Methodology & Criteria
The Enrollment Power Index research is purposed to measure a college website's effectiveness based on the identified presence or absence of specific functional elements. Effectiveness is defined as the ability of a website to provide students with tools and information they need during their college choice exploration and application processes. Higher education websites have become more advanced over the years, and some functionality and features have become almost universal. Creative programmers and designers have also capitalized on trends in the overall development of the web to create and introduce new functionality to college websites.
Because the functionality and features students desire are continually evolving, the EPI research team revisits them each year. Beginning with the previous year's criteria, additional criteria are added to the list based on emerging trends in both college and commercial websites. This list is then used to identify features that correlate with highly rated college websites.
A sampling of 50 institutional websites is selected determining the functionality and features that significantly impact student ratings. The sample is stratified to be representative of all institutional types, sizes, locations and website features present in the previous year. Each of the fifty sample sites is closely scrutinized to identify the presence or absence of each of the criteria on the potential criteria list developed by the EPI research team.
Simultaneously, an email is sent to over 100,000 college-bound high school students from the NRCCUA® database asking them to rate two of these websites on four different levels: appeal, ease of navigation, completeness of information, and overall quality. Over 1,000 students complete the evaluations which are scored on a Likert scale from 1 to 5. The 50 institutions are randomly inserted in the emails in order to receive a valid sample for each.
While each website is evaluated on four levels, only the overall average rating is used in the final formula; this score accurately reflects the contribution of the other attributes. These scores are then correlated to the presence or absence of the specific functionality and features identified by the EPI research team. The components that show a positive correlation are included as criterion in the final EPI formula for 2011. Points are determined based on the strength of the correlation.
Using this final list of criterion, nearly 3,000 sites are evaluated by a focus group of fourteen college-bound high school students who are trained to identify the presence or absence of these specific attributes on each site. The focus group is provided with extensive training and with each member assessing 1,000 sites, the level of consistency of measurement across sites is maximized. A minimum of four students evaluates each website in order to ensure a fair evaluation. In addition, a snapshot of the website homepage is captured by each student in order to identify the exact content being evaluated.
Each website is scored on 39 different objective criterion weighted to a total of 100 possible points. These criteria are grouped into four functional areas for scoring purposes. Institutional grades are determined by applying a standard grading curve as the top scoring websites fall well below a standard 90-80-70-60 grading scale.
Must Have Components
During the nearly fifteen years of the EPI research, the use of websites in higher education admissions has multiplied dramatically. The first EPI reports provided evidence of a serious lack of admissions functionality. As institutions have recognized the value of this new medium, the use of some important functionality and features has spread.
As the EPI research methodology naturally rewards those functional features that help differentiate between high and low performing websites, features that have been almost universally adopted no longer serve that purpose. To keep the research relevant, the universal elements have been removed from the individual rating equation and listed in a "Must Have" section. If your site is missing one of these elements, adding that feature should be a high priority. From a grading perspective, you should consider that each missing "Must Have" element would reduce the site grade by at least one full letter grade.
The following components were included in the early EPI research. Of the nearly 3,000 sites evaluated as part of that process, over 95% of all sites were found to meet each of these criteria. As a result, these elements have come to form a baseline benchmark for admissions sites. Students now take for granted that the sites they visit will include these features. Because the EPI research is designed to identify all of the important factors in an admissions site, they are listed below for your reference.
Personal Contact
- Admissions office phone number
Desired Information
- City and state of the institution
- Admissions or "Prospective Student" link
- Admissions application instructions
Website Design and Navigation
- Standalone webpage (frames not used)
- Ability to view the site without horizontal scrolling
- Ability to view the admissions and home pages without being forced to view a splash screen
- Ability to view pages without loading non-standard plug-ins
- Ability to view an admissions link on the home page without scrolling down
- Printer friendly format (HTML or PDF) on the admissions pages
- Navigation to the admissions home page from any other admissions link
- Site map
Market Cluster and Region Definitions
Your 2011 EPI report contains many new scoring elements and categories. Each of the nearly 3,000 institutions was assigned a region and market cluster for comparative analyses. The region definitions were assigned according to the four U.S. Census Bureau regions: Midwest, Northeast, South, and West. Market clusters were identified and assigned using institutional categories and the frequency of student declared interests through the NRCCUA Declared Student Connection Program. Institutions with highly concentrated declarations were labeled as "national" institutions; additionally, institutions with more than 5,000 enrolled were labeled as "large regional", and those with less than 5,000 enrolled were assigned "small regional". Using these size definitions and other institution characteristics, the nine market clusters are as follows: National Public Four Year, National Private Four Year, Large Regional Public Four Year, Large Regional Private Four Year, Small Regional Public Four Year, Small Regional Private Four Year, Public Two Year, Private Two Year, and Proprietary.