Higher Ed Is Shrinking. Your Strategy Doesn't Have to.
3 plays to enroll the right students, reach adult learners, and find your next major donors — all powered by predictive consumer intelligence.
The demographic cliff is already here. WICHE projects a 13% decline in high school graduates by 2041. The pool of traditional-age applicants is shrinking, alumni giving is hollowing out, and generic targeting is burning budget without filling seats. This playbook gives higher education marketers three practical plays to grow enrollment, reach non-traditional students, and build a reliable giving pipeline using Resonate’s continuously updated, whole-person consumer intelligence.
In a Shrinking Market, Casting a Wider Net Doesn't Fill a Class.
It drains the budget.
Resonate’s predictive audiences replace broad demographic targeting with behavioral signals, program interest, and life-stage data, so you identify who is genuinely in-market and reach them before a competitor does. Valdosta State University used Resonate to build precise look-alike audiences from their best student segments — driving a 59% increase in year-over-year applications and a 22% increase in admittance.
Increase in Year-Over-Year Applications
Increase in Year-Over-Year Admittance
Continuously Updated Consumer Attributes
The Next Major Donor Is Already in Your Database.
You just don't know who they are yet.
Most advancement teams aren’t suffering from a lack of alumni. They’re suffering from an inability to see which ones are ready to give. Alumni records reflect who people were at graduation — not who they are today. Acquiring a new donor costs 5x more than retaining one, yet most teams distribute outreach budget nearly equally across the entire base. Life stage, career trajectory, financial capacity, and personal values shift constantly. Resonate enriches your alumni file with continuously updated behavioral signals, psychographics, and giving propensity scores, so frontline fundraisers spend time with the right people, at the right ask level, right now.
Get Your Copy of the Education Marketer's Playbook
3 plays to drive enrollment and alumni giving in 2026.
Download the playbook to discover how predictive consumer intelligence helps enrollment and advancement teams find the right students, re-engage stopped-out and adult learners, and surface high-propensity donors already in their alumni network — with answers in minutes and campaign activation immediately after. No stack overhaul required.