Strategic International Enrollment Management: Responsible and Strategic Use of Resources

NAFSA's recently released book, Strategic International Enrollment Management: Aligning Vision with Results, explores the full complexity of international enrollment management (IEM), addressing critical competencies such as strategic planning, contract negotiation, risk management, and forecasting.

Drawing on interdisciplinary insights from business, higher education, and global engagement, the book positions international enrollment management as a dynamic leadership function and the heart of institutional success. The excerpt below, from chapter 7, argues that IEM professionals often lack formal training in managing resources, and that effective resource management means aligning spending strategically with institutional goals rather than pursuing initiatives without clear purpose. It introduces four practical business concepts—fixed vs. variable costs, cost-benefit analysis, the law of diminishing returns, and economies of scale—to help professionals allocate and optimize resources more deliberately.

Throughout my career, which at this point has spanned two decades, I have worked at four public institutions in four different states. If I count my time as a graduate assistant in an international education office, then I can claim to have worked at five public universities in five different states.

Over this time, I have made the following observations regarding the management of resources at colleges and universities:

1. Most academics have received little formal training in managing resources aside from the training required to administer a grant.
2. Most university administrators, including those who did not arrive at their position through the faculty route, have also not received much formal training in managing resources.
3. Chief financial officers (CFOs) at public universities are traditionally socialized to think of themselves as the institution’s accountants, balancing the financial books against revenue and expenses and divvying up slices of an ever-shrinking pie; far fewer see their role as financial planners or entrepreneurs charged with growing the pie.
4. Aside from a few spectacular workshops facilitated by Paulo Zagalo-Melo, I have noted little discussion or practical training opportunities for international educators with regard to the management of resources.

Connection to Competency

This chapter is not intended to teach you how to read your department’s budget report or to forecast revenue and expenses for the upcoming fiscal year. Those skills require contextual knowledge of how budgeting operates at your institution, and such context is often shaped by histories, personalities, and specific software systems.

This chapter is intended to introduce you to a few basic concepts related to managing resources. The content will be new for some and serve as a refresher for others. In either case, it is intended to assist international enrollment management (IEM) professionals as they continually refine business acumen, which is a core competency listed in NAFSA International Education Professional Competencies 2.0 (NAFSA 2022).

Defining Resource

The word “resource” has multiple meanings, but, for the purpose of this chapter, it is defined in its singular form as “a means of supplying a deficiency or need; something that is a source of help, information, strength, etc.” and in its plural form as “stocks or reserves of money, materials, people, or some other asset, which can be drawn on when necessary” (Oxford English Dictionary 2010).

The word is derived from the Middle French ressource, which is a variation of the Old French ressourse meaning “a source, a spring” and comes from the Latin verb resurgere, meaning “to rise, raise, or appear again” (Lewis and Short 1879).

Aligning Resources with Strategy

There is an adage that “vision without resources is just hallucination.” Essentially, it sums up the all-too-often scenario IEM professionals find themselves in when they have a clear-eyed view of how they will achieve strategic goals, only to find that tactics cannot be executed due to a lack of funding, staffing, partners, technology, or other essential assets.

I believe there is another side to this coin as well in that the use of resources without strategic intent is waste. How many colleagues do you know who choose recruitment markets based on the parts of the world they enjoy visiting the most or on recruitment tours selected by their friends? I’ve observed this behavior among IEM colleagues, senior international officer colleagues, and even university presidents. In fact, years ago, a former university president asked me to find a reason for him to visit Tibet before he retired the following year because it was a place his wife had always wished to visit. This is a request I considered well after his retirement date. In other words, the trip did not happen.

Strategic alignment of resources requires all parties—decision-makers and end users alike—to scrutinize how resources are deployed to achieve strategic goals.

Another former university president under whom I worked took a different tack. She requested that I organize one international trip for her each semester, involving deans and faculty, but she emphasized that the trip needed to have a clear goal shared by all members of the delegation. It was up to me to ensure that there would be an outcome to follow. As she put it, “I want you to travel, but travel with purpose.”

In another book I wrote for NAFSA, Achieving More with Less (Di Maria 2021), my core premise is that colleagues often feel they lack resources when, in fact, what they truly need is to ensure current resources are fully optimized and not wasted.

Strategic alignment of resources requires all parties—decision-makers and end users alike—to scrutinize how resources are deployed to achieve strategic goals. I stress the importance of having everyone on board because it only takes one bad actor to sabotage the entire operation.

Clarifying Your Intent

Strategic alignment of resources requires an understanding of institutional priorities for the use of those resources. Such priorities should never be set by individuals, such as you or your staff, but rather by the campus community that has entrusted these resources to your care.

Common goals include:

• diversification of enrollment by academic program, degree level, and source market;
• maintenance of existing enrollment in the face of negative pressures, such as economic downturns and geopolitical crises;
• growth of enrollment that does not outpace the capacity of the institution and local community to serve students;
• shaping a class in terms of academic qualifications of incoming students, diverse experiences and perspectives, and other factors; and
• revenue generation to offset declines in state subsidies, establish seed funding for new programs, and maintain facilities.

Managing Resources with Business Acumen

1. Fixed Costs vs. Variable Costs

Just as many supervisors are not trained to read budgets and other financial reports, many staff are not trained to develop budgets for their supervisors to review. This is not criticism but rather an observation that deserves attention, particularly as more colleges and universities find their financial standing to be less certain than it was in prior years.

A classic example from the IEM field is estimating the costs of recruitment travel. The supervisor has a budget to balance, so they provide the recruiter with a set amount for the trip. The recruiter provides estimates for airfare, lodging, and per diem, which the supervisor approves. A few weeks later, the recruiter returns from the trip and submits their reimbursement request for airfare, lodging, per diem, shipping, printing, parking, taxis, visa fees, international calling plan fees, tips, and so forth.

Another variation of this scenario goes like this: The recruiter obtains the supervisor’s approval for expected costs using current estimates. They take a few vacation days or otherwise delay completing their travel arrangements. By the time they book their flight, hotel, and other accommodations, the costs have increased beyond what was originally approved. Further complicating matters, the fair registration fee, which is equivalent to half of the original estimate, has already been paid by the department’s business manager. Due to the sunk costs (i.e., nonrecoverable funds already invested in the endeavor), the supervisor begrudgingly approves the trip based on the new figures, knowing they must now pull money from another budget line, such as future conference attendance. The recruiter wonders if they will achieve a new frequent flyer status given the extra money spent, while the supervisor questions whether they should get a new recruiter.

In addition to a sense of urgency regarding their travel bookings, what would have helped the recruiter in this situation is an understanding of fixed costs and variable costs. Perhaps the supervisor would have benefited from this knowledge as well.

Understanding fixed costs, variable costs, and hidden costs is critical for IEM professionals to accurately project and pad their expense estimates.

Essentially, fixed costs are those that do not change. The fair registration fee is likely to be publicized at a certain amount, and this will remain constant for a specific period. The same is typically true for visa fees, parking rates, and so on.

Variable costs are expenses that do change based on several factors. Airlines and hotels change prices from one day to the next, so actual costs can vary greatly from what was originally included in the estimate. Additionally, the exchange rates at the time an estimate is made are likely to be different by the time one travels.

Finally, additional fixed and variable costs can emerge as hidden costs. Hidden costs are simply expenses that are either unforeseen or undisclosed at the time of developing your budget projections. For instance, the brochures you shipped to the education fair got stuck in customs, and you are required to pay a fee to have them released. Or, as happened to me in Jeddah, your travel agent books you on a flydubai Hajj flight, and an airline representative informs you that you cannot board the plane because of the religion listed on your visa, requiring you to purchase a new ticket in cash. Whether this is a legitimate policy or a scam matters little; you either pay what is asked or you do not make it home after three weeks on the road.

Understanding fixed costs, variable costs, and hidden costs is critical for IEM professionals to accurately project and pad their expense estimates.

2. Cost-Benefit Analysis

Every cost should produce a benefit. If it does not, then it is either a requirement by law or a waste of resources that undermines the achievement of strategic priorities.

Cost-benefit analysis is a common technique for assessing the benefits of expenditures. It can and should be performed in advance to justify a proposed investment in a particular area, or it can and should be performed after the event to determine whether a previous investment was worthwhile.

While there are several complicated statistical methods by which a cost-benefit analysis may be conducted, Tim Stobierski (2019) at Harvard Business School breaks down the steps as follows:

1. Establish a framework for your analysis.
2. Identify your costs and benefits.
3. Assign a value to each cost and benefit.
4. Tally the total value of benefits and costs and compare.

Let’s apply this framework to IEM where a director of an intensive English language program is considering whether to host a short-term summer program.

Step 1: Establish a Framework for Your Analysis

What are the goals that the IEP director is attempting to achieve by hosting this program? For instance, the director may need to generate revenue to offset a decline in traditional enrollments. Perhaps the director sees this program as an opportunity to recruit students for the next term. Or maybe the program is very prestigious and helps raise the profile of the institution.

Step 2: Identify Your Costs and Benefits

Stobierski (2019) proposes four types of costs:

• Direct costs are those incurred from the object of analysis. In the case of the short-term intensive English language program, there are likely direct costs related to faculty stipends, transportation, specific course materials, housing, and meals for the participants.
• Indirect costs add to overhead. Examples include the cost of renting campus facilities, staff time spent on handling registration and invoicing, and classroom and office supplies used in support of the program.
• Intangible costs are those that are not easily quantified. These could include increased burnout among staff due to having to give up their summer vacation plans and damaged relationships with other campus units if there is a problem with the program that affects other departments.
• Opportunity costs are the other opportunities and benefits lost as a result of the object under analysis. For instance, staff time spent working on the short-term summer program is time not spent on recruitment or writing grants.

Stobierski (2019) also presents four types of benefits:

• Direct benefits are immediate and easily quantifiable. Examples include the tuition and fees paid by program participants and the utilization of underused resources, such as empty residence halls in the summer.
• Indirect benefits are neither immediate nor easily quantifiable. These include money spent by individual participants in the local community and by program participants who later choose to pursue a longer-term program at the university.
• Intangible benefits are those that do not pertain to money. They include friendships that develop because of cultural programming involving the program participants and local community members, as well as an increase in the university’s profile in the participants’ home countries due to their positive social media postings.
• Competitive benefits are those that give the university a strategic advantage over other institutions. For instance, a short-term summer program provides the university with a product that may not be available elsewhere in the region. This could lead to growth in summer programs that can sustain the intensive English language program for years to come. Additionally, the summer program could open doors to expanding international partnerships with other organizations.

Step 3: Assign a Value to Each Cost and Benefit

The third step is challenging because not all costs and benefits are easily quantified. Thus, I tend to focus on direct costs (How much do I need to spend?), indirect costs (Where are the hidden expenses that will either cut into my revenue or cause me to lose money?), and opportunity costs (By doing this, what are we choosing not to do?).

Step 4: Tally the Total Value of Benefits and Costs and Compare

The time has now come to do the math using whatever formula you deem worthy. One of the simplest methods is the benefit-cost ratio (BCR):

BCR = Benefits / Costs

To calculate the BCR, simply divide the total monetary value of all benefits by the total monetary value of all costs. If the calculated BCR value is greater than 1, then the project will generate revenue. If the BCR value equals 1, then the project will break even. If the BCR is less than 1, then the project will lose money.

This simple formula can help calm your accountant, but it does not necessarily mean the project is of strategic value. As previously discussed, there are also qualitative considerations, such as intangible costs and opportunity costs, that may justify not pursuing an otherwise financially attractive project.

3. Law of Diminishing Returns

To compete for global talent, an institution must be willing to invest strategically in marketing, travel, and related expenses, but how much of an investment is too much of an investment? Is this even possible? The law of diminishing returns reminds us that it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

A good example of this is financial aid optimization where the goal is to use financial aid to support enrollment strategy. The IEM professional realizes that not allocating scholarships to certain students, such as those from less economically developed countries, results in those students choosing not to enroll. They may choose to abandon their plans for higher education or pursue studies in their home country, a third country, or even in your country at an institution that offers lower tuition or a more generous aid package, but they are not enrolling at your institution. What can be done?

As a reader of this book, if you were in this situation, you would likely gather data to better understand the issue. You might survey admitted students, speak with international counselors, or consult partners within your agency network. After documenting the problem, you might even conduct a cost-benefit analysis to make the case for a new scholarship of a specific value. You understand that investing X in targeted scholarship awards would yield Y in tuition and fees from increased enrollment. It all makes sense. You must spend money to make money, and after seeing that the BCR is well above 1, your CFO allocates $200,000 for a pilot program. Well done!

Now how much scholarship do you award? Offering too little will fail to solve the enrollment challenge. In fact, it might even exacerbate the problem. While students who choose not to enroll will not result in a direct cost in the form of a scholarship award, taking resources away from other initiatives (opportunity cost) could incur expenses in the long run.

On the flip side, offering anything above the minimum amount that would entice students to choose your institution is a waste of resources. For example, awarding too much money to a few students siphons funds away from being able to award just the right amount to many students and reduces the returns on your CFO’s investment.

An understanding of the law of diminishing returns helps IEM professionals optimize their use of resources.

4. Economies of Scale

I believe most readers will be familiar with the concept of economies of scale. If not, then consider how unit costs decrease as productivity increases. This can happen externally, such as when the per-unit cost of marketing materials (e.g., pens or recruitment brochures) decreases as the volume of your order increases, and internally, such as when a newly streamlined workflow increases the productivity of existing staff.

Conclusion

This chapter provided an overview of resource management principles for IEM professionals. It included a definition of resources, thoughts on the alignment of resources, and reasons for using those resources. The chapter concluded with four basic principles intended to help IEM professionals think more deeply about resource allocation and management.  •

References

Di Maria, David L. 2021. Achieving More with Less: Lean Management in the International Student Office. NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Lewis, Charlton, and Short, Charles. 1879. “rĕ-surgo.” A Latin Dictionary. Accessed December 16, 2025. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=resurgo.

NAFSA: Association of International Educators. 2022. NAFSA International Education Professional Competencies 2.0. 2nd ed. NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Oxford English Dictionary. 2010. “resource.” Accessed December 16, 2025. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/resource_n.

Stobierski, Tim. 2019. “What Is Cost-Benefit Analysis and How to Do It.” Harvard Business School Online’s Business Insights (blog), September 5, 2019. https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/cost-benefit-analysis.