Insights & Articles

focusEDU Insights Introduction

Higher Education Insights addresses many topical issues that institutions are facing today. As expectations for sustainability and success continues to increase, it is important for leaders in higher education to critically assess and be prepared to refocus strategic initiatives. The higher education consulting services and insights offered by these articles are valuable for the leaders of higher education.

The Consulting Directors and Contributing Editors of focusEDU are nationally respected leaders in their areas of expertise in higher education. Higher Education Insights are original critical-thought positions from the leaders of focusEDU.

focusEDU consultants are all acclaimed national leaders in their professions. focusEDU has a cadre of professionals from the core higher ed mission-critical operational areas of enrollment management, admissions, registrar and registration areas, student accounts and student financial services areas, financial aid operations, institutional effectiveness and experts to provide advice and assistance to the leaders of higher education in instructional technology and instructional design. These are short, good articles. Please click on the title to read an interesting article.

If you read an article that interests you, please feel free to contact focusEDU so we can open a conversation that could provide value and insights to you and your institution. The articles are created by the critical thinkers from our team who have years of expertise in these areas. They would welcome hearing from you. You can email us at admin@focusEDUnow.com or call us at 231-590-9390. We look forward to hearing from you.

Articles

University Registrar – Charleston Southern University

University Registrar – Charleston Southern University

University Registrar Charleston Southern University Priority Consideration Date for Applications – Friday, May 1, 2026 Position Summary Charleston...

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Interim Leadership Appointments in Enrollment Services

Interim Leadership Appointments in Enrollment Services

Interim Leadership Appointments in Enrollment Services What to Consider and How to Select the Right Candidate Interim leadership is strategically...

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AI Can Optimize CRM Communication with Prospective Students

AI Can Optimize CRM Communication with Prospective Students

AI Can Optimize Your CRM Communication with Prospective Students Personalization. Students, parents, and alumni expect highly personalized...

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Institutional Response of “No” – Don’t Ghost

Institutional Response of “No” – Don’t Ghost

Higher Education Communication When the Answer is “No” Ghosting Is it appropriate for a higher education institution to not provide a written...

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Financial Aid for 2026 – Will You Have It Correct?

Financial Aid for 2026 – Will You Have It Correct?

Education is Important: The Challenges of Financial Aid for 2026 Financial Aid Data and Correct Modeling Financial aid for 2026 will be a...

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Higher Education Search Firm – Getting the Most out of a Search

Higher Education Search Firm – Getting the Most out of a Search

Higher Education Search Firm Getting the Most Out of a Search You have an opening for an administrator at your college and you’ve decided to hire...

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focusEDU – People as Higher Ed Consultants, NOT AI

focusEDU – People as Higher Ed Consultants, NOT AI

People As Consultants, NOT AI I just finished reading an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal this morning about the largest and oldest...

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Higher Education Consultant – Is It You?

Higher Education Consultant – Is It You?

Higher Education Consultant – Is It You? You have had a successful working career in a higher education administrative position; you have been a...

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Strategic Planning During Times of Uncertainty for Higher Education

Strategic Planning During Times of Uncertainty for Higher Education

Strategic Planning During Times of Uncertainty in Higher Education Higher education is facing unprecedented challenges to respond to increased...

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Process Mapping for Enrollment and Retention Success

Process Mapping for Enrollment and Retention Success

Process Mapping for Enrollment and Retention Success The consulting team at focusEDU has the process mapping expertise to assist the leadership of...

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Summer Melt and Other Factors — Missing a Few New Students?

Melting in the Enrollment Climate Where Are Our New Students? For many of us, the summer heat was scorching. For many colleges, summer melt and...

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Does Artificial Intelligence Know Registrar?

Does Artificial Intelligence Know Registrar?

Does AI “Know” Registrar? I think we all tread cautiously around Artificial Intelligence “solutions” and recommendations at this stage of its...

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Higher Education Mentoring and Coaching for Leadership

Higher Education Mentoring and Coaching for Leadership

Higher Education Mentoring and Coaching for Leadership Glenn Munson Higher education mentoring and coaching for leadership should be a strategic...

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Tim Ebner Appointed Consulting Director for Registar Services for focusEDU

Tim Ebner Appointed Consulting Director for Registar Services for focusEDU

Tim Ebner Appointed Consulting Director for Registrar Services Tim Ebner has been appointed Consulting Director for Registrar Services for...

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Are NCAA Division I Athletics a Higher Education Function?

Is NCAA Division I Athletics a Higher Education Function? This article IS about traditional higher education and the student learning experience....

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Michele Neary Appointed Consulting Director for Registrar Services for focusEDU

Michele Neary Appointed Consulting Director for Registrar Services for focusEDU

Michele Neary Appointed Consulting Director for Registrar Services for focusEDU Michele Neary has been appointed Consulting Director for focusEDU...

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Heather Bigard Appointed Consulting Director for focusEDU

Heather Bigard Appointed Consulting Director for focusEDU

Heather Bigard Appointed as Consulting Director for Enrollment Management for focusEDU Herb Riley, President of focusEDU, is honored to announce...

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Records Retention Program – Imperative for Higher Education

Records Retention Program – Imperative for Higher Education

Records Retention Program – Imperative for Higher Education Retention of student academic records used to be straightforward. Student records were...

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Customer Service for Higher Education – Is It Time to Evaluate?

Customer Service for Higher Education – Is It Time to Evaluate?

Customer Service for Higher Education – Is It Time to Evaluate? Rating of Customer Service How do you rate the current customer service of your...

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Increase Enrollment by Diversifying Student Cohorts

Increase Enrollment by Diversifying Student Cohorts Increase enrollment by diversifying student cohorts. While higher education continues to face...

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Coaching and Mentoring for Higher Education Leadership Development

Coaching and Mentoring for Higher Education Leadership Development

Coaching and Mentoring for Higher Education Leadership Development Mentoring and coaching for leadership development should be a strategic...

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Bruce Cunningham Promoted to Vice President at focusEDU

Bruce Cunningham Promoted to Vice President at focusEDU The Advisory Board of focusEDU accepted the recommendation of Mr. Herb Riley, President...

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P.A.C.T. – The Standard for Student Service

P.A.C.T. – The Standard for Student Service

P.A.C.T. – The Standard for Student Service P: Prompt and Patient service PROMPT Students expect and deserve to be waited on as quickly as...

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Remote Interim Leadership in Admissions, Registrar and Financial Aid

Remote Interim Leadership in Admissions, Registrar and Financial Aid

Remote Interim Leadership in Admissions, Registrar and Financial Aid Remote interim leadership in admissions, registrar and financial aid adds...

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CRM Engage and Enroll Students

CRM Engage and Enroll Students

ENGAGE AND ENROLL STUDENTS USING YOUR CRM We are in the midst of a paradigm shift in higher education; demographic cliffs, declining international...

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John Pyle Joins focusEDU as Consulting Director for Enrollment Management Services

John Pyle Joins focusEDU as Consulting Director for Enrollment Management Services

John Pyle joins the team of focusEDU as Consulting Director for Enrollment Management Services John Pyle has joined the team of focusEDU as...

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Higher Education Consultant – Is It You?

Higher Education Consultant – Is It You?

Higher Education Consultant – Is It You? You have had a successful working career in a higher education administrative position; you have been a...

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Step 1 – Define the Engagement

Step 1 – Define the Engagement

Every engagement starts with a confidential discussion to understand the specific facts and circumstances of your situation. Then, we send out a...

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Best Higher Education Search Firms

Best Higher Education Search Firms

Choosing The Top Higher Education Search Firms 5 Important Factors to Assist You The team at focusEDU has the higher education search consultant...

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Higher Education Strategic Planning

Higher Education Strategic Planning

Insights on Higher Education Strategic Planning Higher education strategic planning is a cornerstone for institutional success. A Strategic...

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Step 3 – Proposal for the Engagement

Step 3 – Proposal for the Engagement

focusEDU will prepare a Proposal for the engagement that will outline objectives, a time-line, scope of services and provide a pricing quote for...

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Step 2 – Meet the Consultant(s)

Step 2 – Meet the Consultant(s)

Based on the initial engagement, focusEDU will assess institutional needs as were discussed in Step 1 and arrange an audio/visual meeting (usually...

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Step 4 – Work Starts

Step 4 – Work Starts

Work commences per mutually agreed to schedule.

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Financial Aid Equity and Institutional Revenue Impact

Financial Aid Equity and Institutional Revenue Impact

Financial Aid Strategies and College Revenue Impact In the 1980’s and 90’s, the cost of attending private institutions outpaced the rate of...

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Step 5 – Continuous Assessment and Evaluation

Step 5 – Continuous Assessment and Evaluation

Scheduled periodic progress reports are provided to the institutional contact leader and discussions of progress are regularly held with the...

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Step 6 – Finalization of Work

Step 6 – Finalization of Work

A summary report of the scope of work and an assessment of achievements and goal attainment will be provided by the focusEDU consultant(s) to the...

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Title IV Compliance and A133 Audit Findings

Title IV Compliance and A133 Audit Findings

Title IV Compliance and A133 Audit Findings NSLDS reporting and A133 audit Title IV compliance findings can be a challenge for Higher Education...

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Tim Taylor Joins focusEDU as Consulting Director

Tim Taylor Joins focusEDU as Consulting Director

Timothy Taylor joins focusEDU as Consulting Director Tim Taylor has joined the team of focusEDU as a Consulting Director. Tim’s appointment as a...

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Higher Education Fiscal Health Through Intelligent Pricing

Institutional Prosperity Through Intelligent Pricing Modern market reality: there are fewer college-ready students from families who are able or...

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focusEDU Statement of Conduct and Ethics

focusEDU Statement of Conduct and Ethics

Statement of Conduct and Ethics Statement of Conduct and Ethics guides the actions of our team members and our interactions with our client...

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Best Practices for On-Line and Remote Classes

Best Practices for On-Line and Remote Classes

Best Practices for On-line and Remote Classes In response to the current COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions have canceled on-campus courses and...

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Search for a New Registrar:  Hire or Promote?

Search for a New Registrar: Hire or Promote?

Using a nationally acclaimed search firm for higher education can provide optimized candidate pools for higher education. focusEDU can offer such...

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Delivery in the New Normal – It Never Went Away!!

Delivery in the New Normal – It Never Went Away!!

Delivery in the New Normal Yes, pizza delivery. And Grub Hub. Amazon. Instacart. Freshly. Netflix. Zoom. Twitter. USPS. 2020 was the year of...

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Enrollment as a Lens on Higher Education

Enrollment as a Lens on Higher Education

Enrollment As a Lens on Higher Education If the days of being able to work decentrally are over and we cannot afford to do two or three or five...

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Questions to Ask Registrar Candidates

Questions to Ask Registrar Candidates

Questions to Ask Registrar Candidates We all know the questions to ask when interviewing a candidate for a position on our campus. We want to get...

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Curriculum Committee Approvals Link to Degree Audit

Curriculum Committee Approvals Link to Degree Audit

Curriculum Committee Approvals Link to Your Degree Audit System In the best of all worlds, your faculty and their Curriculum Committees will...

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NSLDS Compliance Reporting – It’s Complicated

NSLDS Compliance Reporting – It’s Complicated

NSLDS Compliance Reporting – It’s Complicated NSLDS compliance reporting can be a challenge. In March of 2017, a meeting took place with Federal...

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UTHSC
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Carroll College
University of Utah
Hollins University
University of Tennessee
Alfaisal University
University of the Sciences
University of St. Joseph
Rutgers University
University of Chicago
Cornell University
William & Mary
Florida Southern College
University of Alabama in Huntsville
Simmons University
University of the Cumberlands
Florida Atlantic University
Rush University
Kettering University
NJIT
NEOMED
Azusa Pacific University
Rivier University
Union Theological Seminary
Columbus State University
Chicago State University
Whittier College
Trinity College
Christian Brothers University
Point University
Lenoir-Rhyne University
Lewis University
CU Denver
CU Medical
Flagler College
Concordia Theological Seminary
Thomas Jefferson University
Texas A&M Texarkana
Stephens College
Corning Community College
Eastern Wyoming College
University of Missouri
Bethel University
Burrell College
Baptist Health Sciences University
Charleston Southern University
Charleston School of Law
Cleveland Institute of Art
Front Range Community College
Norwich University
Pacific School of Religion
Texas Southern University
UTHSC
Ursinus College
Carroll College
University of Utah
Hollins University
University of Tennessee
Alfaisal University
University of the Sciences
University of St. Joseph