UMKC's vision is to be a model urban research university characterized by signature professional and graduate programs, a dynamic undergraduate population, a highly diverse faculty, staff, and student body, and active engagement with our city and region. To become this vision, UMKC must:

Enhance its resource base

1. Increase enrollment and retention by 25 percent by 2011
2. Increase percentage of students enrolled full-time at UMKC to 75 percent by 2011

Enhance the quality of the student experience and promote student learning and success

Enhance the educational pipeline from high school to community college and UMKC

Enhance core academic mission

1. Urban education and leadership
2. Visual and performing arts
3. Life and health sciences

Enhance UMKC's role in the economic development of the region

UMKC's enrollment management plan for the next five years — 2007-11 — is focused on retention and student success. The focus on student success and retention is three-fold. First, student success strengthens the institution as a whole and creates a dynamic student body that is actively engaged and connected to the University. Second, retaining and graduating students is sound business practice that enhances the institution's resource bases, ensures return on investments in budgeting for recruitment and student support services, increases the value of the degree, and ultimately creates a more vibrant campus community and more satisfied alumni. Finally, helping students reach their academic goals contributes to the economic development and education of the Kansas City metropolitan area workforce.

A focus on student success and community engagement is aligned with UMKC's definition of enrollment management: an integrated systems approach that focuses on student enrollment from the time of their inquiry through graduation and post-graduation. An effective enrollment management system alters and improves the institution's frame of reference about itself and its prospective students, community members and business partners (Hossler, 1986). This definition indicates how important an institutional-wide plan is to successfully reaching our goals, serving our community, and living our vision.

The 2007-11 University-wide enrollment management plan includes a review of institutional planning assumptions and challenges, strategies for overall recruitment and retention, current student demographics and market position, an overview of our historical enrollments, projections for student headcount and credit hour production, and finally, each Academic Unit's individual enrollment management plan is attached in the appendices.

UMKC is uniquely positioned in Kansas City as the only university to offer undergraduate, graduate, professional, doctoral and specialist certification programs. Kansas City is a vibrant urban center that has wide-ranging ties to the surrounding communities. Two states, 18 counties and 50 communities are encompassed by Kansas City, and UMKC is in the heart of this greater metropolitan area. The demographics of Kansas City, the Midwest region and the nation are projected to shift rapidly. In order to continue being Kansas City's university, UMKC will need to meet the changing needs of our changing community.

Population demographics are projected to shift rapidly across the nation between 2000 and 2050. Additionally, while the overall population will increase by 49 percent, the makeup of that increase will change dramatically (www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj):

• In 2000, the total population was 69.4 percent non-Hispanic white, 12.7 percent non-Hispanic black, and 12.6 percent Hispanic.
• By 2050, the total population is projected to be 50.1 percent non-Hispanic White, 14.6 percent non-Hispanic Black, and 24.4 percent Hispanic.
• In other words, by 2050, the population of non-Hispanic Whites will have increased by 7.4 percent, non-Hispanic Blacks will increase by 71 percent, and Hispanics will have increased by 188 percent.

This trend is echoed in projections for the midwest region and for the state of Missouri. Even more compelling for institutions of higher education in the Midwest, studies predict that our region is projected to experience a 4-10 percent drop in high school graduates between 2007-12 and that the profile of these graduates will be more ethnically diverse. For example:

• The Missouri Department of Higher Education reports an overall 2 percent decrease in non-Hispanic white student enrollment from 2002-06. In this same five-year span, enrollment of black students increased by 5 percent and enrollment of Hispanic students increased by 57 percent (http://dese.mo.gov/schooldata/four/000000/demonone.html).
• The National Center for Education Statistics predicts an overall 8.8 percent decrease in high school graduates in the midwest from 2007-15; this translates to a 7.6 percent drop in Missouri high school graduates and a 9.2 percent drop in Kansas high school graduates (http://nces.ed.gov/programs/projections/tables/table_25CT.asp?referrer=table).

In addition to the challenges and opportunities presented by the changing demographics of our prospective students, UMKC has identified other factors that will affect our enrollment management planning.

• Developing a Metro Rate for graduate students who are residents of Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami and Wyandotte counties in Kansas
• Increasing faculty numbers and diversity to meet the needs of a larger and more diverse student body
• Ensuring adequate classroom, lab space and technology to support the teaching and learning needs of the campus
• Exploring alternative methods for course delivery: enhancing online and distance learning; utilizing video streaming; partnering with community colleges to use their facilities and engage their faculties
• Partnering with the Kansas City, Missouri School District and the Metropolitan Community College to create an educational pipeline and early college initiatives
• Implementing strategies to make UMKC a more welcoming and more inviting campus and to improve our racial climate
• Increasing need-based scholarship aid and better leveraging our financial aid packages. This includes securing as much state aid for our students as possible.
• Building projects on campus — Oak Street Aapartments, replacement of Cherry Street Residence Hall — will change the dynamics of campus by bringing the total number of residential students to approximately 1,600.

• Funding and building a new student union in conjunction with the Miller Nichols Library expansion is imperative to increase student engagement and ownership of the campus experience

• Increasing student credit hours is the only way to increase financial viability. Among the Urban 21, UMKC is ranked third-highest in the percentage of part-time students.

These factors will need to be addressed in order to adequately prepare for our future and remain an integral part of our community. In addition, the Academic Unit Enrollment Management Plans address specific challenges and factors that have particular bearing on their unique enrollment situations.

Key strategy 1:

Research and implement new technologies that will enhance the student experience through the recruitment process and that will lead to greater efficiencies and effectiveness. This includes full implementation of PeopleSoft, expanding use to take full advantage of the complexity of this software; explore CRM software for use in the recruitment process; implementing an electronic transcript system; enhancement of Web self-service capabilities; podcasting and other communication means.

Accountable: Jennifer DeHaemers
By when: ongoing through 2011

Key strategy 2:

Continue efforts to maximize University resources through the effective and efficient use of scholarship resources. This would include the full implementation of the Noel-Levitz Financial Aid Leveraging plan, as well as collaborating with academic units to leverage all University scholarship dollars for the most effective recruitment of students. It will also include collaboration with the Division of University Advancement in anyway necessary to assist the University in obtaining additional scholarship dollars.

Accountable: Jan Brandow
By when: ongoing through 2011

Key strategy 3:

Review and revise strategies for recruitment of targeted market segments including under-represented ethnic minority students (African-American, Hispanic-American and Native-American students), non-traditional students, international students, graduate and dual-credit high school students. Continue to enhance recruitment plans for first-time college and transfer students.

Accountable: Jennifer DeHaemers
By when: ongoing through 2011

Key strategy 4:

Develop and implement assessment methods of recruitment strategies and processes to continually work for improvement and effective use of human and financial resources.

Accountable: Jennifer DeHaemers

Key strategy:

Form a Retention Committee whose charge will be to develop a plan for University-wide retention strategies. Upon completion of that work, the Enrollment Management Plan will be updated to reflect the work of the committee and key strategies to be implemented.

In reviewing our current overall ability to retain students, we find that for the 2004 cohort of all first-time, full-time, degree-seeking freshmen, the retention rate is 71 percent. We find, however, that the retention rate for the same cohort of African-American students is 63 percent and for Hispanic students the rate is 73 percent. For the 2003 cohort, the overall retention rate is 74 percent; for African-American students, the retention rate is 75 percent; for Hispanics, 65 percent. For the 2002 cohort, overall retention is 70 percent; for African-Americans, 54 percent; for Hispanics, 72 percent.

Our six-year graduation rates rank among the upper half of our peer institutions. For students who entered as first-time, full-time, degree-seeking freshmen in 1997, 45.1 percent graduated in six years; for those who entered in 1998, 40.8 percent graduated in six years; and for those who entered in 1999, 44.3 percent graduated. Of our minority students who entered as freshmen in 1997, 31.8 percent graduated in six years; for those who entered in 1998, 39.7 percent graduated in six years; and for those who entered in 1999, 36.6 percent graduated. Among the Urban 21 institutions, UMKC ranks third-highest in the percentage of part-time students at 42.3 percent. In order to affect financial viability, UMKC will need to decrease our percentage of part-time students to 25 percent.

This committee is specifically charged with developing strategies to:

1. Increase student retention to 80 percent;
2. Increase six-year graduation rates to 50.1 percent;
3. Increase number of students attending full-time to 75 percent; and
4. Increase student satisfaction as measured by the Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI) and the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

Accountable: Mel Tyler, Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management and the Provost's Office, Division of Academic Affairs

By when: Winter 2008

Student Profiles

• 2005-06 (PDF)
• 2006-07 (PDF)
• 2007-08 (PDF)
• 2008-09 (PDF)

Analysis of UMKC's Current Market Position (PDF)

Historical Student Headcount Enrollment by Academic Unit, Fall 2000-06 (PDF)

Historical Student Headcount Enrollment by Level, Fall 2000-06 (PDF)

Historical Student Credit Hour Enrollment by Level, Fall 2000-06 (PDF)

Follow the links below to view projected enrollments for student headcount and credit hours submitted by the academic units.

• Student Headcount Enrollment Projections
• Student Credit Hour Enrollment Projections

Below is an illustration of our enrollment and retention goals:
Enrollment Projections 2007-2011 without DCHS

Using academic units' projected headcount and SCH

Source: UMKC's academic unit enrollment projections, Fall 2006-11

This plan contains the collected wisdom of the faculty and staff who serve as the Enrollment Management Committees in the academic units. The University-wide collaboration achieved in the creation of this plan will be the anchor to ensure the continued success of enrollment management and the realization of the enrollment goals for UMKC.

Recruitment and student success strategies are highly individualized per academic unit. The selective admissions criteria and capped class sizes for the professional schools, for example, dictates a more strategic approach to recruiting students with the right fit for the program. Likewise, the College serves a wide range of student populations, which means that their strategies will be equally diverse.

Each unique plan will empower the academic units to achieve their enrollment goals. Implementation and oversight of UMKC's Enrollment Management Plan, including the units' strategies, will be the accountability of the Strategic Enrollment Management Team (SEMT). This team is the driving force behind creating the collaborations to make these strategies successful.

For more information regarding these individual plans, contact either the dean or the enrollment manager of the academic unit.