Join Us for a Webinar: Improve Student Enrollment and Success with Data Blending

[BethN]

In previous blog posts, I’ve talked about the application of data blending and advanced analytics to student data within higher education. The University of Dayton (UD) is doing all the things I’ve described, specifically aligned to student recruitment and enrollment, student retention and alumni donations. I’m excited to share details about a new case study featuring their application of Alteryx and Tableau. Here are some highlights, but for more details, please read the full case study here and attend our upcoming webinar.

University of DaytonFor those unfamiliar with the Flyers, or who don’t have 30+ friends who went to the University of Dayton (I attended a rival college just down I-75 - Go Xavier Musketeers!), UD is the largest private university in Ohio with 11,000 students. Like many institutions of higher education, they are data rich – high-school student details, student transcripts (classes, grades, majors, etc.), financial aid and loan specifics, library visits, residence and dining hall usage, campus safety reports – the list goes on and on. But in the same vein, higher education also has a stigma – slow to change, slow to do something with the information they have, likely to have data sitting in silos, and apt to outsource data and analytics projects.

UD has thrown aside these preconceived notions and they’re tackling the challenges on their own. They made Inside Higher Ed News in April 2015 due to their fresh approach to tuition transparency, where incoming freshmen are guaranteed the same price (inclusive of tuition and fees) for four years or 144 credit hours. Much of this new approach can be credited to Jason Reinoehl, Interim Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing at UD. Throughout his career, Jason has developed successful strategies in virtually all aspects of the admission process, with a special emphasis on demographic trends driving enrollment management. He is also the reason Alteryx had an initial footprint at UD, and is expanding internally.

Jason and UD are breaking down data silos and embracing student data from various areas and departments of the university, and making smarter business decisions that positively impact the university’s number one priority – their students. Using Alteryx and Tableau, the University of Dayton was able to quickly blend and analyze data to deliver strategic insights about student behaviors and outcomes, optimize the admissions and enrollment process, and improve retention. “We are running parallel systems for dining services, athletics, student activities, housing, and more,” Reinoehl notes. “You can imagine all of the data points that are available and the value of blending data to gain insights to help the university and its students succeed.”

Join Us for a Webinar: Improve Student Enrollment and Success with Data BlendingAlteryx and Tableau are giving UD a competitive leg up – allowing them to identify the right students for admission, and then retain and graduate those scholars at increasing rates. Starting at step one with the right students—those who can handle the university’s academic rigor and thrive in its environment of community—from thousands of prospective students is critical to the university’s success. But they’re not just impacting recruiting and enrollment. They’re also applying data blending and advanced analytics to retention. “We are seeing how the insights we’ve drawn from the data are making the student experience even better,” asserts Reinoehl. “We increased retention by three percent last year—which is incredible—and we expect to repeat that high rate this year. We’ve been able to quickly identify and reach out to at-risk students as a result of the data blending and analysis efforts we’ve accomplished through Alteryx.”

On top of enrollment and retention, Jason and his team are tackling speed. The ease-of-use of Alteryx has freed up time to work on other challenges. “With Alteryx, I can now do an analysis of first-year enrollment, as well as our annual market analysis so quickly, I have the time to look for new data sources and explore other insights,” explains Reinoehl. “Obtaining quicker insights means we make better decisions to positively impact the future of the university and its students,” says Reinoehl. “From the point of first contact to greater alumni engagement, Alteryx and Tableau are behind some of the most important decisions we make every day that help us meet our goals and follow the university’s mission.”

Last, but certainly not least, Jason and his team are expanding their use of data and analysis. By adding new data sources, the existing Alteryx workflows that analyze student success are being adapted to address other challenges – student performance, housing utilization, financial aid requirements, and, soon, alumni efforts.

We’re excited to share details of the University of Dayton’s success, and invite you to read more details in their case study. Jason and his team are great examples of our goal – to enable line-of-business analysts to solve complicated business problems in hours, not the weeks typical of traditional analytic approaches.

If you’d like to hear more from Jason about the great work UD is doing, please register for our upcoming webinar on Wed, Nov 11 from 1-2pm central.