Higher Ed Pulse

In the debut episode of this new Pulse Check Series, Understanding the Modern Student Journey, host Faton Sopa sits down with higher education marketing strategist Kristin Nichols to unpack the rapidly evolving landscape of college discovery. The conversation highlights a major shift in how prospective students form their initial impressions of institutions. While schools once relied heavily on their websites to control the narrative, students are now discovering colleges through AI tools like ChatGPT, Reddit, and various online communities long before they ever visit an official institutional site.

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Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea
About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!
Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

2026 AI Search Trends: Brand (In)Visibility Brief

Mallory is joined by Andrea Gilbert and Mike Bell from Everspring to discuss their latest AI search trends report. The report finds big brand universities can be cited in AI overviews on non-branded searches as low as 1%, while smaller private schools see higher citation rates, driven by useful, specific content (e.g., career center pages) rather than brand campaigns. They discuss how reduced AI visibility affects enrollment and revenue, budget allocation challenges, and why AI rewards context, substantiation, and diverse formats.

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Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea
About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!
Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this 4th and final episode of Funnel Vision, Rishab Malhotra sits down with Valpo’s LeAnn Hughes and Rosa Alvarado to discuss how their team turned around a decade of enrollment decline through strategic leadership, trust, and a focus on core value.

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Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea
About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!
Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mallory is joined by Megan Cabrera, Director of Strategic Enrollment Management at Okanagan College, about an enrollment trap she calls “residual momentum,” where funnels look stable after marketing spend is cut, then collapse years later. Megan recounts pulling investment from a long-time feeder market during a budget crunch; applications initially held steady, but after partner institutions became degree-granting competitors, yield dropped from 25–50 students to 3–5. They discuss why dashboards lag reality and what earlier signals to watch, including engagement velocity, market penetration, conversion quality, competitor visibility, and relationship health with high schools. Megan argues for integrated, cross-department KPIs to fix handoffs, shares a digital check-in system built with IT to improve service and capture friction-point data, and cautions that AI and CRMs worsen problems without connected systems, data governance, shared definitions, and clear ownership.

Related Links: 
Structuring Transfer Enrollment for Student Success
Higher Education Marketing Alignment: Why Breaking Down Silos Is No Longer Optional
Higher Ed Marketing’s Next Role: Student Experience

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Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea
About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!
Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In Part 3 of Funnel Vision, host Rishab Malhotra welcomes Anna Esaki Smith, author and co-founder of Education Rethink, to examine the critical state of higher education. Moving past the usual focus on demographic cliffs, they discuss the systemic health of colleges, framing the industry's condition as a need for urgent care rather than a simple checkup.

Anna and Rishab explore the root causes of current challenges, including self-inflicted issues like rising tuition costs, administrative bloat, and the complex data game of merit aid discounting. Anna introduces her book, Make College Your Superpower: It's Not Where You Go, It's What You Know, advocating for a shift in student focus from brand prestige to skill acquisition. This transition is essential as the global economy shifts toward knowledge-based employment and AI integration.

The conversation expands to the global demographic crisis, comparing the U.S. to Japan’s struggles with an aging population, and analyzes how institutions must adapt to survive. They forecast a future defined by consolidation, mergers, and a stronger alignment with workforce needs. Despite the bearish climate, both remain optimistic, arguing that these challenges provide a unique opportunity for institutions to become more resilient, innovative, and deeply responsive to the evolving needs of students.

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Connect With Our Host:
Mallory Willsea
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mallorywillsea/
https://twitter.com/mallorywillsea
About The Enrollify Podcast Network:
The Higher Ed Pulse is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!
Enrollify is made possible by Element451 — The AI Workforce Platform for Higher Ed. Learn more at element451.com.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.