COLLEGE LEADS BLOG

Prospective Students Are Asking ChatGPT, Not Google, and Your Enrollment Marketing Has Not Caught Up

Prospective Students Are Asking ChatGPT, Not Google, and Your Enrollment Marketing Has Not Caught Up

Prospective students now research colleges through AI assistants, not Google. Direct outreach to enrollment and admissions staff matters more as digital discovery fragments.

07/23/2026
The FAFSA Disruption Created Enrollment Officials Who Now Trust Their Own Data More Than Any Outside Source -- and That Changes How You Sell to Them

The FAFSA Disruption Created Enrollment Officials Who Now Trust Their Own Data More Than Any Outside Source -- and That Changes How You Sell to Them

The 2024-25 FAFSA disaster forced enrollment offices to build their own real-time monitoring infrastructure. Those officials are now significantly more skeptical of vendor-supplied data -- and selling to them requires methodology transparency, not outcome claims.

07/16/2026
Community Colleges Are Having a Genuine Renaissance -- and the Enrollment Growth, Employer Partnerships, and Career Outcomes Are Turning Heads

Community Colleges Are Having a Genuine Renaissance -- and the Enrollment Growth, Employer Partnerships, and Career Outcomes Are Turning Heads

Community colleges were supposed to be losing the narrative to four-year institutions and boot camps. Instead, a meaningful cohort has posted enrollment growth, built employer partnerships, and produced career outcomes that are genuinely turning heads across higher education.

07/14/2026
Micro-Credential Stacking Is Quietly Becoming the Most Competitive Enrollment Market in Higher Education -- and the Institutions Winning It Are Not Who You Would Expect

Micro-Credential Stacking Is Quietly Becoming the Most Competitive Enrollment Market in Higher Education -- and the Institutions Winning It Are Not Who You Would Expect

Stackable credentials -- short certificates that earn credit toward longer degrees that earn credit toward advanced credentials -- have gone from a fringe concept to a genuine enrollment and revenue strategy at hundreds of institutions most vendor lists never prioritize.

07/06/2026
Higher Education Email Marketing Has a Deliverability Problem Nobody Is Talking About, and Fixing It Is Worth More Than Any Subject Line Test

Higher Education Email Marketing Has a Deliverability Problem Nobody Is Talking About, and Fixing It Is Worth More Than Any Subject Line Test

Higher education institutions now filter vendor email aggressively through Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace configurations. Vendors with declining open rates are not losing because their content is bad. They are losing before the email ever reaches the inbox.

07/10/2026
NIL and Revenue-Sharing Compliance Has Become the Fastest-Growing New Budget Line on Campus, and It Reaches Well Beyond Athletics

NIL and Revenue-Sharing Compliance Has Become the Fastest-Growing New Budget Line on Campus, and It Reaches Well Beyond Athletics

The House v. NCAA settlement created a new revenue-sharing and NIL compliance function at nearly every Division I institution, with its own general manager, its own software

07/02/2026
Enrollment Cliff Panic Got the Story Half Right -- Graduate and Professional Program Enrollment Is Quietly Booming at the Same Institutions Losing Undergraduates

Enrollment Cliff Panic Got the Story Half Right -- Graduate and Professional Program Enrollment Is Quietly Booming at the Same Institutions Losing Undergraduates

The demographic cliff narrative dominates higher ed coverage, but graduate, professional, and certificate program enrollment is rising at many of the same institutions losing undergraduates -- run by a completely different administrative structure most vendors never reach.

06/30/2026
The Quiet Money Is in Institutions That Are Not Household Names -- and That Is Where Vendors Are Leaving the Most Revenue on the Table

The Quiet Money Is in Institutions That Are Not Household Names -- and That Is Where Vendors Are Leaving the Most Revenue on the Table

Vendors chase brand-name institutions because they feel prestigious to land. The actual purchasing volume and fastest deal velocity sit at thousands of regional comprehensives and community colleges nobody bothered to target.

06/26/2026
The Transfer Student Market Is the Most Underserved Enrollment Opportunity in Higher Education -- and the Institutions Winning It Are Using Data Their Competitors Do Not Have

The Transfer Student Market Is the Most Underserved Enrollment Opportunity in Higher Education -- and the Institutions Winning It Are Using Data Their Competitors Do Not Have

Transfer students are 37 percent of undergraduate enrollment with higher graduation rates and lower acquisition costs. Most institutions are still ignoring this market.

06/19/2026
The Fall Enrollment Crunch Is Not What It Used to Be -- Move-In Week Purchasing Decisions Are Being Made by Different People Than Five Years Ago

The Fall Enrollment Crunch Is Not What It Used to Be -- Move-In Week Purchasing Decisions Are Being Made by Different People Than Five Years Ago

Move-in week used to be the quiet season in higher ed vendor sales. Now enrollment-stressed institutions are watching melt rates daily and making emergency retention technology decisions before the semester even starts.

06/23/2026
How to Reach College Administrators with Email Campaigns

How to Reach College Administrators with Email Campaigns

Reaching college administrators requires the right contacts, the right roles, and the right timing. Here is how to build and deploy email campaigns that connect with higher education decision-makers.

06/15/2026
How to Sell Into Community Colleges: The Buyer Profile, Budget Cycle, and Contact Strategy

How to Sell Into Community Colleges: The Buyer Profile, Budget Cycle, and Contact Strategy

Community colleges buy differently than four-year universities. This guide covers the buyer profile, budget cycle, and contact strategy for the fastest-growing segment of the higher education market.

06/12/2026
The Higher Education Contact Database Buyer's Guide: What to Evaluate Before You Buy

The Higher Education Contact Database Buyer's Guide: What to Evaluate Before You Buy

Before you buy a higher education contact database, read this guide. It covers verification standards, enrollment management contacts, segmentation depth, and the questions every provider should answer before you commit budget.

06/09/2026
How to Personalize Higher Ed Outreach at Scale Without It Feeling Generic

How to Personalize Higher Ed Outreach at Scale Without It Feeling Generic

Generic outreach to higher ed administrators does not work. Here is the three-level personalization framework that makes every message feel relevant without writing a unique email for every contact.

06/06/2026
The Enrollment Cliff Is Here: What Higher Ed Marketers Must Do Now

The Enrollment Cliff Is Here: What Higher Ed Marketers Must Do Now

The enrollment cliff is reshaping higher education budgets and buying behavior. Here is how data-driven outreach helps vendors and institutions adapt.

06/03/2026