Adelphi Receives Prestigious Award for Personalized Enrollment

Adelphi, like many other colleges and universities, was contending with declining enrollment in the face of changing demographics, declining counts of high school graduates and increased competition across the higher education enrollment landscape. With our personalized approach to learning, we were doing all the right things. But we were faced with a challenge: How do we do a better job of communicating who we are and what we do? How do we distinguish ourselves from the more than 100 private colleges and universities throughout New York state? How do we reverse this downward enrollment trend?

It takes a campus

The solution was to up our game and create a Personalized Enrollment Initiative, said Stephanie Espina, director of freshman admissions, that would personalize the Adelphi experience at the very beginning of the enrollment process. And everyone at Adelphi had to be on board.

“The program required many changes in admissions procedures, new marketing and communications initiatives, an enhanced special events strategy, and commitment from deans, faculty and administrators,” said Espina. “In short, it took an entire campus to make the initiative succeed.”

And succeed it has. In the first year of the initiative:

• We received 13,006 applications for the Class of 2022, an increase of 9.7 percent over the previous year.
• The entering first-year class of 1,245 was the largest in Adelphi history.
• It was also the second-most diverse class ever, with 46.3 percent identifying as nonwhite.

Awarded for our winning approach

Thanks to the efforts of our entire campus, the American Association of University Administrators (AAUA) has named Adelphi University one of two winners of its Exemplary Models Award for Personalizing the Enrollment Process.

Each year, the AAUA Exemplary Models Awards recognizes outstanding examples of college and university leadership that demonstrate creative solutions to common problems in higher education. Adelphi was recognized for our ongoing person-to-person approach to education, small classes of 21 or fewer and strong commitment to diversity, particularly involving first-generation college students, veterans, LGBTQ+ students and students with autism spectrum disorder—all in a highly individualized and personalized manner.

“Winning this award is a testament to the University-wide efforts and commitment to truly personalizing the student journey,” said Espina. “We know firsthand that our students receive personalized care and attention throughout their entire Adelphi experience, and we’re so grateful for everyone in the University community who has contributed to and supported this initiative.”

The award will be formally presented at the AAUA Leadership Seminar on June 7, 2019, in Detroit. Tracy Nilsen, director of admissions operations and systems, will be accepting the award on our behalf. “Tracy has played a key role in the implementation of our personalized communication plan,” said Espina.

The AAUA award is the second Adelphi has won for our Personalized Enrollment Initiative. In 2018, the National Research Center for College and University Admissions (NRCCUA) recognized Adelphi for its enrollment initiative with its Eduventures 2018 Innovation Award. The campaign was created to address the changing demographics, declining counts of high school graduates and increased competition across the higher education enrollment landscape.