How to Grow MBA Enrollment as a Small Team
Small colleges face declining MBA enrollment, but growth is possible with the right approach. By focusing on ROI-driven program design, smarter goal setting, strategic lead generation, and optimizing small teams, institutions like Pfeiffer University have reversed declines and more than tripled enrollment.
Introduction
We recently hosted a webinar on one of the most pressing challenges for small colleges: how to grow MBA enrollment with limited staff and resources. While MBA programs remain popular nationally, small colleges are seeing declining applications, increasing competition, and shrinking team capacity. In fact, an AACSB survey found that 61% of institutions report struggling with declining MBA enrollment.
To tackle this issue, we brought together three perspectives:
- Bob Stewart, Head of Enrollment at Rize Education, and former VP of Enrollment at Admissions at multiple institutions who now works closely with colleges to set goals and optimize their enrollment strategies.
- Hannah Malowitz, Enrollment Growth Consultant Lead at Rize Education, who helps institutions launch new programs and build ROI-focused enrollment campaigns.
- Chris Coons, Interim Vice President of Enrollment at Pfeiffer University and Partner with Small College Consulting, who shared how Pfeiffer restructured its MBA program to reverse years of enrollment decline.
Together, they explored practical levers small colleges can pull today, not just theory, to drive meaningful MBA growth.
You can watch the full recording here, or keep reading for the highlights.
Designing MBA Programs for ROI
One theme came through loud and clear in the discussion: today’s MBA students are focused on return on investment. They want programs that are faster, flexible, and clearly aligned with in-demand skills.
Among Rize’s 30+ MBA partners, nearly 90% now offer programs of 36 credits or fewer, allowing students to graduate in a year to 18 months. This speed matters not just because students want to advance their careers more quickly, but also because a shorter timeline reduces cost and increases ROI.
Specializations have also emerged as a differentiator. According to national research, 95% of students say they prefer an MBA with a specialization, and specialized programs have grown 46% faster than general MBAs in recent years. Pfeiffer University embraced this trend by redesigning its MBA from a 24 month program to a 15 month accelerated model and layering in specializations such as AI, Business Analytics, Cybersecurity, Finance, and Healthcare Administration. Combined with a tuition reduction, this repositioned the Pfeiffer MBA as both flexible and career focused, two qualities students are actively searching for.
The lesson is simple: if you want to attract today’s students, design your program for ROI.
Setting Smarter Goals
But designing the right program is only half the battle. As Bob pointed out, too many colleges set an enrollment target without breaking it down through the funnel. If the goal is 30 new MBA students, what does that mean for the number of admits you need, the number of applications that requires, and ultimately the leads you need at the very top?
Successful teams work backward from the enrollment goal, using their historical conversion rates to calculate exactly what is required at each stage. They also set time bound milestones throughout the cycle so they can adjust strategy early rather than realizing at the end of the semester that they have fallen short. Just as important, they make goal setting a shared responsibility across enrollment, marketing, and faculty so everyone feels ownership in hitting the target.
It is not flashy, but mapping your funnel with discipline is one of the most impactful steps small teams can take.
Optimizing Lead Generation
Once the funnel is mapped, the question becomes: how do you fill it? For many schools, the default answer has been digital advertising, but the costs are steep. For MBA programs, the average cost per enrollment through digital ads is between $5,000 and $7,000, and at some institutions it can run as high as $18,000 per student.
That is simply not sustainable for small colleges. Instead, the panel emphasized the importance of focusing on lower cost, higher intent tactics. Your website is often the single most powerful asset, particularly when paired with paid search ads that capture prospects actively Googling “MBA near me” or “MBA ROI.” It is also critical not to overlook your own backyard: undergraduates nearing graduation, alumni who may want to up-skill, and local businesses looking for professional development opportunities.
Storytelling plays a key role as well. Rather than just listing rankings or faculty ratios, showcase real student and alumni stories that highlight outcomes. As Chris noted, students can see themselves in another student’s journey far more than they can in a statistic.
And here is a striking data point: 71% of graduate program searches do not include a school name. That means most prospects are not searching for your brand. They are searching for value, relevance, and ROI.
Making the Most of Small Teams
Even with the right structure, goals, and lead strategies, the reality is that most small colleges have very small enrollment teams. But small size does not have to be a weakness. In fact, when roles are clear and priorities are focused, small teams can move faster and adapt more nimbly than larger ones.
Automation is a huge help here. CRM driven drip campaigns and email sequences allow schools to engage prospects consistently without adding to staff workload. Faculty can also play a supporting role by contributing short testimonials or emails that marketing teams can repurpose. And, as Hannah emphasized, partnerships can extend capacity, whether that is outsourcing certain content creation or tapping into resources like Rize’s content portal that provides ready to use assets.
The key is to free up your team’s time for the highest value activities: personal outreach, relationship building, and boots on the ground engagement.
The Pfeiffer Story
Pfeiffer University’s turnaround illustrates how these levers come together. In just two years, the school more than tripled its MBA enrollment, growing from 11 students to 33.
They did it by redesigning their program around student ROI: accelerating to 15 months, adding five high demand specializations, and implementing a tuition reduction. They combined boots on the ground outreach such as classroom visits, alumni communications, and employer partnerships with an enhanced digital presence. And they leaned on ready to use marketing content to save time and scale communication despite a small team.
The results speak for themselves: Pfeiffer’s MBA, once in steady decline, is now on a growth trajectory.
Conclusion
There is no silver bullet for MBA enrollment growth. But as this discussion showed, small teams can compete when they pull the right combination of levers: designing programs for ROI, setting smarter goals, focusing on cost effective lead generation, and optimizing how their team operates.
Start small, whether it is introducing a specialization, mapping your funnel more precisely, or testing a new storytelling tactic. Each step builds momentum. And with the right approach, even the leanest teams can achieve outsized results.
Download the webinar recording to hear the full discussion or schedule a call to explore MBA specialization partnerships with our team, review your funnel, and identify immediate opportunities for growth.
How to Grow MBA Enrollment as a Small Team
Small colleges face declining MBA enrollment, but growth is possible with the right approach. By focusing on ROI-driven program design, smarter goal setting, strategic lead generation, and optimizing small teams, institutions like Pfeiffer University have reversed declines and more than tripled enrollment.
Introduction
We recently hosted a webinar on one of the most pressing challenges for small colleges: how to grow MBA enrollment with limited staff and resources. While MBA programs remain popular nationally, small colleges are seeing declining applications, increasing competition, and shrinking team capacity. In fact, an AACSB survey found that 61% of institutions report struggling with declining MBA enrollment.
To tackle this issue, we brought together three perspectives:
- Bob Stewart, Head of Enrollment at Rize Education, and former VP of Enrollment at Admissions at multiple institutions who now works closely with colleges to set goals and optimize their enrollment strategies.
- Hannah Malowitz, Enrollment Growth Consultant Lead at Rize Education, who helps institutions launch new programs and build ROI-focused enrollment campaigns.
- Chris Coons, Interim Vice President of Enrollment at Pfeiffer University and Partner with Small College Consulting, who shared how Pfeiffer restructured its MBA program to reverse years of enrollment decline.
Together, they explored practical levers small colleges can pull today, not just theory, to drive meaningful MBA growth.
You can watch the full recording here, or keep reading for the highlights.
Designing MBA Programs for ROI
One theme came through loud and clear in the discussion: today’s MBA students are focused on return on investment. They want programs that are faster, flexible, and clearly aligned with in-demand skills.
Among Rize’s 30+ MBA partners, nearly 90% now offer programs of 36 credits or fewer, allowing students to graduate in a year to 18 months. This speed matters not just because students want to advance their careers more quickly, but also because a shorter timeline reduces cost and increases ROI.
Specializations have also emerged as a differentiator. According to national research, 95% of students say they prefer an MBA with a specialization, and specialized programs have grown 46% faster than general MBAs in recent years. Pfeiffer University embraced this trend by redesigning its MBA from a 24 month program to a 15 month accelerated model and layering in specializations such as AI, Business Analytics, Cybersecurity, Finance, and Healthcare Administration. Combined with a tuition reduction, this repositioned the Pfeiffer MBA as both flexible and career focused, two qualities students are actively searching for.
The lesson is simple: if you want to attract today’s students, design your program for ROI.
Setting Smarter Goals
But designing the right program is only half the battle. As Bob pointed out, too many colleges set an enrollment target without breaking it down through the funnel. If the goal is 30 new MBA students, what does that mean for the number of admits you need, the number of applications that requires, and ultimately the leads you need at the very top?
Successful teams work backward from the enrollment goal, using their historical conversion rates to calculate exactly what is required at each stage. They also set time bound milestones throughout the cycle so they can adjust strategy early rather than realizing at the end of the semester that they have fallen short. Just as important, they make goal setting a shared responsibility across enrollment, marketing, and faculty so everyone feels ownership in hitting the target.
It is not flashy, but mapping your funnel with discipline is one of the most impactful steps small teams can take.
Optimizing Lead Generation
Once the funnel is mapped, the question becomes: how do you fill it? For many schools, the default answer has been digital advertising, but the costs are steep. For MBA programs, the average cost per enrollment through digital ads is between $5,000 and $7,000, and at some institutions it can run as high as $18,000 per student.
That is simply not sustainable for small colleges. Instead, the panel emphasized the importance of focusing on lower cost, higher intent tactics. Your website is often the single most powerful asset, particularly when paired with paid search ads that capture prospects actively Googling “MBA near me” or “MBA ROI.” It is also critical not to overlook your own backyard: undergraduates nearing graduation, alumni who may want to up-skill, and local businesses looking for professional development opportunities.
Storytelling plays a key role as well. Rather than just listing rankings or faculty ratios, showcase real student and alumni stories that highlight outcomes. As Chris noted, students can see themselves in another student’s journey far more than they can in a statistic.
And here is a striking data point: 71% of graduate program searches do not include a school name. That means most prospects are not searching for your brand. They are searching for value, relevance, and ROI.
Making the Most of Small Teams
Even with the right structure, goals, and lead strategies, the reality is that most small colleges have very small enrollment teams. But small size does not have to be a weakness. In fact, when roles are clear and priorities are focused, small teams can move faster and adapt more nimbly than larger ones.
Automation is a huge help here. CRM driven drip campaigns and email sequences allow schools to engage prospects consistently without adding to staff workload. Faculty can also play a supporting role by contributing short testimonials or emails that marketing teams can repurpose. And, as Hannah emphasized, partnerships can extend capacity, whether that is outsourcing certain content creation or tapping into resources like Rize’s content portal that provides ready to use assets.
The key is to free up your team’s time for the highest value activities: personal outreach, relationship building, and boots on the ground engagement.
The Pfeiffer Story
Pfeiffer University’s turnaround illustrates how these levers come together. In just two years, the school more than tripled its MBA enrollment, growing from 11 students to 33.
They did it by redesigning their program around student ROI: accelerating to 15 months, adding five high demand specializations, and implementing a tuition reduction. They combined boots on the ground outreach such as classroom visits, alumni communications, and employer partnerships with an enhanced digital presence. And they leaned on ready to use marketing content to save time and scale communication despite a small team.
The results speak for themselves: Pfeiffer’s MBA, once in steady decline, is now on a growth trajectory.
Conclusion
There is no silver bullet for MBA enrollment growth. But as this discussion showed, small teams can compete when they pull the right combination of levers: designing programs for ROI, setting smarter goals, focusing on cost effective lead generation, and optimizing how their team operates.
Start small, whether it is introducing a specialization, mapping your funnel more precisely, or testing a new storytelling tactic. Each step builds momentum. And with the right approach, even the leanest teams can achieve outsized results.
Download the webinar recording to hear the full discussion or schedule a call to explore MBA specialization partnerships with our team, review your funnel, and identify immediate opportunities for growth.
