Walk into almost any admissions office in 2025 and you’ll see the same challenge: staff drowning in spreadsheets, multiple CRMs, and manual transcript reviews. Everyone is busy, but not necessarily productive. Students wait days for responses. Transfers get stuck in credit evaluation limbo. Leadership struggles to see what’s working.
This is exactly why the enrollment management platform has moved from a “nice-to-have” to the backbone of enrollment strategy. But not all platforms are created equal, and not all institutions are using them well. The question isn’t just should we have one? but how should it be designed, implemented, and measured to actually drive growth?
From Systems to Platforms: The Evolution
Enrollment technology used to mean a database, something to store applications and keep track of names. Then came CRMs, which added marketing automation. But the breakthrough has been the enrollment management platform: a connected ecosystem that integrates marketing, admissions, the registrar, financial aid, and student success.
According to AACRAO, true enrollment management must span the full student lifecycle, recruitment, retention, and graduation. Platforms make this operational. They don’t just manage students, they orchestrate the student journey.
How Universities Are Using Platforms in Practice
The real test of an enrollment management platform is not the feature list, it’s how institutions apply it.
- Roosevelt University turned its website into a recruiting tool by embedding DegreeSight’s INBOUND tool. Students could instantly see how their credits would transfer, and the platform captured those leads. Within months, they were generating over 560 new prospects and averaging 32 leads per week.
- Oklahoma Christian University used its platform to prioritize transparency. By integrating a Transfer Credit Calculator, they gave students immediate answers about transfer credit. The results: 146 student users, 51 inquiries, and 8 deposits in just eight months.
- Oklahoma Baptist University took segmentation seriously. Their platform allowed campaigns tailored for transfer students and dual-enrolled high schoolers. The outcome: 139 new prospects, 83% transfers, demonstrating how platforms enable precision marketing.
These examples reveal a core truth: platforms aren’t just databases, they’re engines of conversion.
Benchmarks and Trends in 2025
So what’s shaping platform adoption today?
- Student Expectations: Salesforce research shows 72% of students expect personalized communication once they engage with a school. Platforms that enable personalization at scale will outperform those that don’t.
- Website Behavior: EducationDynamics found 68% of students revisit a college’s website multiple times before filling out an inquiry. Platforms that track and respond to this behavior can convert browsers into inquiries.
- Transfer Market: Nearly 40% of U.S. undergraduates are transfers. Platforms with built-in transfer workflows are no longer optional.
- Response Time: RNL data shows delays over 48 hours reduce enrollment likelihood by 30%. Platforms that automate immediate follow-up protect yield.
ROI Benchmarks: Research indicates that increasing inquiry-to-application conversion by just 10% can yield double-digit enrollment growth. Targeted digital campaigns (adult learners, transfers) often show ROI gains of 15–30% compared to broad awareness campaigns.
Where Institutions Get Stuck
For all their promise, platforms are not magic bullets. Common pitfalls include:
- Overbuying features schools never use, leaving adoption low.
- Excluding the registrar, which leaves credit evaluation bottlenecks intact.
- Treating tech as the solution instead of pairing it with process redesign and training.
I’ve seen institutions invest in high-powered platforms, only to discover six months later that staff are still relying on spreadsheets because workflows weren’t mapped. The platform didn’t fail, the implementation did.
The Future: From Enrollment to Success Platforms
The next evolution is clear: platforms won’t stop at admissions. They’ll extend into progression, retention, and even career tracking. Imagine a platform that doesn’t just recruit students, but also predicts risk of stop-out, suggests interventions, and showcases alumni career data back into marketing campaigns.
That’s where enrollment management platforms are heading: not just managing the pipeline, but owning the full “person” lifecycle.
Final Takeaway
An enrollment management platform isn’t a piece of software, it’s your institution’s nervous system. Done right, it delivers speed, personalization, and clarity to students while giving leaders the visibility they need to make smarter decisions.
The schools that succeed in 2025 won’t be those with the flashiest tech, but those that use platforms strategically: to remove friction, build trust, and convert interest into enrollment.
If you’re wondering where your platform gaps are, a Transfer Friendliness Assessment is a simple starting point, it reveals exactly where students are experiencing friction and how technology can solve it.