Demonstrating the Power of Market-aligned Strategy and Swift Action

THE CHALLENGE:

Saint Mary’s College was operating in a demanding market environment. In addition to broader demographic pressures, this ambitious college appeared to face its own distinctive headwinds, running up against contemporary market preferences: a single-gender model in a predominately coeducational marketplace, a proud Catholic identity amid growing secularization, and a location distant from a major city at a time when students favored metropolitan settings. These characteristics underpinned genuine institutional strengths to which the College was deeply committed. Yet they also shaped external perceptions, introducing market hesitancy before the College could fully communicate its value. Saint Mary’s required a strategy not simply to compete more effectively on such characteristics, but to distinguish itself in ways that were both compelling and relevant to prospective students.

OUR SOLUTION:

Art & Science Group partnered with Saint Mary’s on a full life-cycle study to determine how to position the College in mission-aligned ways that would strengthen market demand and persistence to graduation. Research integrating prospective, current, and withdrawn students identified three decisive determinants of success for Saint Mary’s: visible academic support, credible career outcomes, and the nature of the social experience.

While neither identity as a Catholic institution nor as a women’s college per se had an appeal in Saint Mary’s markets, we found that doubling down substantively on its commitment to empowering women—expressed through experiential learning, integrated career preparation, and accelerated pathways—resonated strongly with its prospective students. Predictive modeling indicated that strengthening these elements would materially change students’ decisions whether to apply, matriculate, and persist in the College’s favor. Visible academic support and a cohesive social experience would also be important. 

Our conclusions together pointed to new, mission-aligned initiatives in the lived experience of Saint Mary’s students, in and out of the classroom, that would directly influence prospective-student enrollment and current-student persistence. They also underscored a need to align enrollment strategy more tightly with that experience, prompting leaders to restructure roles across enrollment and student affairs.

Leadership engaged the Board of Trustees early, aligning around the strategic direction and ensuring funding commitments. And it deftly marshalled the campus community toward swift implementation of The Avenue Experience—a comprehensive framework integrating academics, career preparation, and community.

As a result, Saint Mary’s leaders were able to reverse its enrollment decline, improve retention, strengthen net tuition revenue, and increase student diversity and legacy engagement, all while maintaining academic quality and support for first-generation students. The College stabilized financially and demonstrated how institutions facing sustained pressure can regain competitive momentum when leadership, data-informed strategy, and execution are fully aligned.