@jensplarson.bsky.social
Enrollment manager, admissions secret shopper, and purveyor of higher education commentary.
Potential alternative hypothesis: it's about the rise of YouTube, sorority recruitment videos, sports betting, and the selling of sex, gender and race.
I don't know that it's always intentional, but colleges sell sex and beauty like any other industry.
I don't know that it's always intentional, but colleges sell sex and beauty like any other industry.
This is a thoughtful and well-researched piece (featuring quite a few higher ed faculty members, including me) on the growth of most SEC universities. The reasons behind this growth are complex.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
How SEC Universities Won the Enrollment Wars
The ascendance of Southern flagships is a story of sun, football, and a sophisticated recruitment strategy.
www.chronicle.com
December 4, 2025 at 6:22 AM
Potential alternative hypothesis: it's about the rise of YouTube, sorority recruitment videos, sports betting, and the selling of sex, gender and race.
I don't know that it's always intentional, but colleges sell sex and beauty like any other industry.
I don't know that it's always intentional, but colleges sell sex and beauty like any other industry.
Whenever someone says "students don't read their emails or do what we ask" and then I look at last-source attribution data:
a blonde woman is sitting in a kitchen with the words `` sure , jan. '' written on the screen .
Alt: a blonde woman is sitting in a kitchen with the words `` sure , jan. '' written on the screen .
media.tenor.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:01 AM
Whenever someone says "students don't read their emails or do what we ask" and then I look at last-source attribution data:
I'm so tired of explaining to people how bad things are and constantly thinking, "But it will probably get worse."
December 3, 2025 at 4:55 AM
I'm so tired of explaining to people how bad things are and constantly thinking, "But it will probably get worse."
Does anyone know how many institutions missed the FVT/GE deadlines?
I feel like this is a big deal, but it's also nowhere in higher ed right now because higher ed is falling apart. (Just the policy part, btw. Courses are doing great.)
I feel like this is a big deal, but it's also nowhere in higher ed right now because higher ed is falling apart. (Just the policy part, btw. Courses are doing great.)
November 26, 2025 at 7:19 AM
Does anyone know how many institutions missed the FVT/GE deadlines?
I feel like this is a big deal, but it's also nowhere in higher ed right now because higher ed is falling apart. (Just the policy part, btw. Courses are doing great.)
I feel like this is a big deal, but it's also nowhere in higher ed right now because higher ed is falling apart. (Just the policy part, btw. Courses are doing great.)
I like talking to vendors right now because you can tell most of them are as "WTF is going on" as everyone working in enrollment.
I mean, they know what's happening, but they can't believe it either.
I mean, they know what's happening, but they can't believe it either.
November 26, 2025 at 4:44 AM
I like talking to vendors right now because you can tell most of them are as "WTF is going on" as everyone working in enrollment.
I mean, they know what's happening, but they can't believe it either.
I mean, they know what's happening, but they can't believe it either.
Me in public meetings: "Work emails should only be a few sentences long."
Also me: "I added chapter breaks and a table of contents to make it easier for you to navigate my email."
Also me: "I added chapter breaks and a table of contents to make it easier for you to navigate my email."
November 11, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Me in public meetings: "Work emails should only be a few sentences long."
Also me: "I added chapter breaks and a table of contents to make it easier for you to navigate my email."
Also me: "I added chapter breaks and a table of contents to make it easier for you to navigate my email."
I'm not savvy enough to know if any other college has ever used just a poem for its marketing video, but I couldn't think of any.
You should probably read the related blog, too:
nsa.edu/blog/Bring-M...
You should probably read the related blog, too:
nsa.edu/blog/Bring-M...
Bring Me Men | New Saint Andrews College
YouTube video by New Saint Andrews College
m.youtube.com
October 17, 2025 at 7:08 AM
I'm not savvy enough to know if any other college has ever used just a poem for its marketing video, but I couldn't think of any.
You should probably read the related blog, too:
nsa.edu/blog/Bring-M...
You should probably read the related blog, too:
nsa.edu/blog/Bring-M...
In a normal year, I'd be complaining about whatever chicanery is going on at college board (AP scores are wild y,all), but no, this year the country is taking fascism to the prom, so obviously, were focused on prom.
October 15, 2025 at 4:05 AM
In a normal year, I'd be complaining about whatever chicanery is going on at college board (AP scores are wild y,all), but no, this year the country is taking fascism to the prom, so obviously, were focused on prom.
The reckoning in the graduate space after the OBBBA is going to be something else.
With the scale and shape of cuts to graduate student loans, people will lose jobs.
I hope colleges are planning for changes, but if it's like the response to demographic changes, the answer is "probably not."
With the scale and shape of cuts to graduate student loans, people will lose jobs.
I hope colleges are planning for changes, but if it's like the response to demographic changes, the answer is "probably not."
July 7, 2025 at 1:28 PM
The reckoning in the graduate space after the OBBBA is going to be something else.
With the scale and shape of cuts to graduate student loans, people will lose jobs.
I hope colleges are planning for changes, but if it's like the response to demographic changes, the answer is "probably not."
With the scale and shape of cuts to graduate student loans, people will lose jobs.
I hope colleges are planning for changes, but if it's like the response to demographic changes, the answer is "probably not."
Barbara Streisand could do the funniest thing and open a taco truck in DC.
May 30, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Barbara Streisand could do the funniest thing and open a taco truck in DC.
Me when reading any college's enrollment plan that requires international student growth in order to hit revenue targets:
two men are sitting at a table in front of a crowd and one of them is saying that 's a bold strategy cotton
ALT: two men are sitting at a table in front of a crowd and one of them is saying that 's a bold strategy cotton
media.tenor.com
May 30, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Me when reading any college's enrollment plan that requires international student growth in order to hit revenue targets:
People seem not to understand or aren't aware of the magnitude of proposed cuts to higher ed in the proposed reconciliation bill.
Kind of shocked by the lack of concern.
Kind of shocked by the lack of concern.
May 13, 2025 at 3:44 PM
People seem not to understand or aren't aware of the magnitude of proposed cuts to higher ed in the proposed reconciliation bill.
Kind of shocked by the lack of concern.
Kind of shocked by the lack of concern.
Hard pressed to see any English-speaking university system that's thriving.
America, England, Australia, Canada, South Africa and more: all are facing serious financial challenges and enrollment shifts. Many of their institutions are just trying to survive.
A globally bad time to be in higher ed.
America, England, Australia, Canada, South Africa and more: all are facing serious financial challenges and enrollment shifts. Many of their institutions are just trying to survive.
A globally bad time to be in higher ed.
May 10, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Hard pressed to see any English-speaking university system that's thriving.
America, England, Australia, Canada, South Africa and more: all are facing serious financial challenges and enrollment shifts. Many of their institutions are just trying to survive.
A globally bad time to be in higher ed.
America, England, Australia, Canada, South Africa and more: all are facing serious financial challenges and enrollment shifts. Many of their institutions are just trying to survive.
A globally bad time to be in higher ed.
I'm not abandoning em dashes—the best punctuation mark, let's be honest—just because half the population can't distinguish humans and AI.
It is a line I will not cross.
It is a line I will not cross.
May 10, 2025 at 2:30 AM
I'm not abandoning em dashes—the best punctuation mark, let's be honest—just because half the population can't distinguish humans and AI.
It is a line I will not cross.
It is a line I will not cross.
Well, that's something that happened.
The president of my university, who makes more than 10x what I do every year and whose choices were part of how we all got here and who's about to oversee massive staff layoffs, was caught on hot mic before a budget town hall meeting saying "I guess I shouldn't tell them we're fucked."
May 9, 2025 at 3:40 AM
Well, that's something that happened.
The New Pope: "I assure you and most solemnly say to you that the tax collectors and the couches will get into the kingdom of God before you."
JD Vance: "I killed the wrong Pope."
JD Vance: "I killed the wrong Pope."
May 9, 2025 at 2:19 AM
The New Pope: "I assure you and most solemnly say to you that the tax collectors and the couches will get into the kingdom of God before you."
JD Vance: "I killed the wrong Pope."
JD Vance: "I killed the wrong Pope."
The Harvard letter is a tickle.
"This incomprehensible failure becomes more understandable after reviewing Harvard’s management."
Wel, which is it, Linda? Incomprehensible or understandable?
"This incomprehensible failure becomes more understandable after reviewing Harvard’s management."
Wel, which is it, Linda? Incomprehensible or understandable?
May 6, 2025 at 1:10 PM
The Harvard letter is a tickle.
"This incomprehensible failure becomes more understandable after reviewing Harvard’s management."
Wel, which is it, Linda? Incomprehensible or understandable?
"This incomprehensible failure becomes more understandable after reviewing Harvard’s management."
Wel, which is it, Linda? Incomprehensible or understandable?
May 6, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Everyone who went to college and writes for Forbes, apparently:
"You know, I went to college once 15+ years ago so I'm something of a higher education expert myself."
"You know, I went to college once 15+ years ago so I'm something of a higher education expert myself."
May 3, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Everyone who went to college and writes for Forbes, apparently:
"You know, I went to college once 15+ years ago so I'm something of a higher education expert myself."
"You know, I went to college once 15+ years ago so I'm something of a higher education expert myself."
A lot of institutions are going to lose a lot of students or revenue (or both) if the reconciliation bill moves forward. It's kind of shocking how sweeping the changes are and how little public outcry there is so far.
May 3, 2025 at 2:17 PM
A lot of institutions are going to lose a lot of students or revenue (or both) if the reconciliation bill moves forward. It's kind of shocking how sweeping the changes are and how little public outcry there is so far.
Is this the most on-the-nose Texas think tank ever? Of the 97 staff, only one presents as visibly Black, and he's the Director, of the Booker T. Washington Initiative.
www.texaspolicy.com/about/staff/
www.texaspolicy.com/about/staff/
May 2, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Is this the most on-the-nose Texas think tank ever? Of the 97 staff, only one presents as visibly Black, and he's the Director, of the Booker T. Washington Initiative.
www.texaspolicy.com/about/staff/
www.texaspolicy.com/about/staff/
If you tell someone "you should plan for this bad thing" and then the bad thing happens and they ask what the plan is, you should be allowed to slap them with a dead fish, like, five times at least.
April 22, 2025 at 3:17 AM
If you tell someone "you should plan for this bad thing" and then the bad thing happens and they ask what the plan is, you should be allowed to slap them with a dead fish, like, five times at least.
Curious how many colleges have recently reviewed their MMR policies as the illness spreads and the risk of a campus outbreak grows.
The 1980s provide good examples of the dangers, and folks probably forget that many current state and institutional policies came from those hard learned lessons.
The 1980s provide good examples of the dangers, and folks probably forget that many current state and institutional policies came from those hard learned lessons.
April 17, 2025 at 5:02 AM
Curious how many colleges have recently reviewed their MMR policies as the illness spreads and the risk of a campus outbreak grows.
The 1980s provide good examples of the dangers, and folks probably forget that many current state and institutional policies came from those hard learned lessons.
The 1980s provide good examples of the dangers, and folks probably forget that many current state and institutional policies came from those hard learned lessons.
Bet folks at Columbia feel pretty stupid after all the kudos for Harvard:
"I caved to the autocracy and all I got was this bad PR and the generational disdain of my entire industry."
"I caved to the autocracy and all I got was this bad PR and the generational disdain of my entire industry."
April 15, 2025 at 5:13 AM
Bet folks at Columbia feel pretty stupid after all the kudos for Harvard:
"I caved to the autocracy and all I got was this bad PR and the generational disdain of my entire industry."
"I caved to the autocracy and all I got was this bad PR and the generational disdain of my entire industry."
For the first time, I am almost interested in rankings:
For example, USNWR uses research productivity in the existing rankings methodology. But in wake of cuts to federal agencies, research productivity will decline in unequal ways.
A tax on endowments might also have a similar impact.
For example, USNWR uses research productivity in the existing rankings methodology. But in wake of cuts to federal agencies, research productivity will decline in unequal ways.
A tax on endowments might also have a similar impact.
April 11, 2025 at 5:14 PM
For the first time, I am almost interested in rankings:
For example, USNWR uses research productivity in the existing rankings methodology. But in wake of cuts to federal agencies, research productivity will decline in unequal ways.
A tax on endowments might also have a similar impact.
For example, USNWR uses research productivity in the existing rankings methodology. But in wake of cuts to federal agencies, research productivity will decline in unequal ways.
A tax on endowments might also have a similar impact.