Case Study: Michigan Technological University achieves increased enrollment and higher net tuition revenue while reducing discount rates with Ruffalo Noel Levitz

Michigan Technological University - Customer Case Study

Michigan Technological University faced difficulty predicting net revenue and unfunded tuition for incoming classes and wanted to grow select student populations—notably increasing female enrollment, campus diversity, and the academic profile—without large overall enrollment expansion. To address this, Michigan Tech partnered with Ruffalo Noel Levitz, engaging their strategic financial aid research and consulting services and adopting the Ruffalo Noel Levitz Enrollment & Revenue Management System™ to model aid distribution and run “what‑if” scenarios.

Ruffalo Noel Levitz implemented data‑driven financial aid modeling, targeted aid strategies and regular consultant postmortem analyses, which improved out‑of‑state recruitment and refined aid allocation. The results include an 8.3% enrollment increase (115 students) from fall 2012–2013, a 0.5% rise in yield, average ACT growth from 26.1 to 26.4 (and +1.5 points since 2005), first‑year/transfer net tuition and fee revenue up 16.5% (2012–2013) and 22.9% since 2005, a 1.5% reduction in discount rate (2012–2013) and more than a 10% drop in out‑of‑state discounting, plus a 6% increase in female enrollment between 2005 and 2013.

Michigan Technological University

John B. Lehman

Associate Vice President Enrollment, Marketing, Communications