Despite challenges in enrollment and staffing, Villa Maria College has achieved something remarkable: an impressive 14% increase in enrollment, marking its largest incoming class in over 25 years.

This success isn't just luck; it's a result of innovative leadership plus student-focused technology.

Villa Maria's achievement can be attributed to several key factors, and we're honored to play a pivotal role. In a recent Q&A, we talked with Director of Admissions, Becky Strathearn, and Executive Vice President, Brian Emerson, to dive into the details of their recent success.

Element451: Across the board, institutions have been wrestling with many challenges, from understaffing to low enrollment. What are some of the specific challenges Villa Maria College has been facing as a private institution in Buffalo, NY?

Becky: We're a smaller college. We have about 550 students. We're in an area in Buffalo where there are a lot of colleges, so there's a lot of competition out there. And it's not necessarily an area that people or young people are moving into, and there isn't a big draw to move to snowy Buffalo. So one of our biggest challenges is that people really didn't know about Villa. 

We have all the regular challenges of competition getting harder and out-of-state colleges becoming popular. You know, everybody's struggling with declining enrollment. People are not having as many kids. They're having them later in life or not at all. 

So it's a very scary time in higher education, with all those factors and then people questioning the value of education on top of that because it's not a guarantee that you're going to go to college and get a job. So those are all the typical things that every college faces, but we were facing a little bit more because people didn't even really know about us.

Element451: When you think about the challenges that Villa students face, specifically, is there anything that stands out to you?

Becky: I would say that we've always been ahead of the game by realizing that student support is key at a college. I was just reading an article about a local community college where they said that the new way to get enrollment isn't by getting new students; it's by retaining students. Villa has known that for a very long time. It's a lot of work to get new students, but keeping them for 2 to 4 years is very hard because they have all these things going on in life, way more than people used to have going on in life. Things with social media and their personal lives. You know, at least being more aware of all these mental health issues, where we’ve created enough staff to have walk-in hours every day with somebody available at a counseling center. We've been ahead of the game with that and making sure we have enough staff to help deal with all these issues. 

And then, on the academic support side, students get assigned an academic coach their first year instead of an adviser. So the difference is that it’s not somebody that's teaching all day long, and they have to fit in talking to these students. These are academic coaches that they're assigned to for the whole first year. They meet with them either virtually or in person. They put their schedules together with them, so they get a say in their schedule, find out what they're interested in, if they want minors or certificates. 

And then, they do a quarter-term report with them that they get from the faculty. They get a midterm report, and then they make their schedule for the next semester with them. So, they're with them the whole year. They get one person who's in the office every day that they can stop in and see when they have questions that are, you know, not in the middle of a lecture.

Element451: You’ve just announced that Villa has seen a 14% increase in enrollment and your largest incoming class in years. Why do you think that’s happening now, during such a challenging time in higher education?

Brian: There are two main reasons. We're constantly evaluating our recruitment procedures and our activities, trying to make sure that they're relevant and that they're done well and getting better and better. So, Becky and her team’s daily activities and procedures are always being assessed, evaluated, and improved. 

The two different factors for this year that we think contributed to growth were our dramatic increase in the number of campus visits and our investment in campus notoriety, so getting the word out about the college through community building and outreach to different partners like high schools and community colleges. 

The visit initiative was a big one where we said we're gonna go all in on field trips. We provide transportation and lunch to schools that wanna come to visit the campus, have a tour, do a workshop, meet with faculty, and have a financial aid talk. We had over 1,000 visits last year, and we’re on pace to double that. Having those visits is way more effective than putting up billboards.

The other one is the efforts of our president getting out there in the community, making friends, making connections, and introducing people to the college, as well as the work of our enrollment-related staff like admissions, financial aid, registrar, and success center. We meet on a regular basis to talk about partnership outreach to high schools, community colleges, businesses, support centers, and apprenticeship programs.

Element451: It sounds like Villa has always been very intentional about its place in the community and supporting students by giving them the best possible experience, both in and out of the classroom. How do you think Element451 has helped your team do that?

Becky: Like every college, we have experienced extreme staffing shortages. With Element451, the number one thing that has helped is how much work I've been able to automate.

It has simplified processes so that I can pop in myself, and one of my admissions counselors or somebody from another department can pop in and create an event with sign-ups. It goes right onto a central landing page with all the other events, and it comes down automatically after the day of the event. It’s not something you have to fiddle with like our old website.

And then it just sends attendees automatic notifications. It sends them automatic reminders. So it takes out all that extra manual work where before I had to send an email to everybody that is signed up. Now it just automatically sends the reminders, the emails, and texts for me. 

Everything’s automated. When somebody applies or they inquire, they get an automatic text and an email, and they also get entered into a workflow, where they get a series of emails. If they say they're interested in a graphic design program, then they get a branded graphic design message, and it just goes through the series of emails that we put together for them. And that's really helpful because it just takes care of itself. I don't have to track it. I don't have to manage it. They automatically get a text and email that says, “Come visit us.”

When we go into student records, we don't have to go into all these different systems to see what stage their application is in. We can go right to their main People page, and it gives us their application date, our notes, what events they've signed up for, what workflows they're a part of, all the texts, all the emails (it tells if they've opened them, how many times they've opened them).

So it gives you a really good overview just by glancing at the first page, and you don't even have to go jumping between different pages to find what you need. That's a huge time saver. We have one central place where we can see all the communication so automation is really key when we're facing all these staffing issues. 

Element451: It’s great to hear how Element451 has not only been a benefit to you and your staff, but by helping you automate tasks and save time, you are also creating a more positive experience for students who receive timely communication that’s personalized just for them on a consistent basis.

Brian: Yes, and I think one of the things that's really helped us is just good old-fashioned raw recruiting. Building funnels, being persistent, and being really quick are key, and that innovation comes with having tools like Element451 that help you do it in a modern, simple, and direct way.

Becky: We even tried a couple of different chat widgets, but it was always me on a Friday night getting a message notification that I was frantically trying to respond to before they got off. It was a lot of pressure on me because I couldn't ask my staff to answer things at night and on the weekend. Element451's chat feature has been helpful because it has cut down on the number of questions that I get. Students get a response right away, so it cuts down on repeat questions.

Element451: Your teams already utilize Element451 in so many ways, from recruitment events to admissions processes to enrollment marketing. What’s next for Villa?

Brian: We’d like to automate even more communication while keeping it personalized. Being able to get back to students really, really quickly provides a lot of value, and we want to continue to do that across the board.

Element451: We love to hear about our partners experiencing such incredible success. We hope it continues every year! In closing, if you had to describe Element451 to a colleague in higher education, what would you say?

Becky: Element451 is innovative, and it’s easy to use. The product is always evolving, always adding new features so you never feel stuck.

Brian: Element451 is the best solution available to support modern recruitment. It’s simple, it’s easy to use, and it’s incredibly powerful.

Want to experience the power of Element451 for yourself? Get a personalized demo and see how Element451 can automate your manual tasks, boost your productivity, and make your team of two feel like 10.