Make your strategic planning a cinch this new year with simple yet powerful techniques from Interact’s leadership team. After all, January is the perfect time to pause and reassess your goals before the finish line in June. So, take advantage of this halfway point to take stock, adjust your sails, and soar forward with confidence to meet your enrollment targets.

“Sometimes, when you’re at a community college, you can feel like you’re always on the hamster wheel,” says our VP of Account Services, Lisa Kasper. “It’s constantly go, go, go.”

That’s why it’s so important to take a time-out and ensure your college is on the right track. Whether your staff takes a retreat, undergoes professional development training, or puts regular planning meetings on the calendar, carve out your strategic planning time. As our CEO, Dr. Diane Walleser, says, “It’s really important to stop everything and reassess. Otherwise, you’re just doing the same thing over and over again because you are not coming up for air.”

Keep reading for our experts’ top strategic planning tips with Interact’s CEO, Dr. Diane Walleser; VP of Account Services, Lisa Kasper; and Chief Marketing and Growth Officer, Chelsey Bowers.

Avoid Burnout and Instead Fire Up Efficiency with Smarter Strategic Planning

As the spring semester swings into action, it can be all too easy to get carried away by the momentum of daily to-dos. But pausing to reassess your progress will help you achieve your goals and defeat stress.

“Staff are burnt out from the day-to-day stress of managing multiple start terms,” says Kasper. “So, the thought of assessing and having a ‘postmortem’ of previous pain points isn’t always possible.” 

Part of the challenge is that more colleges provide increased short-term offerings in line with student demand. As Walleser says, “We were just visiting a college on the quarter system, and holy heck — when do you stop and take time to reflect and assess?”

When you never get a break, colleges must be extra conscientious about protecting their strategic enrollment planning efforts.

“If something is a priority, you have to make it the priority,” says Walleser. 

For example, one of our college partners has weekly meetings to make consistent headway on their top goals. It’s a great strategy to gain steam, but you have to be sure that the priority you are focusing on is garnering the most ROI.

“That’s why it’s so important for colleges to narrow their focus to fewer goals,” says Walleser. “Otherwise, you can’t gain momentum on the things that are really important.”

Taking a New Year Checkup on Your Strategic Planning

The most important resource at your disposal is a good data stream. With solid data in hand, you can roll up your sleeves and ask the hard-hitting strategic planning questions that will get you closer to your objectives.

“The first order of business this January is looking at our annual goals and doing a checkup,” says Walleser. “What are the one or two things we are going to accomplish between now and the end of the year to meet our goals?”

Part of that work is planning for fall. What enrollment benchmarks does your college need to reach in the fall semester? What worked for you last year that you can build on? Plus, you’ll want to ensure that your fall targets align with the broader aims of the college.

“This is a prime time to check in and make sure you’re not falling off track with the college’s enrollment management goals,” says Walleser.

What happens if your college takes a step back and realizes it is falling short of its resolves?

“Then we have to find out where and why the enrollment drop is happening,” says Walleser. A crucial part of that process is breaking down enrollment trends by programs, crunching the numbers, and finding out what’s growing — and what’s shrinking. 

“It surprises me that many colleges don’t have program-level enrollment details,” confides Walleser. “If you don’t have that information, it’s hard to know where your gaps are and where you are falling short.”

The secret to figuring out those enrollment gaps is robust research:

Digging Into Data for Better Enrollment

Before you can properly align your enrollment priorities, you need to take the time to assess and analyze your college data. There’s just one problem.

“Most of our community colleges are in such a case of perpetual motion that they don’t have time to stop and dig into their data,” says Walleser. “I talked to one of our college partners today, and she said, ‘We could do this work in-house. We just don’t have the time.’”

Does that sum up your college’s experience? If so, know that you’re not alone. We help many college partners dive in and break down their pivotal enrollment data. Then, we can pinpoint where students are getting stuck and make a plan to get them moving forward again.

“Without that real student data, it’s just too easy for college leaders to get sidetracked from crisis to crisis,” says Walleser. “If you really want to reach your goals, you need to be much more intentional about your strategic planning.”

There are a lot of steps to gathering, combing through, and making sense of college data. But from establishing a firm foundation of robust research to building effective recruitment plans, marketing plans, retention campaigns, and beyond, we have your back to help you safeguard enrollment.

“Say your college wants to stop the stop-outs,” posits our Chief Marketing and Growth Officer, Chelsey Bowers. “You already have a list of students, but you may not have the time. All you have to do is reach out for help, and we can help you make that vital connection.”

Investing in Your Strategic Planning for 2025

We get it: Many of our community colleges have small departments and are strapped for time and resources. But the real question is, can you afford not to take the time to investigate your data and make a smart plan?

“At some point, you need to invest in research and planning and be willing to make some changes,” says Walleser. “If you don’t, that downward decline will continue.”

Even a small enrollment bump can snowball over time into big wins. Plus, having additional FTE revenue from your enrollment efforts will help offset any investment costs while emboldening your future efforts. And if you need extra support, we’ve got you.

As Kasper says, “Focusing on your data and your strategic planning is an investment that will continue to pay dividends in your enrollment health.”

Is your college ready to stand up to the enrollment cliff but could use some reinforcements? Reach out for a complimentary consultation and find out how we can support you.