I always enjoy NACAC because it gives us a chance to get out from behind our screens and spend time with the people doing the work of enrollment every day. It also feels a bit like a family reunion.
This year’s National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) conference, held October 8-10 in Minneapolis, has been especially valuable. There’s a lot to talk about, from affordability and enrollment investments to leadership changes, international recruitment, and how institutions are connecting with the next generation of students.
While the challenges vary from campus to campus, a few themes keep coming up in conversations. Here are five that stand out so far.
1. Affordability Is Entering the Conversation Much Earlier
We’ve been talking about affordability in higher education for a long time, but we’re seeing a shift in how students and families approach it.
Cost is shaping which institutions students consider before they ever reach the point of comparing financial aid packages. In some cases, students are making assumptions about what’s affordable and ruling out options before they’ve had a meaningful conversation with an institution.
This is consistent with what we’ve seen in Carnegie’s Next Gen Learners research. Price is top of mind for today’s students, and their perceptions of affordability are being formed well before they apply.
It makes me think about how we approach affordability in our marketing and recruitment efforts. Are we waiting too long to talk about it? Are we helping students understand what an education will actually cost, what support is available, and what they’ll gain from the experience?
There’s a lot of room to get better at communicating value earlier, particularly for institutions that have a strong story to tell but aren’t always reaching students before those early decisions are made.
2. We need to Rethink How We’re Investing in Enrollment Growth
One of the most interesting things I am hearing at NACAC is from institutions that met their enrollment goals and their deliberate investment in marketing rather than relying on additional institutional aid. In other words, instead of putting money behind additional aid, they spent money on building brand awareness, and it appears to have paid off.
We spend a lot of time talking about discount rates and financial aid strategies, and for good reason. But how often are we having the same level of conversation about what we’re investing to build awareness and generate demand in the first place?
In some cases, investing more in marketing can cost an institution less than the additional aid it would take to influence those same enrollment outcomes.
There’s obviously no one-size-fits-all answer here. Every institution has different financial realities and different enrollment challenges. But there’s an opportunity for enrollment and marketing leaders to look more closely at the relationship between their investments throughout the funnel.
This connects to another conversation that came up this week about the growing importance of brand.
With so much skepticism about the value of higher education, institutions need to be clear about what makes them worth considering. That takes more than a strong recruitment campaign. It takes consistent investment in building awareness, reputation, and a clear understanding of what students can expect.
And when you get that right, it makes the work of enrollment easier.
3. Enrollment Teams are Navigating a lot of Change
Enrollment leaders are frustrated with their boards. Many boards are out of touch with the realities of the market and have unrealistic demands on enrollment. This is leading to an unprecedented amount of leadership churn across campuses and subsequently an impact on the enrollment team.
New presidents, new enrollment leaders, new institutional priorities. While these transitions can bring a lot of positive energy and fresh thinking, they also create uncertainty for teams that are already managing demanding enrollment goals.
I had a lot of conversations about how enrollment leaders can help close that gap. We spend so much time thinking about how to market our institutions to prospective students, but we need to be just as intentional about telling our story internally.
That means bringing boards along with us. Sharing the data behind enrollment trends, helping them understand how student expectations are evolving, and being transparent about both the challenges and opportunities in today’s market. It also means connecting that bigger picture to the institution’s enrollment and marketing strategy, so board members understand why we’re making certain decisions, where we’re investing, and what it will take to achieve our goals.
When boards have a clearer understanding of the market and the strategy, we can have more productive conversations about realistic goals, necessary investments, and how to support sustainable enrollment growth. And that alignment becomes especially important during leadership transitions, when teams need consistency and a clear direction forward.
4. International Recruitment Is Getting Harder, and Communication Matters
Another year, another year’s worth of conversations about international recruitment.
Between policy changes, visa uncertainty, and broader questions about studying in the United States, international students are navigating a complicated environment. And enrollment teams are trying to support them while dealing with many of those same unknowns.
One thing that keeps coming up is how much communication matters in these situations.
We can’t always give students certainty about what’s going to happen next. But we can make sure they know what we know, understand what steps they need to take, and feel supported throughout the process.
For institutions recruiting internationally, that requires close coordination across admissions, international student services, and campus leadership. It also requires recognizing that students and families may need more communication and reassurance than they have in the past.
These students are making a significant commitment, often from thousands of miles away. How institutions show up for them during an uncertain process can have a lasting impact.
5. Connecting the Digital and In-person Student Experience
Another big topic this week is how the next generation of students discovers, researches, and connects with colleges.
At Carnegie, this has been a major focus of our recent research, so I’m particularly interested in hearing how enrollment leaders are thinking about it.
Students are moving across search, social media, college websites, AI tools, email, and in-person experiences as they explore their options. They’re gathering information from a lot of different places, often before they’ve ever made direct contact with an admissions office.
The challenge is making sure those experiences connect.
If a student is drawn to an institution because of something they see online, does that same story come through when they visit campus? Does the admissions counselor reinforce it? Does the follow-up communication reflect what the student is actually interested in? Is it in sync?
We sometimes underestimate how much these individual interactions shape a student’s perception of an institution.
And as we’re asking students to make one of the biggest decisions of their lives, consistency matters. So does making the experience feel personal and relevant to them.
There’s a lot of opportunity for marketing and enrollment teams to work more closely together to make that happen.
It All Comes Back to Knowing Your Why
As I think about the conversations happening here in Minneapolis, I keep coming back to the importance of knowing who you are as an institution and why students should choose you.
When you’re dealing with enrollment pressures, changing student expectations, budget challenges, and new leadership priorities, it’s easy to get pulled in a lot of different directions.
Having a clear sense of what makes your institution distinctive gives your team something to build around. It helps you make smarter decisions about where to invest, how to communicate value, and what kind of experience you’re promising students.
I’m encouraged by the conversations we’re having at NACAC and the willingness of enrollment leaders to share what’s working, what’s challenging, and what they’re trying next.
There’s a lot of hard work ahead for higher education, but there’s also a lot of good thinking happening across our industry. It’s been great connecting with so many colleagues here in Minneapolis, and I’m looking forward to keeping these conversations going well beyond NACAC.
If your institution is rethinking how to invest in enrollment growth, communicate its value, and build stronger connections with prospective students, start a conversation with Carnegie.
