The Enrollment Management Association (EMA) is excited to release The 2023 State of the Independent School Enrollment Industry Report (SOTI), our fourth report taking an in-depth look at industry issues within the United States and Canada and how trends have changed (or not) from our previous SOTI reports.

As our member community is well aware, the independent school landscape has evolved in ways we never imagined when we released our last “State of the Industry” report in 2019. Despite strong disruptive headwinds in recent years, our newest SOTI Report reveals many positive trends as we continue to build our professional capacity and orient our schools towards a strategic view of the work of enrollment management. 

Organized across seven themes, our findings are highlighted to make it easy to integrate the takeaways into the enrollment leader’s practice. Additionally, many of the insights are mapped onto EMA’s Strategic Enrollment Management Spectrum, which identifies the components or ‘levers’ that independent school leaders can control to drive sustainable enrollment.

Notably in 2023, more respondents told us that they had gained a seat at the proverbial leadership table and had greater interaction with their board of trustees. Nearly half of those respondents have become directors of enrollment management - suggesting that internal structures inside our schools are seeing the necessity of an integrated approach to enrollment success. Even small positives have happened relative to the gender pay gap, which we’ve reported for admission and enrollment directors over the last decade. 

I encourage you to utilize all of the in-depth data in this year’s report. Please leverage our bonus sections to help you stay on track and remain agile during the busiest times of the enrollment cycle. Plus, for the first time, the SOTI is paired with a live data dashboard, allowing you to cut the data based on your school by region, school type, and much more. You will even be able to view customized salary and budget data, which can assist you in advocating with your school’s leadership team.

Here is to our continued journey in this post-pandemic world and learning, growing, and transforming our wider community...TOGETHER!

EMA Members can view the full report and access the dashboard in our Member Community.