A nerdy term used in higher education is 'admissions yield'. It effectively shows how popular a college is with students who are accepted to that college. A higher admissions yield can indicate a college is more popular than one with a lower yield.
This video shows a sample of regional, private colleges in the Midwest. The important interpretation in this and other College Viabilty App reports is the comparison of one college to others.
The data shown in the 3':30" video is from the National Center for Education Statistics (2013-2018).
The sad part of the report is that the data is almost 2 years old.
Many higher education leaders will suggest that the data is too old. It is certainly inexcusable that our government can't provide data in a timely manner. However, the six-year trend for each college is an accurate indicator of the direction that college is headed. It is not reasonable to assume most colleges are going to be able to turn around a bad business in two years - especially with the financial hit associated with the pandemic.
How many students and their families are considering a small to medium-sized private college whose current financial plight is hidden by delayed reporting by both the college and the federal government? How many of those students will have to find another college if or when their first choice knowingly fails them.
That is why we encourage a focus on comparisons of colleges. For example, if a college shows a 6 year decrease in enrollment or tuition revenue, it is the downward trend that is important, not necssarily the absolute number. The trend in admissions yield is more important than the yearly value.
Students and their families should ask their college admissions rep to share the college's admissions yield for 2019 and 2020 as part of the process to make an informed college decision.
