Jeffrey Selingo’s Strategies for Growing Enrollment – The Cengage Blog

Enrollment leaders don’t need another “try social media” pep talk. They need a game plan that actually works when the pool of traditional college-age students starts shrinking, families are doing ROI math like it’s the SAT, and “online” isn’t a noveltyit’s table stakes.

In a short but punchy post on The Cengage Blog, higher-ed expert and bestselling author Jeffrey Selingo distills the moment into four survival-grade strategies for the decade ahead: expand online learning, accommodate adult/nontraditional learners, award credit for prior experience, and align education with workforce goals. This article takes those four moves and turns them into an actionable enrollment playbookgrounded in real sector data and examples, but written like a human who has eaten at least one cafeteria cookie.

Why “Growing Enrollment” Suddenly Feels Like a High-Stakes Sport

Let’s name the two-headed monster:

• Fewer traditional-age students are on the way (the infamous “demographic/enrollment cliff”).
• More skepticism about cost, debt, and outcomes is pushing students to demand clearer valuefaster.

That’s why Selingo’s framing matters. He isn’t saying “market harder.” He’s saying: change the product, change the pathways, and change who you’re built to serve. Marketing can’t out-run a mismatch between what learners need and what institutions deliver.

The Selingo Blueprint: Four Strategies That Actually Move the Needle

1) Build More Opportunities for Online Learning (But Make It Worth Clicking “Enroll”)

Online learning is no longer a side hustle; it’s part of the core expectation. And not just for fully online degreesstudents increasingly want hybrid options, flexible scheduling, and course access that fits real life (work shifts, caregiving, commuting, military service, you name it).

What “online opportunities” should mean in 2026 (and beyond):

• Program-level clarity: Don’t hide the modality. Be specific: fully online, hybrid, low-residency, evening/weekend, accelerated terms.
• Course availability guarantees: Learners bail when required courses aren’t offered when needed. “Flexible” isn’t a vibe; it’s a schedule.
• Support that travels: Tutoring, advising, career services, and library access must be designed for distance learnersnot stapled on.
• Quality signals: Publish outcomes, student satisfaction, completion timelines, and employer-relevant skills. If you don’t define quality, Reddit will.

Specific example: Many institutions see online options lift inquiry-to-application conversion among working learnersbut only when the institution makes it easy to understand how the program works (time-to-completion, pacing, internships/clinicals, faculty access) and how it connects to careers.

2) Accommodate Nontraditional and Adult Learners (Because “The New Majority” Doesn’t Live in Dorms)

Adult and nontraditional learners aren’t a niche. They’re a massive marketoften with clearer goals and higher urgency. They’re also more likely to be juggling constraints that traditional recruitment pipelines weren’t built for.

What adult-friendly enrollment looks like in practice:

• Human response time: Fast, helpful answers beat glossy brochures. A working adult won’t wait 10 days for an email that says, “Thanks for your interest!”
• “Concierge” onboarding: One point of contact who can route financial aid, transcript evaluation, transfer credit, and advising without learners re-explaining their life story seven times.
• Predictable schedules: Evening/weekend cohorts, eight-week terms, and multiple starts per year can raise yieldespecially for stop-outs returning.
• Career-forward messaging: Adults want credentials that cash out in skills, promotions, licensure, and job mobility.

Strategically, this also means moving beyond the old segmentation of “freshmen vs. transfers.” The growth categories now include stop-outs returning, credential completers, career-switchers, military-affiliated learners, and working adults stacking credentials.

3) Award Credit for Prior Experience (Stop Making Learners Pay Twice for What They Already Know)

Credit for prior learning (CPL)including prior learning assessment (PLA), military training, industry certifications, and employer-based learningcan be a genuine enrollment growth lever because it reduces time and cost to completion. That’s not just nice; it’s competitive.

How CPL becomes an enrollment engine:

• Make it visible early: Put CPL on program pages, admissions checklists, and advising scriptsnot buried in policy PDFs.
• Standardize evaluations: Clear rubrics and turnaround times build trust (and reduce staff burnout).
• Connect CPL to pathways: “Your certification counts” is good. “Your certification counts and maps to these courses and this completion timeline” is better.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: if you make CPL confusing, learners assume it’s a trick. If you make it simple, it feels like respectand respect converts.

4) Align With Students’ Workforce Goals and Needs (ROI Isn’t CrassIt’s Reality)

Students and families increasingly weigh education choices through a “value lens”: affordability plus outcomes. That doesn’t mean everyone is chasing the highest salary. It means learners want credible evidence that the credential leads somewhere real.

Workforce alignment can show up in multiple ways:

• Curriculum mapped to skills: Translate learning outcomes into market language (skills employers recognize) without turning everything into corporate training.
• Work-based learning: Internships, apprenticeships, clinical placements, co-ops, project-based partnerships.
• Employer partnerships: Tuition support agreements, aligned certificates, “talent pipeline” programs, guaranteed interviews, and advisory boards that actually advise.
• Career services built into programs: Resume help in week 14 is too late. Embed career preparation across the student journey.

In other words: if your enrollment strategy doesn’t include a strong “after graduation” story, you’re asking families to buy a mystery box with a five-figure price tag.

Turning Four Strategies Into an Enrollment Growth System

Selingo’s four strategies are powerful because they stack. The best enrollment growth isn’t a single tactic; it’s a coherent student pathway:

1. Flexible access: online/hybrid options that meet learners where they are.
2. Broader markets: adult learners, transfers, stop-outs, and credential seekers.
3. Lower friction: CPL and clear transfer pathways reduce time and cost.
4. Clear value: outcomes, skills, and workforce relevance build confidence and yield.

And here’s the enrollment leader’s secret weapon: retention. When traditional markets soften, keeping and graduating students becomes as important as recruiting them. A 1–2% improvement in persistence can sometimes equal (or outperform) a huge recruitment pushespecially when discount rates are already sweating.

Specific, Practical Moves You Can Implement (Without Buying a Magical CRM Unicorn)

Quick Wins (0–90 days)

• Rewrite program pages to include: modality, schedule options, time-to-completion examples, and career outcomes language.
• Build a “CPL + Transfer Credit” front door: a simple explainer page plus a fast evaluation request form.
• Create an adult learner fast lane: one email/phone/text line answered by trained staff with clear escalation routes.
• Audit inquiry response time: if you’re not responding within one business day, you’re donating students to faster institutions.

Mid-Term Moves (3–12 months)

• Add multiple start dates in high-demand programs (or at least clear entry points).
• Launch stackable credentials that ladder into degrees (certificate → associate → bachelor’s → master’s).
• Formalize employer partnerships around specific roles and skills, not vague “collaboration.”
• Embed career readiness into curricula with measurable milestones (projects, portfolios, micro-internships).

Long Game (12–36 months)

• Re-architect academic models for flexibility: competency-based elements, modular scheduling, and robust support services.
• Build a lifelong learner pipeline: alumni upskilling, employer-sponsored cohorts, regional workforce alliances.
• Invest in student success infrastructure: early alerts, proactive advising, and financial support strategies to reduce stop-outs.

FAQ: The Questions Enrollment Teams Whisper in the Hallway

“If everyone goes online, won’t we just compete on price?”

Only if your online offering is generic. Differentiation comes from program design (cohorts, outcomes, employer ties, clinical placement support), student services, and transparency. “Online” is the format. The value is the experience and results.

“Adult learners sound great, but don’t they have lower completion rates?”

Adult learners have more constraints. That’s exactly why institutions that build for those constraintspredictable schedules, support, CPL, clear pacingcan grow enrollment and completion together.

“Is CPL risky academically?”

It’s risky only when it’s sloppy. With clear standards, faculty involvement, and documented learning outcomes, CPL can strengthen integrity while improving access and reducing unnecessary repetition.

“How do we prove workforce alignment without sounding like a trade school?”

Workforce alignment doesn’t cancel liberal learning. It means helping students translate learning into skills and opportunitiescritical thinking plus career navigation. The best institutions do both.

Conclusion: Enrollment Growth Isn’t a Marketing CampaignIt’s a Value Strategy

Jeffrey Selingo’s four strategies work because they focus on what learners actually need in the decade ahead: flexibility, recognition of prior learning, clearer pathways, and credible career value. In a tightening demographic environment, institutions that win won’t be the loudest. They’ll be the clearest, the most accessible, and the most aligned with how students live and work now.

Or, to put it bluntly: the future belongs to the institutions that stop asking students to fit the college… and start redesigning college to fit students.

Field Notes: of Real-World “Been There” Experiences (From What Campuses Commonly Report)

Below are five “experience patterns” that enrollment and academic leaders frequently describe when they try to put Selingo’s four strategies into motion. These aren’t fairy tales. They’re the kinds of stories that show up in conference sessions, board meetings, and late-night Slack messages when someone realizes, “Oh… this is bigger than a brochure refresh.”

1) The Online Launch That Worked Only After They Fixed the Boring Stuff

Many institutions report an early spike in interest after launching online programsfollowed by confusing melt when learners couldn’t tell how the program actually worked. The turnaround usually happens when teams add practical clarity: a sample schedule, weekly time expectations, course rotation, and a real human contact who can answer, “Can I do this while working full-time?” Once those answers are visible, inquiry-to-application rates often stabilizeand advisors stop writing the same email 400 times.

2) The Adult Learner Who Was Ready… Until the Process Treated Them Like a 17-Year-Old

One recurring pain point: adult learners are motivated, but the systems assume traditional workflows (school counselor-driven, parent-supported, semester-long indecision). Campuses that grow in this segment usually adopt a “concierge” experienceone point of contact who can coordinate transcript evaluation, transfer credit, CPL options, and financial aid. When that happens, leaders often report fewer abandoned applications and fewer “ghosted” admits because the learner feels seen, not processed.

3) CPL That Stayed Small Until Someone Made It a Promise, Not a Maybe

CPL programs frequently start as a policy and fail to become a product. The shift occurs when institutions treat CPL like a student-facing benefit: “Here’s what we accept, how we evaluate, how long it takes, and how it can shorten your path.” Some campuses add a fast, preliminary CPL estimate (with clear disclaimers) so learners can see a plausible completion timeline before they commit. That single change can move CPL from “nice idea” to “competitive advantage.”

4) Workforce Alignment That Finally Clicked When Faculty and Employers Co-Designed, Not Just Advised

Employer advisory boards are easy to create and easy to ignore. Programs that truly align tend to build structured feedback loops: mapping competencies to job roles, reviewing capstone projects with employers, and embedding work-based learning (even short projects) across the curriculum. Leaders often say the real win isn’t just enrollment; it’s confidencestudents understand why the program matters, and employers recognize the skill signal.

5) The Retention Surprise: “Enrollment Growth” Happened After They Stopped Losing So Many Students

Here’s the experience nobody wants to admit: you can recruit your way into a budget hole if students don’t persist. Institutions that report the most sustainable gains often pair new-market recruitment with student success upgradesproactive advising, early alerts, and financial support nudges. The result is a quieter kind of growth: fewer stop-outs, more completions, and stronger word-of-mouth. And in a peer-influenced market, that last part is rocket fuel.