The rush to AI implementation in higher ed is all too common. But most institutions start in the wrong place, focusing on AI tools and point solutions that promise a silver bullet to fix all their challenges and capacity constraints. Clouded by this AI land-grab mentality, teams overlook the unsung hero of AI success: your own data. Failure to focus on this foundational aspect just gets you another expensive tool that doesn’t scale, AI outputs you can’t trust, and missed opportunities for genuine institutional transformation.

Before your institution invests further in AI, it’s worth asking a more important question: Is your data actually ready to support it?

AI Starts with Your Data, Not Demos:
The AI Mistake Higher Ed Keeps Making
(and How to Fix It)

Thursday, April 30
1:00 pm ET / 12:00 pm CT 

What you’ll learn 

In this webinar, Dan Antonson and Bryan Chitwood break down the mistakes many institutions are making as they rush toward AI adoption and what to do instead. Join us for a practical conversation on how higher ed leaders can move past surface-level demos and start building the data strategy, structure, and readiness needed to support AI that actually drives impact.

They’ll explore what AI readiness really means in higher education and why strong outcomes start with connected, usable, trustworthy data.

• Why starting with AI tools instead of a data strategy often leads to stalled initiatives and weak results
• What institutions need in place before AI can drive meaningful value
• How to identify the biggest data barriers standing in the way of AI readiness
• Where to focus first to create momentum without overcomplicating your approach
• How to connect AI efforts to measurable outcomes across enrollment, student experience, and operations

Who should attend

If you’re a leader responsible for strategy, transformation, and data-informed decision-making, and your institution is exploring AI but wants to make smarter decisions before moving too fast, this is one conversation you don’t want to miss.

• Presidents, provosts, and cabinet-level leaders
• CIOs, CTOs, and IT leaders
• Institutional research and data leaders
• Enrollment, marketing, and student success leaders
• Strategy, innovation, and operations teams evaluating AI use cases

Expert speakers

Complete the form on the top right to reserve your spot. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, April 30. 

Institutions are collecting more student data than ever, but more data doesn’t mean more enrollments. Action does. The institutions pulling ahead are using AI, behavioral signals, and predictive insight to cut through the noise, recognize student intent, and engage prospects with the relevance the market demands.

Building a Predictive Enrollment Engine:
Using Student Signals, Data & AI to Improve Matriculation
Thursday, March 26
1:00 pm ET / 12:00 pm CT 

What you’ll learn 

In this webinar, you’ll explore how institutions can use predictive data and AI to identify student intent and personalize engagement, sharpen recruitment strategy, and move prospective learners from inquiry to enrollment with more confidence and control.

Key topics include:

• The “Student Digital Twin” Model: How institutions can create a dynamic, evolving profile of each prospective student to understand behavior, preferences, and intent
• Shifting From Data Collection to Data Activation: Strategies for transforming institutional data into real-time enrollment actions
• Behavior-Based Engagement: How specific student activities can trigger personalized outreach across marketing, enrollment, and student experience teams
• AI-Powered Enrollment Intelligence: Using predictive insights to prioritize high-intent prospects and optimize engagement strategies

Expert speakers

Join Collegis leaders Ashley Nicklay and Chris Greene as they share insights from their work helping institutions activate enrollment and student experience data to drive smarter engagement, stronger conversion, and better outcomes across the student lifecycle.

Who should attend

This webinar is designed for higher education leaders responsible for enrollment growth and student engagement, including:

• Provosts and senior-level enrollment leaders
• Admissions and retention team leaders
• Marketing and digital strategy leaders
• Institutional leaders focused on data-driven decision making

Complete the form on the top right to reserve your spot. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, March 26. 

New research from UPCEA and Collegis Education reveals a growing misalignment between how institutions approach retention and what adult learners actually need to succeed. While many institutions are investing in retention, strategies still over-rely on structured oversight and under-deliver on the flexibility, visibility, and autonomy adult online learners say they need most.

The Retention Disconnect: What Adult Learners Need and What Institutions Miss
Wednesday, February 11
1:00 pm ET / 12:00 pm CT 

Join Dr. Tracy Chapman, Chief Academic Officer at Collegis Education, and Emily West, Senior Market Research Analyst at UPCEA, as they break down key findings from the national survey and explore how institutions can realign support strategies to improve outcomes, protect revenue, and meet adult learners where they are.

Expert Speakers

What you’ll learn: 

• Why nearly half of institutional leaders can’t report their online retention rate — and why that matters
• The disconnect between staff-led interventions and student-preferred tools like dashboards and self-service
• How to shift from compliance-based models to empowerment-driven support
• The importance of segmentation based on life stage, not just demographics
• Three strategic shifts institutions can act on now

Who should attend:

This session is ideal for higher ed leaders focused on student success, enrollment, and retention strategy, including:

• Academic leadership (CAOs, provosts)
• Enrollment and student affairs leaders
• Online and adult learner program managers
• Institutional researchers and data strategists
• IT decision-makers
• Presidents, CFOs, and strategic planning teams

If you’re working to improve outcomes for adult online learners or reduce attrition, this webinar is for you.

Complete the form on the top right to reserve your spot. We look forward to seeing you on Wednesday, February 11. 

You’re under increased pressure to make better, data-informed decisions. However, most colleges and universities don’t have the budget to build the kind of data team that drives strategic progress. And even if you can hire, you’re competing with other industries that pay top dollar, making it hard, if not impossible, to find the right data resource with all the skills to move your operation forward. Don’t let hiring roadblocks make you settle for siloed insights and stagnant dashboards.

How to Build a High-Impact Data Team
Without the Full-Time Headcount
Tuesday, August 26
2:00 pm ET / 1:00 pm CT 

In this webinar, Jeff Certain, VP of Solution Development and Go-to-Market, and Dan Antonson, AVP of Data and Analytics, break down how a managed services model can help you create a high-impact data team at a fraction of the cost and give you access to a robust bench of highly specialized data talent. They will also share some real-world examples of nimble, high-impact data teams in action. 

You’ll walk away knowing: 

• Which data roles are needed for success and scale in higher ed 
• How to rapidly scale data operations without adding FTEs 
• Why managed services are a smarter investment than full-time hires 
• Ways to tap into cross-functional expertise on demand 
• How to build a future-ready data infrastructure without ballooning your org chart 

Whether you’re starting from scratch or trying to scale a lean team, this session will offer practical, flexible strategies to get there faster — and more cost-effectively.  

Who Should Attend:

If you are a data-minded decision-maker in higher ed or a cabinet-level leader being asked to do more with less, this webinar is for you. 

• Presidents and provosts 
• CFOs and COOs 
• Enrollment and marketing leaders  

Expert Speakers

It’s time to move past the piecemeal approach and start driving real outcomes with your data. Complete the form to reserve your spot! We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday, August 26. 

You’re sitting on mountains of student data scattered across CRMs, SIS, LMS, and advising tools. Systems don’t talk. Dashboards are disconnected. And AI? Not even close. Without connection, context, or clarity, that data is nothing more than a headache and a barrier to impact. 

The Digital Twin: How to Connect and Enable Your Student Data for Outreach, Personalization, and Predictive Insights 

Thursday, July 24 

2:00 pm ET / 1:00 pm CT 

In this webinar, Bryan Chitwood, Director of Data Enablement, breaks down how you can start building your students’ Digital Twin and turn your fragmented data into real-time, actionable intelligence. We’ll show you how unified student data profiles fuel more innovative outreach, personalized engagement, and predictive insights across the student lifecycle. 

You’ll walk away knowing: 

• How to connect siloed data sources into a unified, reliable student profile 

• What a Digital Twin is and how it differs from your CRM or SIS data 

• Use-cases for personalization, predictive engagement, and lifecycle outreach 

• Real examples of how institutions are putting Digital Twins to work right now 

If your campus is drowning in data but starving for strategy, this is the conversation you need. 

Who Should Attend: 

If you are a data-minded decision-maker in higher ed or a cabinet-level leader being asked to do more with less, this webinar is for you. 

• Presidents and Provosts 

• COOs/CMOs/CFOs 

• VPs of Enrollment, Marketing, and Student Success 

• Leaders charged with driving digital transformation and data-enabled decision making 

Meet Your Presenter

Complete the form on the right to reserve your spot! We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, July 24. 

Your students are already running to AI for answers. The only question is — what’s it saying about your institution? More importantly, are you in the conversation or being left out? If you’re not actively shaping how your school shows up in AI-driven search and decision-making platforms, you’re not just invisible — you’re irrelevant.  

Digital Darwinism in Higher Ed:
Adapt Your Marketing for AI — or Get Left Behind
Date: May 29, 2025
Time: 2:00 p.m. ET / 1:00 p.m. CT

In this webinar, Collegis Education’s Ashley Nicklay, Sr. Director of Marketing, and Jessica Summers, Director of Web Strategy, will unpack what “AI-ready” really means for higher ed marketing and enrollment leaders. We’ll explore how generative AI influences the student journey from search to selection, why most websites and content strategies are falling short, and what forward-thinking institutions are doing to lead the algorithm, rather than get buried by it. 

This isn’t just about better SEO or smarter ads. It’s about understanding how AI evaluates your institution — and making sure you’re feeding it the right data, signals, and story to stay in the game.  

What You’ll Learn 

• How AI impacts the early stages of the enrollment journey: Understand how tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews influence what students see when exploring colleges.  

• Why AI prompt bias is real — and how to beat it: Learn how content, structured data and reputation shape AI responses. 

• What AI actually sees when it looks at your website (and what it may miss): Explore how site structure, clarity and technical markup shape what AI-based tools can find and summarize – and what they may overlook.  

• What it really means to have an AI-optimized website: We’ll show you our checklist of what your .edu needs to show up in AI-generated answers.  

• How to future-proof your marketing model in an AI-driven search landscape: Assess your current channels and content strategy for resilience as search becomes more conversational and less click-based.  

Future-Ready Starts Here

The institutions that will thrive tomorrow are learning how to market to machines today. Find out what it takes to survive the AI era of higher ed marketing. 

Complete the form on the right to view the webinar recording.

Your graduate programs should be thriving, but if you’re relying on outdated outreach tactics, you’re leaving enrollments on the table. Today’s grad students expect more personalization, relevance, and connection. And if you’re not aligning with their needs, another institution will. The only way to meet them where they are is by asking the right questions and getting real answers. That’s exactly what Collegis Education and UPCEA did, and now we’re pulling back the curtain to share what we found.

Unlock Graduate Enrollment Growth
Proven Strategies for Engaging Graduate Students
Date: April 8, 2025
Time: 2:00 pm (Eastern) / 1:00 pm (Central)

Join Tracy Chapman, Chief Academic Officer at Collegis Education, and Bruce Etter, Senior Director of Research & Consulting at UPCEA, for their upcoming webinar “Unlock Graduate Enrollment Growth: Proven Strategies for Engaging Graduate Students.” In this session, they’ll reveal some surprising discoveries about graduate enrollment and the factors that drive impact and growth.

• Graduate student needs and expectations
• Why grad students disengage during their enrollment journey
• What information grad students are willing to give you and when
• How to best communicate and reach graduate students actively evaluating programs

• Presidents
• Provosts
• Enrollment leaders 
• Marketing leaders

At the end, we’ll leave room for questions and conversion, and all attendees will receive a copy of the entire research report. 

See you on April 8! 

AI is the latest buzzword in higher ed, but without a clear strategy and solid data, institutions risk overinvesting in additional products, platforms, and applications they can’t fully support or operationalize. Instead, take a step back and ask, “What’s the impact I want to achieve, and how can AI fit or support my broader goals?”

In this webinar, AI Jumpstart Kit: How to Build Toward IMPACT with AI in Higher Ed, Collegis Education’s AVP of Analytics & Technology Solutions, Dan Antonson, and Senior Director of Strategy and Innovation, Wes Catlett-Miller, will guide attendees through an interactive discussion about how to approach key use cases with AI in higher education. We’ll whiteboard out what an AI-enabled institution can look like, how it all works, and live demo actual AI initiatives Collegis has deployed for its partners.

No clunky PowerPoint slides. Just a clear path for approaching AI enablement.

What you’ll walk away with:

• A thorough understanding of how AI fits into the broader ecosystem (add-ons vs. platform)
• A model for making decisions on when to build and when to buy
• A clear understanding of the role tech and data play in AI enablement

Who should attend:

• Presidents + Provosts
• CFOs + COOs + CMOs
• Enrollment + Marketing leaders

Higher education is evolving, and institutions need innovative strategies to keep up with shifting learner expectations. That’s why Collegis Education is excited to attend the 2025 UPCEA Annual Conference, the premier event for leaders in professional, continuing, and online education. This conference brings together experts and decision-makers to explore the latest trends, technologies, and strategies that are transforming higher ed.

• Dates: March 24-26, 2025
• Location: Denver, CO
• Venue: Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel
• Learn More: UPCEA Annual Conference Website

This conference is a must-attend event for higher ed leaders looking to stay ahead of the curve in online learning, workforce development, and digital transformation. Key themes include:

• Data-Driven Decision-Making – Leveraging analytics to improve student outcomes and enrollment strategies.
• Technology & Digital Transformation – Implementing scalable solutions to enhance the student experience.
• Workforce-Aligned Learning – Creating programs that meet the evolving needs of students and employers.
• Marketing & Enrollment Growth – Adapting strategies to attract, engage, and retain today’s learners.

Collegis Education brings the expertise and proven strategies to help institutions overcome enrollment challenges, optimize operations, and drive sustainable growth.

Where to Find Us

Our team will be on-site, ready to connect and discuss how Collegis can help your institution navigate the complexities of online education, marketing, and student success.

Want to meet up? Let’s schedule a time to chat! Contact us to book a meeting.

We look forward to seeing you in Denver!

Collegis Education is Participating in the HERDI National Panel Session

Collegis Education is honored to participate in the HERDI National Panel Session, where higher education decision-makers and industry leaders come together to discuss the most pressing challenges facing colleges and universities today. This exclusive event provides a unique opportunity to gain insights directly from community college presidents, chancellors, and senior administrators on how institutions can leverage data, technology, and innovation to drive success.

Event Details

• Date: Thursday, April 8, 2025
• Location: Nashville, TN
• Venue: Loews Nashville Hotel at Vanderbilt Plaza
• Learn More: HERDI National Panel Sessions

Our team will be engaging with higher ed leaders at the HERDI National Panel Session to share expertise and gain valuable insights from institutional leaders.

We look forward to meaningful discussions that drive innovation in higher education!