Florida Tech Increases Enrollment
9.7% Year-Over-Year, Net Tuition Revenue 9%

Founded in 1958 with just 37 cents, the Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) is a nationally recognized, private institution located on the “space coast of the Atlantic.” The school began as the training ground for space industry professionals, and has evolved into a leading technical institution with more than 200 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, drawing students from more than 100 countries worldwide.

Like many colleges and universities faced with declining student populations and greater competition for top-caliber candidates, Florida Tech was looking for ways to implement a more effective admissions strategy. The school was searching for an analytics-driven solution, and after comparing options, identified Othot as having the right platform for the school.

Mike Perry, executive director of admission, shares why. “I was looking for something that was usable down to the admissions counselor level so that they could make recruiting decisions within their assigned geographical territories. With a lot of the other platforms, you really need to be a data scientist to get specific predictions and to understand the likelihood of students enrolling. The Othot platform ended up being the easiest to use and provided data that everyone could understand.”

Not only did the school’s recruitment efforts become more efficient within a single enrollment cycle, Florida Tech found the advanced analytics platform yielded additional unexpected benefits that helped achieve — and exceed — the school’s objectives.

Predictions and Prescriptions Expand Reach, Help More Students Succeed

When Florida Tech reached out to Othot, the school was looking for advanced analytics software to:

• Increase recruitment efficiency
• Grow enrollment
• Predict the incoming class
• Maintain the school's net tuition revenue

Othot’s platform provided an all-in-one solution that helped Florida Tech achieve these goals, but there were value-added advantages that surprised users at the school: Othot’s prescriptive capabilities and the platform’s ability to inform financial aid offerings to support student retention.

After looking at other options, Florida Tech determined Othot’s prescriptive analytics were unique. “Most of the other predictive models focus solely on ‘top of funnel’ activity. They only look at predictions or likelihoods for groups of prospective students — students who aren’t even inquiries in our system. That’s really not an effective use of our time or resources. None of the other solutions we reviewed do prescriptive modeling, and none of them follow the student through the entire enrollment cycle like the Othot solution.”

Perry realized the value of understanding each individual student more completely, and worked closely with Othot’s Partner Success Team to analyze how variations in financial aid affected different students’ enrollment and retention behavior. Using the platform to do matrices and run various scenarios, Florida Tech had greater insight into how to manage financial aid resources to help students persist and succeed. This was particularly useful during the pandemic when the school was offering hybrid classes and persistence and retention became an institutional focus.

Perry adds, “I don’t think we realized the impact Othot would have on our financial aid decisions — the type of information we would get out of the platform and how we could use it. Initially, we were looking at the likelihood to enroll, and while the platform certainly did that, it also evolved into a tool that allowed us to influence enrollment and retention decisions in our financial aid offerings.”

Advanced Analytics Deliver Successful Outcomes Campus Wide

Since using Othot’s platform, Florida Tech has seen a 9.7% increase in enrollment year-over-year, exceeding the school’s original goal, while maintaining budget. Other benefits include:

• Increasing net tuition revenue by 9%
• Improving the school's retention rate by 2%
• Maintaining a discount rate under 40%

Further, Florida Tech is among the very few institutions in higher ed that has increased its revenue per student year-over-year. Perry attributes this achievement to strong institutional leadership and the use of data to complement decision making.

Florida Tech Prepares for the Future with Advanced Analytics

Florida Tech looks forward to its continued partnership with Othot to engage ‘best-fit' students, monitor persistence and retention, and manage its financial aid resources to benefit students and the school. Perry encourages other colleges and universities that may be considering using advanced analytics in their decision-making process to learn more. “None of us in higher ed knows exactly what the future holds,” concludes Perry, “but it’s important to be able to anticipate and adapt during these changing times. Data analytics and models can give you not only predictions, but prescriptions to help you prepare for the future with confidence so that you make the right decisions for your campus and students."

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