2022-2023 Impact

2022–2023 IMPACT

NYU GLOBAL ENROLLMENT MANAGEMENT AND STUDENT SUCCESS

NYU MAKING STRIDES

3 Degree-granting Locations

12 Global Academic Centers

Students From 158 Countries From

#1 Most International Students in America Open Doors, 2022

#24 2023 Times Higher Ed World University Rankings From #26 in 2022

#25 2023 U.S. News & World Report Rankings From #28 in 2022

20% Increase in Applications from Underrepresented Students From 2022 for African American/Black, Latinx/Hispanic, and Native American/ Alaskan Native Students Fall 2023

22% Of First-year Students Are First-generation College Goers

Nearly 120K Applications for 2022–2023 Admissions Cycle

From 105,000 in 2021-2022

8% Admit Rate Fall 2023 (pending September census) from 12% in Fall 2022

26% Of Admitted Students Are Underrepresented Students African American/Black, Latinx/Hispanic, and Native American/Alaskan Native Students Fall 2023

95% First-year Retention Rate

87% 6-year Graduation Rate

BE THE GLUE, NOT THE GLITTER

Dear Colleagues,

Each year, we use our annual report to reflect on how we impact the student journey while examining our strategic priorities to ensure we’re recruiting, admitting, retaining, and graduating students who reflect and represent our commitment to an inclusive and global community. Our academically talented and diverse student body expanded to include 23 more countries than last year and saw a 20% increase in applications from underrepresented students.

These changes don’t happen by accident; we double down where we can see our efforts make a difference, create strategies with people who have diverse perspectives, and seek expertise from colleagues across our campus to have the greatest impact. Our work also includes collaborating with cross-sectional partners in government, industry, and nonprofits — leaning into our mission and values to help shape an environment where students from across the world and from many different backgrounds will learn and thrive.

Here at NYU, Global Enrollment Management and Student Success is where priorities become impact. Access, student support, better connectivity and integration — these have long been priorities of our department and our institution. In the following pages, you’ll see how we use evidence to provide more students an opportunity to attend NYU, ensure students can fully participate once here, and break down silos for a more streamlined student experience. We are about increasing operational strength, collective impact, and keeping students at the forefront of everything we do.

What you’ll find inside this year’s report is an uplifting reminder that we all share a common wish for our students: to succeed, both here at NYU and in their futures. I hope you’ll see just how much impact we as enrollment management professionals can have on the everyday lives of our students — and how our shifts can mean the difference in someone gaining access to and affording a college education, completing their degree, and achieving their goals.

Onward,

MJ KNOLL-FINN Senior Vice President for Global Enrollment Management and Student Success

IMPACT

32% Applications From First-generation College Students

Up from 28.8% in 2022

20% Increase in Applications From Underrepresented Students Since 2022

African American/Black, Latinx/Hispanic, and Native American/Alaskan Native Students

01

SHAPING A DIVERSE FUTURE ACCESS & OPPORTUNITY

Increasing access is one of our core functions. It impacts nearly every facet of our university. We know a top-ranked, global university is nothing without a diverse student body.

However, access is not simply about enrolling students from diverse backgrounds. It’s also about having the resources, opportunities, and programming to ensure all students find their place, fully benefit and participate in our institution’s offerings, and feel a strong sense of belonging as soon as they start thinking about attending college.

One of our core strategic goals is to attract students who are a good fit for NYU from many different communities and parts of the world and with varying backgrounds. We are tasked with telling the story of the strength of NYU and how we cultivate the changemakers of tomorrow. We do this by finding students who bring new ways of thinking into the classroom, are eager to impact our communities, and become innovators in professions across the globe.

We start by creating pathways to NYU from successful pre-college programs that are often led by our faculty and schools — supporting the journey to NYU by helping students find us and understand the college search process and the value of NYU. We have the power to infuse diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging before students even arrive on campus. From forming personal recruitment experiences to creating new opportunities for students from under-resourced schools to understand the college admission process, we can show our students that we really, truly see them every step of the way.

LOOKING FOR HIGH-IMPACT PRACTICES RIGHT AT HOME

Thirty years ago, NYU committed to partner with the state to launch the Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP), the Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP), and the Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP). Collectively called the Opportunity Programs (OP), they signaled our early focus on access at the university that provided academic, financial, and administrative commitment to supporting New York’s most underserved students on a small scale.

Enrolling more than 800 students through holistic recruitment practices that include working with a student’s family as well as financial, academic, and social support once enrolled, these programs have become a beacon for how to ensure all students who enroll at NYU can thrive. With six-year graduation rates at 92% in 2022, making it five percentage points higher than NYU’s overall graduation rate last year, we look to our OP programs as a model for how to create integrated practices throughout GEMSS that support all students on their journey to graduation.

REMOVING BARRIERS FOR OPPORTUNITY PROGRAMS APPLICANTS

This last year, we looked for access opportunities within our Opportunity Programs admission process.

CHANGES THAT MOVED THE NEEDLE

Expanding Markets Our Opportunity Programs are available to students across New York state, but our required in-person information sessions and interviews made engaging with this program difficult for students outside the NYC Metro area. Now, all information sessions are offered in person and virtually, providing more flexibility to better accommodate students and their schedules is now core to our planning.

Listening and Responding With Relevant Content Information sessions are a required portion of the Opportunity Programs admissions process. Over the past three years, as we’ve gathered feedback from our students in these sessions, we’ve refocused our presentations to include greater detail about program requirements, and share more about the NYU experience students can expect beyond academics.

EASING THE TRANSITION FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research, students transferring from two-year to four-year colleges dropped by 7.5% in the Fall of 2022. More has to be done to ease the transition from community college to a four-year university.

We run the Community College Transfer Opportunity Program (CCTOP) to do just that. This is a scholarship and assistance program for students transferring from partnership community colleges into NYU. In addition to financial assistance, CCTOP facilitates a seamless transition in and out of the college environment through robust resources and personalized support.

We’ve learned that stakeholders at partner institutions who support students in the transfer process are critical to successful transfers. We started running new advisor training sessions for community colleges and community-based organizations to be well-versed in NYU’s transfer enrollment policies. These sessions provide them with the necessary information and best practices to guide students in the transfer process and, ultimately, be a key driver of their academic success.

14% Application Improvement For CCTOP Nominations From Advisors Due to Training

CCTOP GRADUATING CLASS OF 2023

76% In 5 Semesters or Less (5% increase)

60% In 4 Semesters (14% increase)

SUPPORTING A PATHWAY TO COLLEGE

We know that students need a full range of academic experiences before they can even consider applying to college. Our team partners across the university on a variety of pre-college educational programs that help young people understand what it’s like to attend post-secondary schooling. Additionally, these programs serve as a way for us to identify diverse talent who will thrive at NYU.

PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAMS

44% Increase in Program Scholarships Since 2019

NEARLY

4,800 Students Served in 2021–2022

72% Increase in Program Yield Since 2019

IMPACTFUL IDEA: COLLABORATION INCREASES ACCESS

NYU’s access programs strive to prepare high school students to succeed in higher education. Thanks to a collaboration that allowed our Pipeline & Access team to work closely with the College & Career Lab, Wagner’s Democracy Scholars, and NYU Tandon’s K-12 programs, we added college search support and application guidance across our full network of pre-college access programs.

IMPACTFUL IDEA: IMPROVING THE SEARCH PROCESS TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION

NYU is fortunate to offer dozens of high school and middle school pre-college programs to choose from, but we don’t want our variety of programs to hold someone back from taking the next step. Now, we help students find their way through our offerings quickly and easily with the implementation of easy to use search filters. Not only does this help them find programs that fit their interests, we’re also continually analyzing site traffic and trends to optimize the student experience.

EMPOWERING AND PREPARING HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FOR THE COLLEGE APPLICATION PROCESS

Our College Access Leadership Institute (CALI) works to demystify the college application process for rising high school juniors and seniors. Since 2010, NYU CALI has educated more than 750 students on the steps to applying to college, as well as to be ambassadors at their respective high schools, exponentially expanding the reach of the program. We expect our largest in-person class yet in Summer 2023, with 80 students.

100%

Of CALI Students Attend a College or University

IMPACTFUL IDEA: SHARING OUR KNOWLEDGE

Our Graduate Marketing and Admissions Consulting team is moving the needle on diversity and access in the grad space, as well. GMAC colleagues, in coordination with the Office of Global Inclusion, gave three presentations and led discussions with 76 faculty and administration professionals across NYU’s schools and colleges on the topic of holistic admissions and implicit bias in graduate school admissions.

I liked that it cleared up misconceptions about the college admissions process. My favorite sessions were the financial literacy one and the scholarship one.”

CALI participant

FAMILY INVOLVEMENT WITH ACCESS IN MIND

It’s often a family affair to understand all available resources needed to prepare a student for college. Research supports this idea that parents, specifically, are a pivotal part of the college choice process. As part of our College Connections program, a middle school outreach program that provides families with foundational information of the college-going experience and application process for accessing different types of higher education — we launched parent-specific admissions sessions. The parent sessions introduce families of middle school students to the college research and application process, empowering them with information and strategies to implement at an early age that will support students through a pathway to higher education.

I think the presentation validated messages we have been trying to communicate to our daughter. So, it was amazing that she heard it from ‘experts’ and not her parents!”

Attendee of College Connections Parent Sessions

MAKING ACCESS GLOBAL

For a global university like NYU, a one-size-fits-all approach to recruitment simply cannot promote widespread access to our institution. Students need a personalized approach that acknowledges who they are. They also need the preparation and experience to determine where in the world they may want to study. These are all things we consider in our global access programs.

PRE-COLLEGE PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT STUDENTS IN THE UAE

For eight years, the NYU Abu Dhabi University Prep Program (UPP) has supported academically qualified rising seniors who are interested in applying to NYU Abu Dhabi. The program offers sessions that equip students in the United Arab Emirates region with the necessary skills and competencies to navigate the Common Application, prepare for the NYUAD application, essay writing, increase self awareness about strengths, preferences, and leadership styles, and develop teamwork and collaboration skills.

We shifted our focus in 2020 for the UPP to be a more formal and selective pipeline program.

IMPACT

76% Of Participants Who Submitted Applications to NYUAD Applied Early Decision

LOCAL EMIRATI OUTREACH TEACHES US PERSONALIZED MESSAGING RESONATES WITH PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Each year, we consider how we can make more of an impact in the local Abu Dhabi community. The way we message to students in Abu Dhabi to get them to stay in their home country is different than how we recruit around the world. We have to show the value of staying in country for an unmatched global education.

We engaged prospective Emirati applicants through our “Global Success Starts Here” campaign across digital media — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube, as well as Google Display Network — and outdoor advertising throughout the Northern Emirates, in Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, where audience research indicated that NYU Abu Dhabi felt particularly distant. Our messaging highlights our global network across 12 academic centers and three degree-granting locations (NYC, Shanghai, and Abu Dhabi). It also shows the unique global launchpad that NYU Abu Dhabi offers local Emirati students by speaking to the distinctive economic opportunities that exist in the UAE and how an NYU education prepares them with the global perspective to make an impact.

IMPACT:

EMERATI APPLICANTS TO NYUAD

46% Year-over-year Increase in Applications

82% Inquiry-to-applicant Conversion Rate

CULTURALLY-RESPONSIVE ADMISSIONS EXPERIENCE THAT LISTENS TO LOCAL NEEDS

The Chinese college application process is different from our domestic process, and we need to be thoughtful about the unique challenges that Chinese students face when applying to NYU Shanghai. We spent time listening to prospective applicants and tapping local expertise to develop solutions that would make the application process straightforward and accessible. One of the tools we created is a bespoke customer relationship manager (CRM) for the Chinese audience that serves as a one-stop-shop platform for the entire admissions journey.

Our new system, including the application, is built to capture and serve information in both English and Mandarin. Prospective students and their families can now submit inquiries in either language, and our staff can enter data and send communications in either language as needed. Additionally, admissions decisions are shared in the CRM and students respond to those decisions in the same system for a seamless experience.

Chinese Gaokao takers can:

• Manage and track applications to NYU Shanghai

• Submit materials

• Schedule and manage Candidate Weekend interviews

• Respond to offers

• Chat with the admissions office via the portal (no separate emails necessary)

Building our deep knowledge of the Shanghai market and understanding how students can be supported throughout admissions led to a 13% increase in applications.

IMPACT

2,848 Applications Received and Processed (13% growth YOY)

1,410 Inquiries Received From Students During Peak Month Resolved Within 48 hours

11,392 Views of Most-read Article in Custom Knowledge Base

HELPING STUDENTS FIND THEIR WAY

USING DIGITAL-FIRST STORYTELLING TO CONNECT PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS WITH THEIR INTERESTS

When students have questions, what’s the first thing they do? They whip out their phones and start searching — and we want to serve prospective students better by putting the answers right at their fingertips. Enter MeetNYU, our multi-platform storytelling ecosystem.

MeetNYU has proved particularly useful in helping prospective students connect their interests to majors. We’re using this platform as an innovative avenue through which we can listen to students who are interested in coming to NYU and better connect them with the programs that fit their needs. Powerful filters, web search traffic data, audience metrics, and even AI recommendation engines provide access to key insights into students’ interests, pain points, and preferences, and we’re using that data to answer their questions before they’re ever asked.

For example, we’ve found search trends follow the application cycle — in the fall, “NYU letters of recommendation” and “NYU SAT requirements” make up our top queries, while “NYU pre med” and “NYU college access programs” surface in the spring. After analyzing that data, we respond by creating content that answers those questions (and leads them to take important actions, like starting their application).

As a result, students are well informed throughout the application process and discover content that resonates with their identities and niche interests.

25% Increase in Unique MeetNYU Pageviews

350K Unique MeetNYU Users in 2022

INCREASING ACCESS DOMESTICALLY

Even though we are New York University by name, we know a truly diverse community includes students from all regions of our country. We engaged with new recruitment pipelines in the South and West regions of the United States, leading to impactful experiences that encouraged our prospective students to take action.

IMPACT

In 2022–23, NYU saw larger increases in applications from South and West regions in the U.S. than NYU as a whole (13% from 2022-2023). Overall, NYU admissions staff conducted 1,500 recruitment events.

18% Increase in Apps From the South

From 2022 to 2023

15% Increase in Apps From the Midwest

From 2022 to 2023

17% Increase in Apps From the South/Midwest

From 2022 to 2023

Combined

MEETING STUDENTS WHERE THEY ARE

Helping students find their way to NYU means that we must be intentional in our outreach. It’s not enough to simply “open our doors” to prospective students; we must go to their doors. We must show up in their communities and make connections, especially for and with underrepresented students.

IMPACT

40% Of On-site Visits Were to Public Schools

2x More Visits to Public Schools

3x More Visits to Community-based Organizations

SETTING NEW STANDARDS

PUTTING STUDENTS FIRST

One of our guiding principles is to improve the student experience by understanding how students actually experience the university, particularly the way we communicate, design processes, and provide support.

Instead of only relying on our own experiences as inspiration for change, we made major strides in including student perspectives as we were planning changes to our work.

This shift opened doors for improved systems, increased efficiencies, streamlined processes, and the development of innovative ideas. Continuing our commitment to evidence-based approaches, we used ethnographic-style student research to build stronger programming and connections throughout the student journey — keeping inclusivity and belonging at the forefront of everything we do.

Each year brings new opportunities to adjust our focus and set new, higher standards for ourselves and our service. Two of our strategic goals in this area of work include retaining students and improving experience and graduating students in six years. Early interventions became a theme in this year’s work — from proactive student service practices to estimated graduation term outreach and additional financial support for Summer Success programs.

Much like how our work is never done, our student-first focus isn’t either. We will continue to innovate and find new ways to put students first in everything we do.

REMOVING ROADBLOCKS

Implementing a Proactive Student Service Model

Record-breaking application numbers are exciting, but not at the expense of the student experience. Research shows that our most vulnerable students, such as those from low-income circumstances and first generation, can stop out of the application process altogether if we don’t remove roadblocks.

Undergraduate admissions looked at how to implement solutions toward persistence by anticipating needs, reprioritizing information, and providing self-service opportunities to eliminate wait time for students to find what they need.

THE IMPACT

Our approach resulted in an 12% decrease in email volume, but the goal is not to create less administrative work. It’s about freeing up time to provide more intentional and thorough customer service when our students need us. It’s also about empowering our students with tools to find answers, make progress, and feel supported as they hit each milestone of the student journey. 34

STUDENT-FIRST STRUCTURE

Introducing the New Strategic Student Communications Unit

Think it’s hard to manage your inbox? You aren’t alone. Our data shows students find it overwhelming to search for, prioritize, and respond to important or time-sensitive information across a variety of platforms when the quality of email notifications vary so much between offices. With communications coming in from every direction, this can make students feel overwhelmed, miss deadlines, and ultimately affect their success at NYU. The new Strategic Student Communications unit within our office was formed to engage with students to help drive and inform what it is like to be on the receiving end of communications. We help simplify, prioritize, and coordinate more personalized and organized student communication across the university.

Goals for Student Comms Unit:

• Convene and collaborate with communicators within GEMSS and across the university

• Create personalized, multichannel solutions to support retention and graduation goals

• Craft an effective student communication strategy

• Audit and improve current channels and tactics

• Identify new channels and platforms through which to engage students

I know that there are clubs for different identities, religions, races, interests, and cultures — but I see the Design Fellow role as a unique opportunity to actually SHOW those groups and organizations in action. People being with their people. As a user experience designer, I am passionate about the role of storytelling in design, and I believe the intersection of the two affects our lives greatly.”

N’Dea J., Gallatin ’23

USING THE EMAIL AUDIT TO INFORM UNIVERSITY-WIDE STUDENT COMMUNICATIONS

The Admissions Marketing team ran an email audit from 2019-2020, which resulted in a robust data set and recommendations shared broadly among University communicators.

The Strategic Student Communications team rebooted the audit this year, and it is now informing communications strategy across NYU.

EARLY IMPACT SHOWS:

12% Decrease in the Total Volume of Institutional Emails

26% Decrease in the Number of Institutional Senders

INFUSING DESIGN THINKING & STUDENT VOICES IN STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS

The new Student Design Fellows program was launched this year to incorporate student perspectives and expertise more intentionally into our workflows. This cohort of exceptional undergraduate students learn to use design thinking to develop solutions, communications, and content to support the student experience.

Student Design Fellows work collaboratively to guide students through their experience in fresh, timely, and authentic ways. Studentgenerated guides, for example, help their peers navigate the “hidden curriculum” of NYU.

SUPPORTING

THE WHOLE STUDENT

Once students enroll, we find creative ways to provide as many resources as we can to help them find belonging and soar here at NYU.

MLK SCHOLARS PROGRAM RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholars Program provides unique scholarly opportunities to students who demonstrate a commitment to Dr. King’s legacy of social justice and change. The new MLK Scholars Research Symposium is another opportunity to celebrate these students and showcase their work and their passions to the entire NYU community. Over 30 Summer Research Grant awardees were featured in the first Symposium, with project topics including Afrofeminism in Buenos Aires, the impact of socioeconomic status on mental healthcare, and sustainability in fashion. We have nearly 60 scholars taking on research projects for Summer 2023.

$427,500

In Scholarly Research Funding

NOW YOU UNDERSTAND NYU PODCAST

We host a monthly video podcast in which OP students discuss navigating life at NYU, from academics to mental health. This is co-led by GEMSS staff and a team of OP ambassadors — student employees — from the Brand Development Committee. The goal is to highlight and expand OP student narratives at NYU.

vimeo.com/user174757614

VOICES MAGAZINE: EMERGENCE

Supporting Scholarship & Engagement

We launched a new virtual magazine featuring 20+ OP student works of short stories, artwork, and OP programming highlights.

nyuop.aflip.in/emergence

ADMISSIONS AMBASSADORS: GROWTH & CONNECTION

Our Ambassadors are an essential part of sharing the NYU experience with prospective applicants from a student perspective through campus tours, small group interactions, and social media takeovers. We aim to make sure that Ambassadors get as much as they give. Our program builds leadership, community service, and public speaking skills, while providing social engagement and career development for growth and deep connections in partnership with Financial Education and the Wasserman Center for Career Development.

We also offer a training program for graduate students to become Graduate Admissions Assistants, which aims to provide professional development and career skills for our students as they enter worlds beyond NYU.

UG ADMISSIONS ADVISORS

93% Return Each Semester

90% Feel the Role Has Provided Transferable Skills and Prepared Them For the Workplace

IMPACTFUL IDEA: LEADING THE WAY FOR VETERAN STUDENT INCLUSIVITY

In order to provide an even more robust, streamlined experience for NYU’s nearly 1,200 militaryconnected students, a new role in GEMSS was created to build high-impact programming and case management, and drive collaboration to better serve this important sector of our community. We hope this intentional move to support our veteran students and their families will set a new standard for veteran-inclusive campuses. Goals for this role include:

• Convene the Veterans Working Group, where campus partners come together in the spirit of and ready to work to foster a more inclusive environment for military-connected students

• Demystify the transition into academia after military service — for students and their families

• Connect students with resources to matriculate, succeed in class, and find gainful and meaningful employment that compliments their military service

• Identify opportunities for new programs, services, and partnerships with outside organizations and universities

©Myaskovsky: Courtesy of NYU Photo Bureau

HELPING STUDENTS STAY ON TRACK

Supporting graduation rates is a critical mission of our area. But just because we let a student know they’re falling behind in credits doesn’t mean they can financially afford to get themselves back on track. It starts with personalized outreach to let students know they are not alone, and we are here to support them. Here are two ways we’ve helped students stay on track toward graduation:

SUMMER SUCCESS PROGRAM

NYU’s Summer Success Program is more than a means for first-year students to earn credits and stay on track for graduation — this program holistically supports student success through building academic skills and contributing to an individual’s sense of belonging. Since the program’s launch in 2021, 93% of participants have retained into the third-year fall, compared to 79% of students who were invited, but did not participate.

This year, we offered first-year students with credit deficiencies a grant for up to eight credits, including housing and dining.

98% Of Students Who Participated in Summer 2022 Were

Enrolled

Full-time in the Fall 2022 Semester

Completing my education this past year has been difficult due to personal (and medical) reasons, leading me to hopefully graduate in Summer 2023, rather than Spring 2023 like I’d hoped to. While it has been hard fighting these personal battles while completing my schoolwork, qualifying for this grant would lift a great weight off of my and my family’s shoulders, making this difficult decision feel more

HELPING STUDENTS ACROSS THE FINISH LINE

The COVID-19 pandemic left many students just a few credits short of completing their college degree. We knew from our Student Success advisors and the NYU community that many students just needed a little more support to earn their degrees. Knowing the positive impact of summer support during COVID, we invested $2.5M in a Summer 2023 Graduation Grant program to help students complete up to 12 outstanding credits over the summer.

understood and supported.”

Student Grantee

RECRUIT, RETAIN GRADUATE

Graduation Outreach Pilot Program

As enrollment management professionals, we know the graduation application process inside and out. Most of our students, however, have never gone through this process. And so, while we grasp the importance of knowing your estimated graduation term (EGT) and applying as early as possible, our busy students could be missing out on the support they need to complete their degree on time.

Our Student Success team collaborated with the Registrar, Strategic Student Communications, and NYU’s College of Arts and Sciences on an EGT outreach pilot program to help students get ahead of potential graduation issues and into the graduation application pipeline process early. Depending on the need, we were then able to proactively offer advising and support. Looking ahead, we’re taking what we’ve learned to develop a larger “apply to graduate” campaign that is underway for 2023.

We emailed a one-question, one-click survey to CAS students about their intended graduation plans. Once students answered the surveys, the system notified advisors of students who needed support to develop a graduation plan. Then advisors conducted proactive outreach and triage based on the data, and students were able to plan better for next steps to stay on track.

2,142 Surveys Deployed

82% Survey Response Rate

THE IMPACT

Students applied much earlier, providing more time for the administrative degree review process and more opportunities for corrective action. For students who were not ready to graduate, we made it even easier for them to update their EGT.

The median number of days it took a CAS student to submit their application was 41, compared to 69 for all other schools, a difference of almost a month. This extra time meant that with just over a month to graduation, only 20% of CAS students still needed some kind of action to be taken in order for them to graduate, compared to 39% of students in all other schools.

1,206 Graduation Applications Received

426 Students Updated Their Expected Graduation Term

KEEPING EXCELLENCE AFFORDABLE

FIRST-YEAR FINANCIAL EDUCATION PILOT PROGRAM

Financial education is a long-standing priority within GEMSS. In an effort to provide students with even more financial literacy training early in their student experience, we collaborated with the College of Arts and Sciences to launch a pilot program to incorporate this important information into their First-Year Seminar.

Pilot Learning Goals: Improve student understanding of the fundamentals of personal finance, credit, debt, and the development of a personal financial point of view.

1,500 Students Received Financial Literacy Sessions

NEARLY 100% Of Students Met All Learning Goals

REMOVING BILL PAY BARRIERS

Students told us that paying bills is confusing and overly complex. This can create an environment in which a student can fall behind or, even worse, slip through the cracks.

In an effort to reduce the mental labor of navigating NYU’s resources and services, Strategic Student Communications collaborated with Financial Aid, Bursar, StudentLink, Student Affairs, and Marketing and Communications to help first-year undergraduate students and families understand and pay their bills.

How:

• Switched platforms for sending the bill notification to allow for more customization and analytics

• Enhanced web resources, including StudentLink’s “Understanding your Bill” video series

• Streamlined click paths to access the bill pay portal

8% Increase in Financially Cleared Students by the Payment Deadline

• Pre-emptive communications to students with financial aid concerns

• New messaging to support guardians and parents who are added as authorized users

• A shared system for answering student questions over email across Financial Aid, Bursar, and StudentLink.

23% Reduction in Call and Email Volume

MAKING FUTURES POSSIBLE

Student-first Approaches to Minimizing Financial Barriers

NYU continues to innovate around affordability — both in the tools we provide and the ways in which we meet students’ financial needs. Our commitment to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need has opened doors to higher education for thousands of students, and the ripple effect can be felt far beyond GEMSS.

MEETING DEMONSTRATED FINANCIAL NEED

Why We Made The Shift:

• Increased likelihood of graduation

• Reduce stress on students and families

• Stronger academic performance

• Commitment to equity and access

• More affordable education

• Reduced student debt

THE IMPACT

$50M Increase in Undergraduate Financial Aid to Support Demonstrated Need Policy

9.9% Decrease in Overall Borrowers

10% Increase in GPA Among Students With $40K+ Need

10.2% Decrease in Subsidized and Unsubsidized Student Loan Borrowers

15% Increase in Yield Rate Since Adopted Demonstrated Need Policy

7% Increase in Retention Rate for Students Receiving Financial Aid

250+ Students Remained at NYU Thanks to Increased Financial Support

NEW WAYS OF WORKING

CONNECTIVITY & INTEGRATION

At a university as large as NYU, students receive a lot of outreach. We don’t want them spending time chasing answers — we want students to be engaged with our community and preparing for their futures.

We have two specific strategic goals related to this work:

• Improve technology and data access

• Ensure high quality service and operational efficiency

We have heard from students that it can feel like offices and departments are not in sync with one another. The student experience includes the way the entire university communicates, functions, and provides services to students. We engaged with talented colleagues across the university who were hearing the same thing, despite their best efforts to improve services in their own areas. This led to important conversations both within our departments and with colleagues across the university to stop “solving in silos.”

We were reminded that collaboration comes in many forms. It is not only colleague to colleague — strong connections also come in the form of integrating systems, tools, and digital processes that help bridge gaps across divisions and disciplines. By reaching outside of our area, we’ve helped shape a more cohesive experience for our students.

MOMENTS THAT MATTER

WORKING TOGETHER TO IMPROVE THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE

How might we bring students into our design process in a meaningful way to foster a more personalized, supported, and cohesive NYU student experience?

That was the question that inspired a university-wide, ethnographicstyle research initiative to gain a nuanced understanding of the first-year student experience and remove institutional barriers to student success. It all started with GEMSS and other central offices modeling what effective cross-department collaboration could look like.

We aim to:

• Understand students’ difficulties during the first year and how we can mitigate them

• Reduce the amount of time students, faculty, and administrators spend trying to find answers

The year-long research phase included:

• Create efficiencies of time, budget, and resources

• Ultimately, increase retention and graduation rates

Sprint to Design a Tangible Expression of what the first-year experience could look like, based on real student needs

IMPACTFUL IDEA: ESTABLISH LEADERSHIP GROUPS FOCUSED ON ADDRESSING STUDENT NEEDS TOGETHER

One major takeaway, so far, from this initiative is the need for more collaboration across our siloed institution. The siloed student experience often mirrors the siloed administrator experience.

OUR COLLABORATORS

Information Technology

University Relations and Public Programs

Student Affairs

Usability Lab

This research is currently supporting:

• NYU’s Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) institutional accreditation research

• NYU Welcome planning for first year students

• Sophomore experience opportunity planning

• Student Success case management model

• Post-yield student communications

• Information Technology (IT) annual planning process

• Establishment of the Student Design Fellows program

• Integrated calendar planning for students

• Enhanced campus map functions

Office of Global Inclusion, Global Programs and University Life

Digital Communications

StudentLink

Provost’s Office

Individual schools and programs

Inside Our Design Thinking Approach

These are the defining characteristics that guided us through this initiative:

GROUNDED IN A QUESTION

We start with a “design challenge,” i.e., a question to be answered, not a solution to be implemented.

STUDENT-CENTERED

We push ourselves to design for the student experience, not what worked best for us, and we involve students at every step.

CODESIGNED

We ensure that a variety of stakeholders engage meaningfully in the research and design process.

COLLABORATIVE IN APPROACH & ACCOUNTABILITY

Representatives from across NYU actively participate in the project in cross-functional teams and are accountable for specific activities and workstreams.

ACTION-ORIENTED AND ITERATIVE

We focus on doing instead of discussion, sharing imperfect ideas early and often in service of learning, and constantly refining our ideas and approach.

In addition to devising ways to make NYU more navigable for students, this project provided the opportunity to redefine our own internal working relationships. As administrators, we pushed ourselves to design for the student experience, not what worked best for us.”

Core Project Team Administrator

Simplifying Wayfinding

ONE-STOP VIRTUAL SERVICE CENTER FOR CURRENT STUDENTS

NYU’s landing page for current student information receives over 170,000 page views per year — but in collaborating with students, their feedback alerted us to significant usability issues that made finding critical information a pain point of the student experience.

We knew we couldn’t solve this problem alone. A cross-functional team including colleagues from Student Affairs, Global Enrollment Management and Student Success, Digital Communications, and NYU’s Usability Lab came together to co-design a new, more simplified student landing page. In addition to a more intuitive site design, the team also set up a collaborative content management process to ensure the information across all subpages remains up to date.

950+

Subpages

200+ Content Management System (CMS) Contributors

26 Content Owners Across the University nyu.edu/students

COLLABORATION SPOTLIGHT

Technology Partners for Improved Student Experiences

Technology professionals are powerful strategic partners — they’re natural problem solvers, and they share our common goal: to serve the students. We collaborated to help connect missing dots in the student experience, and in doing so, we discovered new ways to work together and help our students succeed. We will continue to report on the following three innovations as the work progresses.

IMPACT: APPLICATION REVIEW PROCESS

Problem: How do we efficiently and thoughtfully review more than 15,000 artistic applications without missing deadlines?

Innovative Solution: Integrate artistic application review process into Customer Relationship Management system.

Turns out, we were missing a crucial technological connection. This integration, thanks to a partnership between Enrollment Operations, Counseling, NYU Tisch School of the Arts and the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development saved our colleagues weeks of people hours while providing a more timely admissions experience for our applicants.

IMPACT: ACADEMIC CATALOG

Problem: How do we create an estimated 2,000-page academic catalog that is engaging and interactive, while simplifying the task of keeping all information up-to-date?

Innovative Solution: Adopt a course catalog platform with user experience at the forefront.

The course catalog is an important mapping tool for our students as they navigate their academic journeys. It’s also important for our Middle States Commission on Higher Education accreditation review. The Office of the Registrar and the Office of Academic Program Review & Assessment were partners in developing a solution. Enter CourseLeaf CAT, a platform that unifies the userexperience for Bulletins at NYU. In addition to providing NYU a standardized system of governance and change management/ approvals, our students can now easily and clearly find curriculum, learning outcomes, and sample plans of study.

IMPACT: SIS IMPROVEMENTS

Problem: Our student information system (SIS) must be useful for faculty and staff who are essential throughout a student’s journey. How do we improve the usability with our key audiences in mind?

Innovative Solution: Conduct a usability study.

Our SIS is, in a perfect world, a centralized hub for the student experience. As with everything we do in our office, we took an evidence-based approach and partnered with NYU’s Usability Lab to survey faculty and staff about their experience using our SIS, Albert. After sifting through the data, the Registrar team is now hard at work addressing 20 separate Albert issues as reported by the Contract-Faculty Senate Committee.

Two In-progress Initiatives:

• Addressing the inconsistencies with the faculty rosters

• Improving the student self-service portal

SHIFTING STUDENT NEEDS REQUIRES STRATEGIC SUPPORT

Introducing Our New Online Education Marketing Unit

The new Online Education Marketing unit within GEMSS strives to become a hub of best practices and connection around what it means to learn online, successfully deploy and host online programs, and market those programs. Working mostly in the graduate space, this team’s mission is to build institutional knowledge, work collaboratively, and enhance the capacity of all of NYU’s schools in developing and marketing new and existing online offerings.

BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER

A central goal of this new unit is to bring all the people who work on online programs together to better support university partners. Graduate Marketing and Admission Consulting, Online Program Services, Academic Innovation, and Learning Design are at the table to help define the services that can provide schools with best-in-class support. We are in the process of creating a hybrid model that will offer specialized services and tailored strategic marketing plans.

DEVELOPING STUDENT-FIRST PROGRAMS FOR IN-DEMAND CREDENTIALS

Prospective students are looking for online graduate programs that will lead to professional success. With the vastly changing world, in-demand careers that put them on a path to economic security are top of mind for students as they pursue graduate degrees.

In an effort to provide prospective students with online offerings that will make the most meaningful impact on their futures, we’re providing Market Insight Reports to our partner schools within NYU to help our colleagues understand demand in the marketplace for online programs. This research also helps deans prioritize the many program ideas that are presented to them. The market reports help inform curriculum design, gaps in the marketplace, areas where the market is already saturated, labor demand in general, and there’s even a report that has a component that helps schools improve the ways they attract interest in existing programs. To date, we’ve completed 14 Market Insight Reports for our partner schools and nine are in progress.

TECHNOLOGY USED TO POWER COLLABORATION, COMMUNICATION, AND INTERVENTION

We are expanding how we leverage NYU Connect — our student success platform — to capture early and actionable feedback on our students’ experiences to improve retention and graduation outcomes. We have supported an increase in Progress Surveys via NYU Connect, which allows faculty to provide timely qualitative assessments for all our first-year students on their academic progress. We designed mechanisms to identify students who are at risk for not retaining or persisting using flags as leading indicators, allowing advisors to proactively reach out to offer resources and support. In addition, tutoring centers in New York and Abu Dhabi are leveraging it to create an ecosystem of support for students that is accessible and timely.

12% Increase in Students Supported by NYU Connect From Fall 2021 to Fall 2022

20% Difference in Retention for Students With Multiple Indicators in NYU Connect Versus Without, Allowing For Early Identification and Intervention

18% Increase in First-year Students Receiving Feedback During Midterm Season Than From Midterm Grades Alone

MOVING FORWARD

In years past, we’ve detailed the importance of accepting and embracing our roles as leaders, both here at NYU and in the greater higher education community.

We strive to be collaborative, using evidence to guide and support decisions, stewards of student support, and creators of opportunities for learners of all backgrounds. All the good work, strong connections, and dynamic energy we create at the center of our campus community, we’ve come to realize, can be a source of contagious momentum. If we’re always growing and reaching, innovating and integrating, then we’re setting an example for all we collaborate with.

This year, we’re building momentum for something extra special as we welcome Dr. Linda G. Mills, NYU’s 17th (and first woman!) president. Dr. Mills comes into her presidency as one of the leaders who has also fueled NYU’s trajectory thus far. We will be building from our strengths and the accomplishments we have made that have brought us to the exciting moment in our history. Preparing for an exciting new era provided an opportunity to expand and improve upon the ways we’re already serving students across a global university. This year’s accomplishments made both immediate impact and contributed to a stronger foundation for our department’s future impact. We look forward to seeing — and sharing with you — just how far this momentum will take us.

LOOKING AHEAD

Shaping a Diverse Future: Access and Opportunity

EXPANDING ACCESS WORK IN THE K-12 SPACE

We continue to innovate on the ways that we can shape diversity and expand our connections with K-12 communities. We are working toward the following efforts that will:

• Help more students at underserved high schools see themselves as college-going

• Support more transfer opportunities for our CCTOP program

• Expand our partnerships with pre-college, community-based organizations

• Build stronger talent networks for pre-college students

Setting New Standards: Putting Students First DESIGNING WITH STUDENTS

The experience-driven mindset we adopted to improve processes and systems for students will continue into 2023 and beyond. Based on research and direct student feedback, our cross-functional teams will work on systems enhancements to:

• Clarify course locations in the Student Information System

• Build a filterable map of NYU locations

• Share key administrative calendar events on students’ calendars

• Send selective push reminders for key administrative deadlines

New Ways of Working: Connectivity and Collaboration

LEADING INTEGRATION ACROSS THE UNIVERSITY

We will continue to convene leaders and professionals across the NYU community to:

• Launch the Leadership Learning Collaborative to provide senior leaders a place to focus on what is needed to meet graduation rate goals

• Develop the Global Recruitment and Scholarship Academy to engage in sharing best practices among graduate and undergraduate admissions and financial aid professionals at NYU in NYC, Shanghai, and Abu Dhabi

• Launch Management Training Program for middle managers that includes professional development and diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives for GEMSS staff

ENHANCED DATA FOUNDATIONS

We intend to meet the changing needs and expectations of our students, and help unify the fractured student experience, through enhanced collaboration and connectivity across campus. We are creating a Student Data Center, and we are expanding our support for data governance and compliance while finding ways to ensure people have data to help with decision-making. Specifically, we will continue to work in close collaboration with IT, Student Affairs, University Relations, Public Affairs, and school partners to:

• Conduct discovery research and a data audit to document current processes and data needs to support coordinated communications across NYU

• Explore CRM strategies and technologies to streamline student-related services

• Build a 360°-view of students and operations by bridging the systems and data together

THIS IS OUR CALL TO GET CURIOUS

HOW TO FIND OPPORTUNITIES FOR GREATER IMPACT

FLIP THE SCRIPT

Have you ever examined your role, your department, or your processes through the lens of a student? What potential points of frustration or confusion might they encounter? How can you consolidate steps or streamline your communication? Consider all of these questions alongside data and evidence that can help you better understand your students’ needs.

ASK FOR STUDENT INPUT, COLLECT THE DATA

Over and over again, this year proved the importance of incorporating student voices and perspectives into our work. Not only will they tell you where they get stuck, they may also have insightful ideas for solutions. In addition to providing them with even better service, you’re also giving them an opportunity to think critically and solve problems. This also gives you the critical data that you need to make the case for change.

BE THE GLUE, NOT THE GLITTER

Consider new avenues for collaboration through consolidation, and boldly enable interdependencies to develop among areas and leaders. How can departments combine efforts to serve more students, create more opportunities, and better use resources? What does the data tell you that others need to know? What expertise does your department offer, and how could that be useful to others across the institution?

STAY ON THE CUTTING EDGE

If you’re ever wondering what new technology or innovation is coming next, we can almost guarantee your students are already using it. Get curious about the platforms, tools, and new technologies they’re using for both school and personal time. You could uncover opportunities for improved efficiency, a new way to reach students where they are, or new ways to conduct your data analysis for better solutions. For example, how might you leverage AI support technology?

Global Enrollment Management and Student Success (GEMSS) works collaboratively under the direction of the Senior Vice President to serve the students of New York University, the largest independent research university in America. The Office’s mission is to attract and enroll diverse, academically promising students; support the academic and social needs of each learner in an inclusive, global environment; and graduate bold innovators who go on to impact society. All enrollment functions, research, and operations for NYU’s schools and colleges in New York, as well as degree-granting campuses in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai, fall under the purview of Enrollment Management. While GEMSS is headquartered in New York City, reporting staff are positioned throughout NYU’s global network.

Global Enrollment Management and Student Success Offices

Undergraduate Admissions

Graduate Marketing & Admissions Consulting

Marketing & Communications

Financial Aid

University Registrar

Institutional Research

Student Success

Enrollment Technology

Enrollment Strategy

Enrollment Analytics

Enrollment Management Compliance

Institutional Engagement

NYU’s GEMSS Division Received a Two-year Platinum Certification Level in the NYU Office of Sustainability’s Green Workplace Certification Program