The following is an excerpt from MARKETview’s new eBook, Enrollment Evolved: A Five-Year Study of Changing Student Behavior. We created this eBook to assist enrollment professionals in understanding, and learning from, the ways college-choice preferences of high school students shifted between 2019 and 2023.
In this post, we will share findings from one of the topics covered in the first section of the study, “Change in Domestic Enrollment by Consumer Income.”
A quick note about the methodology used: The study is based on five years of MARKETview data comprised of 60M+ student records, 130M+ consumer households, and institutional data from 150+ colleges and universities nationwide. Unlike surveys and polls, this is all empirical data based on actual student actions.
MARKETview’s household-level consumer data allows us to understand the income profile of every student in our partners’ pools, regardless of whether that student has filed a FAFSA or shared financial information another way.
As you can see in the chart above, the <$50K audience has experienced the greatest growth over the last five years. This is represented by the enrollment of students from households with annual consumer incomes less than $50K up 11.2% and $50K-$100K up 8.0%. Additionally, the families who have the greatest financial resources continue to be very desirable for colleges and universities. Enrollment among the most affluent (consumer incomes greater than $250K) is up 7.9% since 2019.
It is the middle-income households who have suffered most during this time. In many cases, these families have too high of an income to qualify for much (if any) financial aid but are not wealthy enough to be able to afford college without substantial support.
Since growing revenue will become an even greater challenge as we enter the impending demographic shift, knowing where opportunities lie around specific income bands will be more important than ever in achieving your goals.
If you found this information helpful, we encourage you to check out the full eBook for additional views, including:
- Demographic breakouts by region and race/ethnicity
- Changes in first-source proportion and yield
- Enrollment by decision round
- Actionable next steps for enrollment teams
Also, please be on the lookout for installment two of this series where we’ll explore “How Inquiry Timing Translates to Deposits.”
Enrollment Evolved: A Five-Year Study of Changing Student Behavior
Discover how five years of multiple disrupting factors in higher ed have affected student preferences regarding college choice.
Download the eBook
Want to learn how MARKETview can provide your institution with comparative data you can use to achieve your enrollment and financial goals? Schedule a brief demo with us today.