Lifting the Veil on Enrollment Management: How a Powerful Industry Is Limiting Social Mobility in American Higher Education

A shrewd examination and critique of an industry that exerts a far-reaching influence on college admissions in the United States.

In Lifting the Veil on Enrollment Management, Stephen J. Burd brings together higher education journalists, researchers, and industry insiders to examine how this industry has evolved to shape US college admissions since its inception in the 1980s. Noting the inequities that have been caused or perpetuated by enrollment management strategies, the contributors offer specific recommendations and policy proposals to reduce the industry’s influence and restore equitable access to education.

The book begins with a lively historical overview of the enrollment management industry, tracing its roots to college efforts to maintain financial viability, including early data-mining projects that focused on metrics such as yield rates, draw rates, and recruitment spending. Trenchant essays explore how the industry became established and reveal some of the factors that contributed to its rise, including fervid interest in college rankings, the privatization of public higher education, and the structure of federal financial aid.

The work reveals how the industry’s practices for student recruiting effectively disadvantage minoritized and low-income students, limiting college access and affordability both directly and indirectly. It ends with suggestions for systemic changes in the business of higher education, making the case for efforts such as price controls for public universities and enhanced cooperation among institutions and with the federal government that could lead to fairer admissions practices at both public and private universities.

Stephen J. Burd is a senior writer and editor at New America, a progressive public policy institute in Washington, DC. An award-winning journalist, Burd has helped shaped New America’s work on higher education policy and student aid.