Predictive AI & Enrollment Management
AI, financial aid, and higher ed’s bottom line
Enrollment management practices could be super-charged by AI-powered marketing strategies and predictive analytics. To counteract the potential inequitable impacts of AI-infused enrollment, selective institutions must adopt ethical data frameworks, industry-level agreements, and public transparency.
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Overview
Focus Area
Technology and Educational Equity
Skills
Web Design & Development
Applied AI
Research
Problem/Approach
Enrollment management is a complex and increasingly powerful industry that influences how universities recruit and enroll students. In this project, I explore how predictive AI is already being implemented by this industry and discuss what other impacts might be possible as AI becomes more powerful and widely adopted. In particular, I explore how AI-powered enrollment management might exacerbate inequities in college recruitment, admissions, and enrollment.
I identify 3 trends that will become more popular in college enrollment management: personalized marketing, financial aid leveraging, and predictive analytics.
| Enrollment Management Practice | AI’s potential impact |
|---|---|
| Personalized marketing | description |
| Financial aid leveraging | description |
| Predictive analytics | description |
Furthermore, I analyze the state of college enrollment, situating it within the current environment of financial strains, attacks on higher education, and the imminent demographic cliff of nearly 13% less high school graduates, all of which may accelerate the integration of AI in enrollment pipelines.
As the market and environmental forces may accelerate the adoption of more AI-powered practices, there will be a growing need for guardrails to prevent inequitable or unethical applications of AI. I discuss the importance, primarily among selective institutions, to adopt ethical data frameworks and industry-level agreements. For the American public, I argue for new legislative mechanisms to hold institutions to a new standard of public transparency and accountability.