First Ever NACUBO Conference and Enrollment Intersection

In July, for the first time, I had the opportunity to attend the NACUBO Annual Meeting.  In a word, wow!  I remember our CFO at Saint Joseph’s used to attend and would return with numerous enrollment questions for me from the conference.  Now I know why…

A meaningful number of sessions and topics focused on institutional net revenue.  And where does this revenue come from?  Meaningfully, from tuition via enrollment.  From my perspective, more enrollment managers need to attend the NACUBO Annual Meeting with their CFO’s.  It serves as a real opportunity to intersect, engage, and educate each other on their respective roles while developing synergies. 

Part of my learning at the Conference involved some CFO’s near obsession with discount rates, enrollment growth and finding more full-pay students to reduce financial aid spending.  It would serve some enrollment managers well to attend this conference to better understand and educate on the genesis of these topics. 

I also had the opportunity to hear from some rockstar CFO’s who I would have loved to work with while in an institutional role.  One CFO shared out his organizational philosophy and team development approach.  Each fall, he planned and organized a Finance Academy for the institution.  What a great idea!

At the Academy, and he calls the session an Academy versus training because it results in greater attendance, they focus on educating senior academic and nonacademic academic administrators on the specifics involving institutional finances.  Each Dean is shown their budget outcome from the prior academic year and whether they ended up in the red or black.  This is true of administrative areas as well.  The Academy agenda focuses on big picture challenges associated with the institution’s finances, so each senior administrator understands priorities, tradeoffs and budgetary pinch points.

What impressed me most listening to the CFO was that he communicated how the Academy helped foster a culture of transparency while the finance team was empowered to lead discussions serving as a leadership development opportunity.  The Academy reminded me of the Enrollment Management Open Forum I used to hold at the University of Miami.  It served as my attempt to share and educate attendees on the challenges and realities of the higher education enrollment landscape.  I would love to say that the Open Forum was my idea, but it was one of many ideas I poached from David Kalsbeek.

In the CFO’s presentation, he shared how the Academy began as a slow burn – starting small while building out institutional coalitions and wins over time.  It reminded me of some of the student success programs we launched at Miami – like the GPAid academic recovery program and First Year Directions seminars – that began with a pilot in one college that grew out to multiple colleges. 

Broadly, the CFO communicated his true servant leader philosophy in sharing how the Academy helped his area lead forward within the institution.  “It’s not about me”, I heard him say – something so refreshing to hear amongst institutional leaders today.  He also advised the audience “not to be afraid of being a truth teller” – another refreshing lesson when others work to spin, inflate, or self-aggrandize themselves for simply doing their jobs.  For example, I remember reading an area report highlighting the number of student interactions and counseling sessions their area conducted during the academic year.  This made me chuckle as it would be like the admission office bragging about the number of applications processed or campus tours conducted – regardless of the outcome.  Communicating outcomes externally is important – most people (outside the functional area doing the work) don’t care about the sausage making – regardless how essential.

Ultimately, I concluded the learning experience at the NACUBO Annual Meeting a must attend for enrollment leaders.  I think this would be true for advancement leaders as well given the revenue generating function associated with this area.  For us to be sustainable as institutions, we need to continue to break down divisional and functional silos, working together to achieve our respective institutional missions on behalf of our students – we owe them our best.