According to the Kentucky State University management and improvement plan approved by the Council on Postsecondary Education, “a headcount enrollment of 2,100 students will provide sufficient resources for the University to reach long-term financial stability”. It is important to note that the Fall of 2019 is the first time the institutional headcount has exceeded 2000 students since Fall 2013.

Kentucky State University attained the prescribed headcount enrollment metric in alignment with a concomitant Strategic Enrollment Plan. The Fall 2017 enrollment include a sizeable freshmen cohort. However, a careful review revealed a proclivity for academic unreadiness throughout the class brought on by a conditional admission category. After a year of retrenchment, the campus employed an external big data admissions service to assist in recruiting and enrolling a college-ready freshmen cohort. Corrections began in 2018 and continued this fall.

Disaggregated data include two significant information points: (1) the scholastic quality of first-time full-time students have improved and (2) the number of students from the Commonwealth (including non-service counties) increased significantly.

In sum, Kentucky State University has developed a data-based profile of which students are best suited academically and most likely to be interested in the institution. One-untapped area for further enrollment expansion remains – transfer fluency with Kentucky Community and Technical College System member campuses. It is likely that the reduced out-of-state tuition being piloted is also a contributor to the yield.

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