Events

Prospective students arrive with questions: is this program right for me, what will it actually cost, and how does it fit the life I'm already living. These questions decide whether a learner moves forward or walks away.

Brandeis University and Merrimack College have made transparency a starting point for the enrollment experience, meeting prospective students earlier, with clearer information, and greater trust. Their approaches, including the technology and tools behind them, offer lessons that travel across program types, learner populations, and institutional contexts.

This session brings enrollment leaders from both institutions together to walk through what early transparency looks like in practice and what it takes to build.

What We'll Cover

• Why transparency has become central to enrollment trust across higher education, particularly for adult, returning, and professional learners
• How two institutions approached the operational, cultural, and leadership decisions that made early transparency possible
• What it looks like in practice to help prospective students identify the right program, understand real costs, and plan around their lives, including the role technology plays in     making that possible at scale
• The transferable principles: what these approaches have in common and how enrollment leaders can assess readiness at their own institutions
• How enrollment leaders can use transparency as a strategic and ethical advantage across graduate and continuing education contexts

You'll leave with a practical view of how two institutions built trust earlier in the enrollment journey and a set of questions to bring back to your own team.

Presenters:
Jen Walker, Brandeis University 
Jeanne Zilliox, Merrimack College
Melissa Batalin, Noodle