Case Study: Lehigh University achieves a financially sustainable enrollment freeze with Synario

Lehigh University - Customer Case Study

Lehigh University's new leadership aimed to increase the institution's prestige by becoming more selective, which initially involved a plan to freeze student enrollment for five years. Their challenge was that this lengthy pause would create significant financial strain. The financial team, using the Synario modeling platform, was tasked with analyzing this policy's long-term impact to find a viable solution.

Using Synario, the team modeled nine different financial scenarios to compare the outcomes of various enrollment pause durations and funding strategies. This analysis revealed the core issue was a revenue problem, not an expense problem. As a result, leadership implemented a revised three-year enrollment freeze and paused a capital project. This solution, powered by Synario's projections, is designed to protect the university's financial stability while allowing it to achieve its goals of a higher application rate and a lower acceptance rate, ultimately leading to increased future tuition revenue.

Lehigh University

Jim Quinn

Director of Financial Planning