Removing Enrollment Barriers: Actionable Strategies at Every Level

A lot can stand in the way of a student’s decision to enroll for the next term—from a required course not being offered to scheduling conflicts with work. Even the smallest issues can have a big impact on your ability to retain students. Without visibility into these barriers, institutions risk losing students who are otherwise on track to graduate—but with the right insights and connected workflows, leaders can intervene before that happens.

With actionable analytics and connected workflows, you can:

• Identify hidden course bottlenecks before they disrupt progress
• Strengthen the impact of key policies and programs by reinforcing what works
• Access a full view of the student journey to guide proactive support
• Design course schedules that align with students’ day-to-day commitments
• Streamline registration with tools that reduce confusion

Here’s how your institution can put these insights into action across every level:

Removing Barriers Starts at the Top

Higher ed leaders often attribute enrollment declines to external factors, like shifting demographics, economic pressures, or student circumstances. But sometimes, the root issue is closer to home — students can’t access the courses they need to stay on track to progress toward their degree.

A single required course with limited availability or a high failure rate can create a ripple effect that derails progress and delays graduation. The good news is that these barriers are preventable. With course-level data, academic leaders can:

• Identify early warning signs like high DFW (drop, fail, withdraw) rates or underperforming sections
• Take timely action by expanding modality options, adding sections, or adjusting prerequisites
• Monitor fill rates in real-time to respond to demand and optimize scheduling around student preferences (e.g., popular days, times, or formats)

Course Insights in Action: Addressing High DFW Rates and Outdated Policies

One Civitas Learning partner used Course Insights to uncover that an introductory English course had a high DFW rate, contributing to low persistence. In response, they implemented  several targeted strategies:

• Weekly instructor check-ins to align on content and assignments
• APA and writing workshops for students enrolled in ENGL 1301
• Academic support referrals to help students build foundational skills

These efforts led to a notable result: persistence rose from 59% to 70% in a single term.

In other cases, outdated or inflexible policies can slow students down. At Lakeland Community College, leaders used Course Insights to investigate performance in their First Year Experience (FYE) course. The findings were clear:

• Students who earned a D or F in FYE had only a 3% likelihood of graduating
• Over 10 years, 13% of students failed the course
• Students performed significantly better in in-person, full-semester formats than in online or condensed versions

These insights led to faculty conversations and course reevaluation, resulting in changes to modality, grading policy, and resource allocation to better align the curriculum with students’ evolving needs. By identifying the courses and policies that create hidden roadblocks, institutions can more effectively invest in what students truly need, whether that’s additional classroom space, enhanced writing centers, or redesigned first-year experiences.

Empowering Frontline Teams with the Complete Picture

In many institutions, data lives in silos—accessible only to certain departments or limited to a narrow set of metrics. When one data point is examined in isolation, it rarely tells the full story.

For student-facing teams, that story matters. Advisors, faculty, and staff need a holistic view of a student’s experience—academic progress, goals, challenges, and engagement—so they can intervene early and offer proactive support. But when information is spread across multiple platforms, it slows them down and risks missing the students who need help most. 

By consolidating data into a single, actionable view—and ensuring the right teams have access—institutions can:

• Detect risks earlier using real-time insights and predictive models tailored to their student populations
• Prioritize outreach to students who haven’t registered or show signs of falling off track
• Identify the why behind outcomes, not just the what 

With rising caseloads and limited capacity, scalable solutions that allow teams to filter by things like registration status or persistence likelihood are essential to ensure teams prioritize those in greatest need. This helps ensure support reaches the students who need it most, not just the ones who raise their hands.

Communication and integrated workflows also play a critical role. Faculty need simple ways to flag concerns and coordinate with advisors in real time. When systems are connected, frontline teams can monitor degree plans, spot scheduling issues like missing prerequisites or unavailable courses, and tailor guidance to help students stay on track before small setbacks turn into larger decisions. 

Customer Example: Northwest Missouri State University 

Equipping Advisors with the Full Picture to Scale Personalized Outreach 

At Northwest Missouri State University (Northwest), compiling data from multiple sources made it challenging for staff to quickly understand a student’s situation. To better support students—especially those who had built schedules but hadn’t registered—advisors needed a more efficient way to see the full picture and prioritize outreach.

By equipping staff and faculty with a centralized platform to access and share student information, Northwest streamlined advising and made it easier to provide timely, personalized support. This effort contributed to an 8% increase in retention between 2016 and 2021, surpassing their goal with an 80% retention rate from Fall 2021 to Fall 2022.

Streamlining Enrollment for a Student-Centered Experience

When students have to navigate multiple platforms to track degree progress, find open classes, or figure out who to contact for help, the enrollment process becomes confusing and costly. The more complicated the process, the more likely students are to fall behind, or worse, stop out entirely.

Many students balance more than just academics—juggling work, family responsibilities, and nontraditional schedules. But outdated, disconnected systems and hard-to-find support services make enrollment harder than it needs to be. And the data shows the impact: nearly 1 in 5 students who don’t graduate have already completed 75% or more of their required credits.

Simplifying registration and integrating built-in communication tools helps students get quick answers to logistical issues, reserving appointment times for more strategic discussions. Connected workflows also allow advisors to intervene earlier, resolving problems like scheduling issues or course conflicts before they disrupt a student’s path to graduation.

What That Looks Like in Practice:

• Students experience a seamless, end-to-end platform where they can plan, schedule, and register for classes in one place.
• Student-centered scheduling empowers them to design degree plans that align with their academic goals and personal commitments, such as employment, athletics, or co-curricular activities.
• Collaborative tools allow students to engage with advisors on their own time, providing timely answers and personalized guidance that supports informed decision-making without unnecessary delays.

Identify Enrollment Barriers Before They Escalate

When it comes to registration and degree progress, small issues can quickly become major barriers. A single unavailable course, an unclear prerequisite, or a lack of timely support can prevent students from enrolling—and derail their momentum entirely.

But with the right tools and insights, institutions can spot these issues before they escalate. From identifying policy gaps and course bottlenecks to enabling real-time collaboration between students, faculty, and advisors, a proactive approach helps keep students on track.

Learn more about how Civitas Learning simplifies the enrollment experience here.