, because again, if you are just handing off a student from one area to another without any warm handoff or any easily transitioned.
Comprehensive movement from admissions to orientation, to enrollment, to sitting in the classroom, to ensuring the co-curricular is aligned, to ensure tutoring is coalescing with all the other aspects to ensure that the alumni from that major are reconnecting back with the brand-new students.
If everything isn’t in lock step. We have this disjointedness that unfortunately higher ed is also somewhat known for, we al surprise we, you would think we are a well-oiled machine, but well-oiled in the way of how we not necessarily always help our students. And I’m not picking on any one institution, but I think that is a typical critique of, well, we got a student in the door.
Even for community colleges, but there’s too many students. I talked to this one counselor who didn’t help me, but this other counselor told me something different. And I’ve been at, X College for 10 years. That isn’t a service to students, even if it keeps our head count up. But the goal here is to ensure every aspect of that institution is aligned to ensure the student is served.
I’ll tell you this and this is a phrase I came up with a couple months ago and it’s resonated with some folks. It’s that, we as employees of higher education institutions aren’t coming to a place of, well, sorry, students aren’t coming to our place of work. We are coming to a place where the students’ dreams are trying to become a reality. And so it is in with that frame where we have to change our mindset, and the chief enrollment management officer can do just that.
Drumm McNaughton: and that’s the culture change that’s needed. It’s focusing on what the student needs, making sure that he or she has that, and getting them across the finish line. And beyond that finish line, making sure that they have good jobs when they get out. Now, many folks will say, that’s not higher Ed’s responsibility, but if you’re educating them with what they need to be successful, not only in life but also in the workplace, then you’ve done your job.
Dan Predoehl: I agree. The fact of the matter is the student outcome isn’t always our first priority. We come to work to ensure that we can pay our mortgage or rent or our car payment and we can put food on the table for our families. And yet the ins, the individual, whether they are on a Pell Grant, going to a four-year institution or on a.
A Promise program grant that pays for an individual’s tuition here at a California community college. That person, that student is actually trying to get to the same place that you are in your own fiscal and life stability. And frankly, how dare we say that our institutions can’t change because we’re comfortable when that same individual is actually wanting to find stability and comfort.
Like how dare we get in their way for our own workplace comfort, we have to ensure that our institution is actually aligned to think about that student in the end. Not just, did I have a good day at work or not?
Drumm McNaughton: Yes, you’re so right. One of the typical things that I see is course development and course development. New courses, new programs frequently are based on the faculty expertise, which in many respects is very good, but. It’s in some ways shortsighted. Again, I go back to the conversation that I had with this university president earlier today.
[00:24:37] Industry Partnerships
Drumm McNaughton: They have a program to where they bring in the experts, in industry and tell them what it is that they need as employers, they get that input from the community, from the employers. This is critical for getting the students the skills that they need to be successful when they graduate.
Dan Predoehl: We. In across many California community colleges and beyond, directors of economic and workforce development who are creating those partnerships with current industries saying, what do you need from our students?
[00:25:22] Faculty and Curriculum Development
Dan Predoehl: But going back to the thesis of our conversation here too, that chief enrollment management officer has to be working with our current faculty to think.
Yes, you are an expert in this right now, but where do you think your field will be in the next 10 years and how can we work backwards to make sure that our product, the education that you so well deliver will actually meet that, nine year olds, career goals when they’re here in nine years?
How do we ensure. We do not remain stagnant. And so that chief enrollment management officer has to have such trust in well, has to be trusted by the faculty to say, I’m not here to make your lives any more difficult. You are in the trenches every day working with students to ensure that their lives are improving through the curriculum and outside of the curriculum, through your mentorship, and at the same time.
CO is on the streets working with those industries saying, we’re preparing for the next 10 years. What kind of programs should we see? What kinds of faculty members should we be hiring? Who in your organization could come and serve as a professional expert with our faculty so that we’re in partnership with you?
So it’s not just. Thinking about admissions right now, and it’s not just about the retention right now, it’s that strategic long-term planning that the chief enrollment management officer actually guides. Not everything is enrollment management, not everything is about enrollment, but it touches almost every aspect of the university or college.
And therefore, that is also the reason why even in the community colleges. It needs to be at the executive level, not a director of enrollment services, just overseeing and missions, but a position that can actually shape and affect current culture and long-term strategy.
Drumm McNaughton: And it’s even more critical now with as many first gen students. That we have, when I think about myself, my, my father was a ship driver and a pilot, and he had a couple of years of college, but it was focused primarily on, on seagoing and ships, et cetera. My mom was a teacher.
She went to Framingham State Teachers College, which has been absorbed by another institution years ago. But they taught us how to study. They taught us the value of a higher education, et cetera. Many of these first gen students have never had that experience. So under the enrollment management, if you’ve got student services, things along those lines, you’ve got mentors to help them.
You’ve got trip wires. When somebody is, looks like they’re starting to fall off the, the good path. You need all of these things to help students.
Dan Predoehl: And I would say when, excuse me. I would say within the AI age that we are in now, aspects of student performance indicators that can lead to potential declining of success. Metrics are even easier to incorporate now, just based off of the amount of data that we do have. About how students’ progress through classes and what those early warning signs are.
Early warning systems for student success have been around for a while, but even now we have the opportunity to improve those and to ensure that. Hey, this marker just got hit. Yes, our CRM is capable of pinging that student, but is it also saying, and do you want to chat about that right now with our, university or college-built AI agent, if you will.
Let’s talk about it and then further on, even connect with a real-world person. So there are lots of possibilities out there, but I would say this too, as we talk about the. Types of students that are coming to our institutions. I also go back to what types of resources are, is the institution even willing to spend money on?
[00:29:47] Open Access Institutions
Dan Predoehl: When I talk with other higher education leaders, especially thinking about enrollment management, I often pose this question which says here, in an open admission institution, like a community college. Let’s take our, let’s be real and humble for a moment. Is there a student that walks through our doors that you still believe is the ideal community college student? Or is there one that you’re, when they walk through the door, you’re like, oh, great, another one of those, whatever that is student. If that internal dialogue happens knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or incon unconsciously, there has to be a response that says, oh, is our institution not serving a specific group of students and therefore I am having frustrations.
When it is coming to working with any student in our community, because if there really is in say, an open in open admission institution, like a community college groups of students that you wish weren’t coming here, then that is actually another call for a culture change or at least a culture review to say where perhaps on our admission side or on our student services side slash retention, are we missing the boat?
In terms of student services, technology, counselors, personnel, or even just printed resources or website resources where students can get the information that we think they should already have, it’s actually incumbent on us to be the communicators.
Drumm McNaughton: And within Open, in speaking about o open access, it’s got to be within the mission of the college. You can’t be expecting folks to go outside of that mission. Just because somebody wants to be in the trades doesn’t mean that you’re going to look at all, do all the trades.
Dan Predoehl: Right. Yes.
[00:31:58] Mission and Curriculum Portfolio
Dan Predoehl: It is not possible for an institution to be everything for everyone. A community college does, or any institution has to be very decisive about what their curriculum portfolio will be. Not every institution offers every single associate’s or bachelor’s programs, and each obviously has its programs that are most popular or even the ones that they really highlight.
So again, at the same time, we can’t be every curricular dream for every single person, but a student coming here knowing that they’re going to take the major that we offer, we can’t afford to lose them, and they can’t afford to be lost by us.
Drumm McNaughton: One last comment and then we’ll jump on our takeaways as we always do.
[00:32:51] Centralizing Enrollment Management
Drumm McNaughton: of these systems that we’ve talked about, they need a central point of contact to make sure that they get integrated. CEMO (Chief Enrollment Management Officer) is a wonderful place to do it. Provost could be that as well. It’s not really the role of the president, although many community college presidents end up doing this.
There needs to be somebody who can make sure all of these. Web things for your lawn chair or your beach chair cross and they don’t fray or even break.
[00:33:28] The Risk of Status Quo
Dan Predoehl: I agree the outcome here of hiring a chief enrollment management officer has to be built on the fact that it already exists in some areas. Community colleges have to take the risk to say, I may not know the ROI right now before I put those funds into a new position instead of new faculty or new staff.
But I believe in the concepts and in the theories and in the other outcomes that are quantifiable about strategic enrollment management and say My students deserve somebody who will weave all parts of the institution together for that student’s ultimate life and career success. So, the risk of not having it is status quo.
Potentially losing out on funding based off of tuition or not meeting market needs, and not having somebody at the helm who is looking out for all of those other governance verticals to ensure the institution is aligned with those strategic goals that we started off our conversation with.
Drumm McNaughton: Full circle. I love it. Dan, thank you. This has been fascinating conversation. Obviously, this is a topic near and dear to my heart.
[00:34:51] Three Takeaways for Higher Education Presidents and Boards
Drumm McNaughton: So as we say goodbye today, three takeaways for presidents and boards. Not only community college, but four year and comprehensive. What are the benefits of having a CEMO?
Dan Predoehl: I would say one of the first benefits is breaking the fallacy that since that enrollment management is everyone’s job, so it can’t be one person’s job. We’re not all trained to be faculty members. We’re not all trained to be admissions counselors. We’re not trained necessarily to do the intricate jobs of all of the various employees.
So why should we also think that everyone is trained to be an expert in enrollment management? It actually begs the question of, why don’t we have that role? So I would say yes. Living out and ensuring that the brand promises fulfilled in your scope of work is your responsibility, but to ensure alignment of enrollment management strategies across the college is the role of a CEMO.
I would also say this too, that institutions that want to ensure equity gaps are closed, need to consider the fact that equity really begins at student inquiry. Meaning that student who is inquiring about if their life is going to be better by attending your institution, that CEMO, that institution is ensuring that best practices are in place for the types of students who they typically market to, to ensure that success rates among black students, among queer students are actually at or higher than majority students who are also attending the institution.
And then finally, I would say this; enrollment management is never a silver bullet. You work with the employees that you have, and at the same time, enrollment management through a chief enrollment management officer will make a difference in the student’s lives. And again, it’s a risk that boards and presidents should be willing to take.
Drumm McNaughton: Thank you. Great takeaways. Appreciate those.
[00:37:05] Dan’s Future Plans
Drumm McNaughton: What’s next for you?
Dan Predoehl: I am continuing to work here at Saddleback College, and at the same time, I am looking to be the first vice president of Enrollment management, chief Enrollment Management Officer in the California Community Colleges. Obviously it’s unique to have somebody who has worked across all the different sectors of higher ed.
But regardless of that, I love talking about strategic enrollment management and I’m always happy to chat with anybody interested in this role or other aspects of higher ed.
Drumm McNaughton: Well, I’m glad you chose to talk with us today.
[00:37:35] Conclusion and Farewell
Drumm McNaughton: I want to thank you for. Being on the show and wish you the best of luck in all this.
Dan Predoehl: Thanks so much for having me drum. It’s always a pleasure and look forward to it next time.
Drumm McNaughton: Likewise. Take care. for listening today, and a special thank you to my guest, Dan Predoehl, assistant Dean of Extended Learning and Director of the Emeritus Institute at Saddleback College. Dan, it was a pleasure having you on the show. I enjoyed our conversation. I look forward to the next time we get a chance to talk about this very important topic. To my listeners, thanks again for joining in. I hope this was a good conversation for you. I look forward to seeing you next week.
