enroll ml in the news.

Higher ed enrollment is in a Category 5 collision — and the old enrollment playbook won't save you.

enroll ml Founder and CEO Geoff Baird and enrollment veteran Teege Mettille today announced the publication of The Signal Solution: How Smart Colleges Stop Chasing Applications and Start Converting Students — a new enrollment playbook drawn from decades in enrollment leadership and over four years of applying advanced AI in admissions.

The book exposes how shrinking demographics, an application surge that distorts intent, credible non-degree alternatives, persistent ROI skepticism, and a personalization mandate are rewriting the rules of student recruitment. Grounded in consumer decision science, The Signal Solution shifts the focus from chasing volume to reading and responding to real behavioral signals.

The framework equips institutions to identify the movable middle — the already-admitted but undecided students most likely to enroll — and align the entire campus around behavior-driven decisions that transform yield from a frantic spring push into a disciplined, year-round system.

Written for trustees, presidents, CFOs, provosts, cabinet members, and enrollment leaders at institutions of all shapes and sizes, the book serves as a blueprint for building an enrollment operation that is more precise, more efficient, and more human.

What Leaders Are Saying

"The Signal Solution isn't the enrollment playbook that's going to reinforce all you know... It's a must read for all enrollment and marketing practitioners."

Angie Cooksey, Vice President for Enrollment Management Marketing and Communications, Bradley University

"If you work in admissions, marketing, or higher ed leadership — or simply want to understand why 'doing more' is no longer enough — this book will challenge your assumptions and offer a new map for the storm ahead."

Reggie Hill, Vice Chancellor for Strategic Enrollment and Career Advancement, University of Missouri–St. Louis

"I've read a lot of books that describe the problem. The Signal Solution is one of the few that actually delivers a path forward... This is a must read."

Mickey Baines, President, Kennedy & Company

"This book is a terrific read for everyone in higher education... that challenges longstanding industry beliefs about how, when and what tools to use, and invites the reader to carefully consider how to interpret student behaviors to achieve enrollment goals."

Stefanie D. Niles, Ed.D., President of Cottey College, former President of the National Association for College Admission Counseling

Key Frameworks in the Book

The Cat-5 Reality

Five forces are reshaping enrollment simultaneously — shrinking demographics, application inflation, non-degree alternatives, ROI skepticism, and a personalization mandate. Understanding their concurrent collision is the starting point for any meaningful strategy.

The OSO Decision Model

Students move from rational checks to emotional fit to rational completion. The subjective middle — the emotional fit stage — is where yield is actually won or lost, and where most enrollment teams are underinvested.

From Volume to Signal

Identifying and acting on the movable middle means fewer, more winnable students rather than spraying effort across the entire funnel. Behavioral sequencing and momentum replace FAFSA completion, visits, and generic engagement scores as the primary indicators of intent.

Yield Isn't a Season

A system that surfaces drift early and prioritizes action all year — not just in April — requires aligning marketing, academics, finance, and admissions around the same signal map and outcomes narrative.

The Signal Solution is available now on Amazon. Institutions interested in bringing the framework to life through workshops can contact enroll ml at enrollml.com.

A new AI-driven initiative is revolutionizing how Xavier University enrolls, retains, and supports its students.

Today, the Jesuit Catholic university announced a partnership with enroll ml, an artificial intelligence enrollment company focused on higher education.

This collaboration will integrate enroll ml's AI reasoning and guidance platform into Xavier's enrollment management strategy, focusing on creating more personalized student experiences while advancing ethical AI practices in higher education.

Higher education institutions nationwide face mounting challenges from demographic shifts, evolving student expectations, and increased competition for enrollment. Rather than simply responding to these pressures, Xavier University is proactively leveraging this partnership to redefine how universities can authentically connect with and support students throughout their educational journey.

"Xavier has always prioritized understanding each student as an individual and building meaningful relationships from first contact through graduation and beyond. This partnership with enroll ml allows us to use advanced technology to enhance those personal connections, not replace them. We're excited to explore how AI can help us better serve prospective and current students while maintaining our commitment to our mission and educational excellence."

Scott Clyde, Vice President of Strategic Enrollment Management, Xavier University

The partnership centers on deploying enroll ml's AI expertise and platform to enhance three critical areas of student experience and institutional effectiveness. By combining advanced AI with human expertise, Xavier aims to create a more responsive and personalized approach to student engagement and success.

"Xavier University represents exactly the kind of forward-thinking institution that understands how to balance innovation with educational values. Their commitment to being leaders in higher education innovation, combined with their focus on student success, makes them an ideal partner for exploring the responsible applications of AI in enrollment management."

Geoff Baird, Founder and CEO, enroll ml

Strategic Focus Areas

Enhanced Enrollment Experience

Implementing AI-driven insights to create more personalized and efficient enrollment processes, helping prospective students navigate their path to Xavier while enabling enrollment staff to provide more targeted, individual, timely support.

Student Success Analytics

Developing early warning systems that identify students who may benefit from additional academic, social, or financial support, allowing for proactive intervention and more effective resource allocation.

Financial Aid Intelligence

Utilizing advanced AI to better understand student financial needs, optimize aid package effectiveness, and connect students with appropriate financial literacy resources and emergency support options.

Collaborative Innovation and Research

Beyond immediate operational improvements, Xavier and enroll ml will engage in ongoing research to identify emerging applications for ethical AI in higher education. This includes exploring how technology can enhance academic advising, career development services and student engagement initiatives.

The partnership will also create valuable learning opportunities for Xavier students through internships and collaborative research projects, providing hands-on experience with cutting-edge AI technology while exploring its practical applications in higher education administration.

Looking Forward

This partnership positions Xavier University at the forefront of innovation in enrollment management while staying true to its educational mission. By thoughtfully integrating AI capabilities with proven student-centered approaches, Xavier aims to enhance its ability to identify, attract, and support students who will thrive in its academic community.

"We see this as an opportunity to be both innovative in our methods and consistent with our values. By partnering with enroll ml, we're not just adopting new technology — we're exploring how that technology can help us better fulfill our mission of educating students who will make meaningful contributions to society."

Scott Clyde, Vice President of Strategic Enrollment Management, Xavier University

Colleges and universities nationwide are navigating a shifting enrollment landscape marked by fewer high school graduates and changing student expectations. These trends require more than minor adjustments; they demand rethinking how to engage prospective students and guide them toward successful outcomes.

The University of Missouri–St. Louis is using that new reality as an opportunity to rethink and improve upon traditional enrollment efforts. It has launched a new partnership with enroll ml, whose market-leading enrollment data platform combines the deep pattern recognition of machine learning with the contextual reasoning capabilities of generative AI to help institutions deploy more efficient, cost-effective, and personalized enrollment experiences.

The partnership will go beyond the typical relationship between an institution and a third-party vendor. As part of the multiyear relationship, UMSL and enroll ml will be working together to explore how the deep insights of machine learning and the contextual reasoning of both agentic and generative AI can improve the processes to attract, enroll and retain students.

"The University of Missouri–St. Louis, in partnership with enroll ml, would like to be the thought leader as it relates to how AI will positively impact enrollment management processes and strategy while maintaining a keen focus on both AI ethics, privacy and security. In the past, volume has allowed us to sustain enrollment nationally and regionally. What we know is that the Midwest is shrinking by double digits in terms of its enrollment growth, and we need to utilize advanced technology to better figure out how to connect and engage with students. This partnership with enroll ml will allow us to collaborate deeply with enroll ml's advanced technology to improve our end-to-end student experience."

Reggie Hill, Vice Chancellor for Strategic Enrollment and Career Advancement, UMSL

Geoff Baird, the founder and CEO of enroll ml, was eager to engage with UMSL in discussion, collaboration and experimentation of how advanced AI can be deployed in enrollment management.

"As a state research and urban institution, UMSL brings both the research curiosity and educational mission that make it the ideal partner for this kind of applied innovation. This isn't about implementing a product, it's about working together to test, adapt, and lead new models that can reshape how institutions across the country engage with students in more personal, timely, and effective ways."

Geoff Baird, Founder and CEO, enroll ml

Through the partnership, UMSL and enroll ml will co-design and test new approaches to recruitment, engagement, and retention using real-time behavioral data, deep signal analysis, and context-aware AI processing.

Beyond Traditional Metrics

It used to be that university enrollment officials would evaluate data points such as whether a student filled out an application or came to campus for a visit to gauge a student's interest. But today, a student might fill out 12 applications, and there's no easy way for enrollment staffers to know if that student views their university as a top three contender or last on the list.

Likewise, colleges and universities might have been quick to write off potential students who had not visited their campuses, figuring the lack of a visit demonstrated a lack of genuine curiosity about an institution. But enrollment officials are discovering that visits are a luxury that not every student can take. The lack of a visit doesn't always signal a lack of interest.

Hill and Baird believe advanced AI can help unlock better ways to evaluate the likelihood that a student will choose a particular institution, and enrollment staff members will be able to respond more effectively and efficiently in their recruitment efforts.

The technology could also help improve student retention, identifying students most at risk so that universities can direct resources and support to them and keep them on campus pursuing their degrees.

Training and Student Opportunities

As part of the partnership, UMSL's admissions and student success teams will receive hands-on training and direct platform support, along with early access to emerging capabilities in the enroll ml product roadmap.

The university will also establish two new internships, both undergraduate and graduate, giving select UMSL students the opportunity to gain practical experience working alongside a leading venture-backed AI startup.