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Strategies for Boosting Enrollment Using Data You Already Have

4 min read
Oct 15, 2024 8:00:00 AM

In the age of school choice, increasing student enrollment has become a bigger challenge than ever before.

Student data can reveal clear steps you can take to boost application numbers and increase enrollment. Dig into your treasure trove of student data and uncover some hidden gems that will help you improve your school enrollment.

Data-Driven Insights to Guide Recruitment Strategies


1. Use data to identify strengths and weaknesses in your school.

Start by diving into your historical data, including exit interviews with families and parent satisfaction survey results. These provide valuable insights into why students leave or choose not to apply in the first place.

Then use this information to improve your messaging:

  • Highlight the areas where your school excels
  • Include positive testimonials from parents and guardians
  • Show how youve addressed any past weaknesses

This strategy can win back applicants who may have been deterred by prior issues.

2. Analyze your students’ geographical locations.

Map out residence data of your current student applications to visualize all the addresses.

Once you’ve identified clusters of applicants from certain areas, you can ramp up your recruitment efforts in and around those same locations.

3. Identify gender gaps.

Examine your student applicant data, and look for any gender imbalances in your school. Preemptively visit boys clubs, girl scouts, and athletic club teams to increase applications where needed.

Additionally, if you’re noticing gender discrepancies, tailor your school-level recruitment plan to speak directly to their concerns and interests.

4. Review student-age data.

Be sure to monitor the distribution of applicants and current-student ages.

A balanced applicant pool will produce a student lottery that is balanced and, ultimately, classrooms that are balanced, supporting sustainable enrollment over the long term.

5. Pinpoint the most popular interests among your applicants.

Are most of your applicants interested in your STEM program? Or are they interested in the art programs your school offers?

Whatever your enrollment data tells you, follow the breadcrumb trail, and get involved in your community. For example:

  • Make sure your school has a presence during science museum family days and exhibits to promote your STEM program.
  • Build relationships with the local theaters to share information about the expansion of your arts program.
  • Organize plays or concerts at the local parks to build awareness about your school programs.

These types of strategies are particularly effective for increasing enrollment in magnet schools, charter schools, and independent schools with specific focuses.

By the way — if you’re a district or charter organization struggling with even collecting data on what programs and services families may be interested in, check out our K-12 school finder software, SchoolFinder.

6. Segment current students with siblings.

Arguably, this is the easiest and quickest strategy for driving higher student enrollment.

Once you’ve identified current students with siblings, make sure those siblings are also applying. Here are some tips for increasing enrollment using siblings:

  • Reach out individually to families with students’ unenrolled siblings
  • Proactively invite them to have siblings apply. Make yourself available for questions, and plan a special event to attract these students in particular.

If you’re not sure whether your students have siblings — or you know they have siblings but don’t know the child’s age, grade level, or even gender — consider making some small changes to your student enrollment form.

7. Evaluate communication barriers.

Do you know how many languages are spoken in your community? Do you know what those languages are? Are your enrollment materials available in all of those languages?

If your answer is no, you’re missing out on an opportunity to eliminate an unfortunately common barrier to enrollment.

Identify every language commonly spoken in your community. You can then translate your applications and all associated materials into those languages and make them available to parents in their primary language.

A student enrollment system like SchoolMint Enroll makes translating your enrollment materials into other languages incredibly easy.

From application and lottery to new student registration and returning-student registration, SchoolMint Enroll features in-platform full translation for 17 languages — and has built-in Google Translate integration for all other languages.

Data-Driven Action Steps to Boosting Enrollment


1. Spruce up the language in all your school materials.

Did you know certain words have a different impact on how socioeconomic groups perceive the language used in applications and marketing materials?

Words like waitlist, admissions, and lottery can deter families who don’t think they have a chance to be accepted.

Once you’ve identified the different groups in your applicant pool, use friendly, accessible language in all your school materials.

For example, if you know families in your community find those previous words to be discouraging, try these instead:

  • Priority list instead of waitlist
  • Enrollment instead of admissions
  • Selection process instead of lottery
And if you’re unsure of whether terminology changes even matter for your school(s), remember what we mentioned earlier: you can always design and pass out a survey.

2. Contact families who started but didn’t complete the application process.

You’ll inevitably have families who begin their student application  but drop off in the enrollment process.

  • Reach out and offer to help them complete their application.
  • Contact those who expressed interest or attended an open house through a school CRM like SchoolMint Connect.
  • Send messages reminding them of upcoming deadlines they may have simply forgotten.

Note: an enrollment system like SchoolMint Enroll has built-in family communication tools. SchoolMint Enroll lets you set up automatic notifications to families regarding additional information required, upcoming enrollment deadlines, and more.

3. Make sure your target audience knows what sets your school apart from the competition.

You should be able to get this information from surveys and parent feedback. Your school should have its own voice and identity. Successfully defining and communicating your school’s value is a step in the right direction to increase enrollment in schools.

If marketing your public, charter, or private/independent school is an area in which you need help, we offer a variety of school marketing and consultation services. Learn more on our website!


Improve your application and lottery process with the leading K-12 enrollment software.

An application and lottery management tool that shows a full enrollment conversion funnel can make splicing your data — and finding these patterns — instant, painless, and rewarding.

SchoolMint Enroll is the premier student enrollment management system for schools and districts that are serious about creating efficient processes for themselves and easy experiences for fa milies.

Our comprehensive enrollment management software provides functionality for managing:

Learn how SchoolMint Enroll can help you manage any enrollment need — applications, lottery, registration, and more.

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