Overview of the Enrollment Planning Process
Enrollment planning begins with various projections to enable institutional leaders to estimate future enrollment demand and continues with their determining whether (and how) an institution—or all of the constituent institutions combined—can meet the estimated demand. The answer requires an evaluation of several elements, such as institutional missions, institutions' current physical capacity, and their capacity to expand.
Enrollment planning is guided by the following principles:
- Use existing capacity to the fullest extent possible;
- Promote economies of scale and stronger institutional financial capacity by setting a threshold number of students at most campuses;
- Restrain enrollment growth at UNC Asheville and the UNC School of the Arts in recognition of their special missions;
- Serve some of the projected enrollment growth through distance learning at off-campus sites and through e-learning; and
- Exploit available financial resources to provide additional physical capacity.