Overview

A shrewd examination and critique of an industry that exerts a far-reaching influence on college admissions in the United States. In Lifting the Veil on the Enrollment Management Industry, Stephen J. Burd brings together higher education journalists, researchers, and industry insiders to examine how this industry has evolved to shape US college admissions since its inception in the 1980s. Noting the inequities that have been caused or perpetuated by enrollment management strategies, the contributors offer specific recommendations and policy proposals to reduce the industry’s influence and restore equitable access to education. The book begins with a lively historical overview of the enrollment management industry, tracing its roots to college efforts to maintain financial viability, including early data-mining projects that focused on metrics such as yield rates, draw rates, and recruitment spending. Trenchant essays explore how the industry became established and reveal some of the factors that contributed to its rise, including fervid interest in college rankings, the privatization of public higher education, and the structure of federal financial aid. The work reveals how the industry's practices for student recruiting effectively disadvantage minoritized and low-income students, limiting college access and affordability both directly and indirectly. It ends with suggestions for systemic changes in the business of higher education, making the case for efforts such as price controls for public universities and enhanced cooperation among institutions and with the federal government that could lead to fairer admissions practices at both public and private universities.

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9781682538920

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Reviews

"""If you have wondered how it is that so many people who claim to be committed to diversity, equity, and upward mobility seem instead to be perpetuating a classist and racist higher education system, this book is your explanation. In Lifting the Veil on Enrollment Management, Stephen Burd has compiled eye-opening essays from insiders and experts who reveal the disturbing truth: a system stuck in elitist overdrive, with higher education leaders relentlessly pursuing money and prestige while claiming they, too, are victims of a broken system. Lifting the Veil is a must-read not just for higher education scholars and policy makers, but for anyone--everyone--concerned about opportunity and affordability in higher education."" --Robert Shireman, senior fellow, The Century Foundation ""The US federal government's mission to make college affordable for low and middle-income Americans has been hijacked by enrollment management firms and colleges themselves as they compete in the rankings game. This volume's incisive and powerful analysis illuminates the harm to higher education's role in fostering opportunity and the public good.""--Suzanne Mettler, John L. Senior Chair of American Institutions, Cornell University, and author of Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream ""This trenchant volume could not come at a timelier moment, as higher education is being called upon to recapture the public's trust. It promotes opening access and more specifically improving affordability for the ever-increasing proportion of high school graduates from low- and middle-income families disproportionately impacted by competitive recruitment practices. It is a call to action with a panoply of insightful policy and practical advice from frontline experts to aid us in transforming ourselves in the service of the public good over private gain.""--Nancy Cantor, chancellor and distinguished professor, Rutgers University-Newark"

Author Information

Stephen J. Burd is a senior writer and editor at New America, a progressive public policy institute in Washington, DC. An award-winning journalist, Burd has helped shaped New America’s work on higher education policy and student aid.

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