Join us for an Advanced General Session on Measuring Return on Investment in International Student Recruitment on Tues, 31 May at 2:30p during NAFSA Week in Denver!

NAFSA leaders have identified this session as Advanced, so we'll expect colleagues to understand the basic tenets of ROI metrics, specifically on a micro scale. For example, we expect you to answer these types of questions:

• How much did you spend on recruitment travel during the last enrollment cycle?
• How many students did you enroll as a result of that investment?
• How much tuition revenue was generated by that initiative?

Calculating micro-ROI is not easy -- and nearly impossible for an external consultant to determine, without lots of help from inside the admissions circle. Case in point: I'd love to definitively answer the question, "How many students enrolled at my campus as a result of our USjournal campaign?" I have some input data (names of qualified leads we generated for that particular advertiser), but because of privacy issues, I don't have access to the output data (names of enrollees). Nor do we know who (anonymously) clicked through to the advertiser's .edu domain from USjournal, and ultimately enrolled.

I'd say the only fool-proof way to effectively track micro-ROI is with a closed ecosystem of lead generation through to matriculated students and even alumni relations. Some pretty sophisticated models are emerging... (Stay tuned for more on that!)

Bottom line: In order to take full advantage of this advanced session, we encourage you to review NAFSA resources related to ROI as well as those at USjournal.com/en/about/profile.pdf

Macro-ROI is what we'll cover during the #NAFSA16 session -- namely, encouraging colleagues to assign values to both quantitative and qualitative variables, to monitor ROI metrics over time. For example, if boosting diversity among the student body is your top priority, then enrolling a student from a country currently not represented on campus earns a more positive score than enrolling yet another student from a country already well-represented on campus. Clearly, our mathematical model is designed to evolve over time, as institutional priorities evolve.

My co-presenters and I can't wait to continue the conversation! We look forward to seeing you on Tues, 31 May at 2:30p in Denver.

In addition to the Advanced ROI Session, be sure to reserve one of these slots to connect with us during NAFSA Week:

• Tues, 31 May for breakfast with Cheryl and / or Karen
• Wed, 1 June for lunch with Cheryl and / or Karen
• Wed, 1 June at 1:15p: Digitizing Data (General Session)
• Thurs, 2 June at 7a: ROI Breakfast (RSVP to karen@USjournal.com)
• Fri, 3 June for breakfast or lunch with Cheryl

For details about any of these opportunities to discuss USjournal and / or FundsV, contact karen@USjournal.com.