Frostburg State University

A Data-Informed Strategy
Frostburg State Logo

Overview

Following the 2008 recession, Frostburg State University, a public, regional, comprehensive institution of 5,300 students in rural Maryland, experienced reductions in their admission and retention numbers. To improve these rates and address unmet financial need among their students, the university began looking for ways to adjust its financial aid strategy. To do this effectively, Frostburg turned to HelioCampus and a data-informed financial aid strategy.

Read the case study to learn more about how HelioCampus helped Frostburg  identify unmet financial need and address enrollment.

"We are getting even more granular with the data, looking at levels of unmet need and getting our financial aid office’s input. It is an iterative process. But we were working with anecdotal and incomplete information. Now, working with HelioCampus, we have some what-ifs and modeling that is helping us move forward.”

Ronald Nowaczyk

President, Frostburg State University

Frostburg partnered with HelioCampus in order to...

  • Identify enrollment trends;
  • Understand market conditions and the competitive landscape;
  • Identify the core student type that enrolls at Frostburg;
  • Identify which students would most likely graduate in four years.

Creating models for targeted financial aid:

  • Model 1 illustrated what would happen if no aid dollars were added to their budget, but Frostburg redistributed the money based on unmet need and other key student characteristics.
  • Model 2 presented revenue and yield outcomes based on Frostburg adding 50 percent more student aid to their budget.
  • Model 3 showed outcomes based on increasing financial aid while also targeting the distribution of the aid according to Frostburg’s data.

Learn More About the Results 

Read the Case Study