Building Momentum for Student Success Strategic Enrollment Plan

Year One Impact

The first year of the Strategic Enrollment Plan has produced measurable progress in student success, enrollment effectiveness, and operational improvement.
Key outcomes include:

  • More first-year students returned for their second year, with retention increasing to 71.0%, up from 68.4%.
  • Students who participated in Nearpeer were retained at rates above 83%, underscoring the importance of early connection, belonging, and peer support.
  • UCCS surpassed its goals for turning applicants into enrolled students. Graduate programs performed particularly well, exceeding the 2027 target by 3.1 percentage points, while freshman enrollment also finished ahead of goal.
  • Undergraduate and graduate applicants received admissions decisions more quickly, improving the student experience and reducing the time between application and enrollment.
  • Online learning continued to grow, with online course enrollment nearly reaching the university's annual target.
  • Enrollment of military-affiliated and Pell-eligible students exceeded established goals, reflecting UCCS's commitment to access and opportunity.
  • A simplified tuition structure made costs easier to understand, improving transparency for students and families.

While these results reflect significant progress, there is more work ahead. During Year Two, we will continue to focus on supporting transfer student success, improving access to courses, strengthening the residential experience, and advancing initiatives that help more students enroll, persist, and graduate.

View Year One Full Impact Report

Strategic Enrollment Plan Year One Update

Strategic Enrollment Plan Imperatives 

  • Cultivate a continuum of student care to foster connection, wellness, belonging and progression
  • Improve student journeys to remove barriers and clarify pathways
  • Modernize academic pathways to provide innovative, flexible programs, schedules and delivery to meet student needs
  • Reimagine recruitment and admissions to modernize processes and enable earlier engagement
  • Improve affordability and competitive advantage to address access, pricing, aid, visibility and brand awareness

Advising Transformation Task Force Year One Update

Task Force Purpose: 

•Advance the Strategic Enrollment Plan through a coordinated, student-centered advising experience.
•Support student recruitment, retention, persistence, and graduation success.
•Evaluate advising structures, policies, technologies, and support services across the university.
•Ensure students receive consistent, proactive, and personalized guidance throughout their academic journey.
•Create a seamless pathway from orientation through degree completion.
•Improve the student experience by strengthening advising, removing barriers, and enhancing support at every stage of enrollment and success.

Financial Wellness Task Force

Task Force Purpose 

  • Simplify tuition structure to make it easier for students and their families to understand the cost of their education  over the full 4 years
  • Eliminate the jump in tuition costs between lower division and upper division
  • Reduce number of tuition rate tables

Marketing & Branding Task Force

Task Force Purpose

  • Initial discovery: what were we doing, and how was it performing? 
  • Increase awareness, visibility and sentiment for the UCCS brand and improve the UCCS digital environment as a part of the brand experience.
  • Bring people together

New Student Experience Task Force

Task Force Purpose

  • Strengthens the first-year student journey by creating a more connected and supportive student experience.
  • Identifies barriers to student success during the transition into the university.
  • Advances coordinated strategies across campus to improve the student experience.
  • Uses data-informed decision-making to guide priorities and interventions.
  • Supports student persistence and retention throughout the first year.
  • Promotes continued enrollment and long-term student success.

Slate Implementation Task Force

Task Force Purpose

  • Create a seamless student experience by connecting communications, enrollment processes, and support.
  • Deliver timely and coordinated student communications across the student journey.
  • Increase institutional efficiency and reduce costs through a more sustainable CRM solution.