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Make classes more accessible by reducing primetime compression.
The HESI Prime Ratio is an attempt to offer courses when students are most likely to be on campus and should fall between 45% and 67%. A value of 50% means that 5 in 10 course offerings fall inside the primetime window, as shown in the example below to be 9 AM to 2 PM.
If the Prime Ratio, the percentage of hours scheduled during primetime hours when student demand is highest, exceeds a set percentage, post-traditional students won’t have access to the courses they need. Consider student demographics to maintain a balance inside and outside of the primetime window.
Improve schedule efficiency by addressing off-grid waste.
If students are unable to get the courses they need, when they need them, then they may have to delay their graduation by a semester or longer. Avoid placing roadblocks on students by minimizing off-grid waste, the percentage of capacity wasted by scheduling sections on non-standard meeting patterns.
Meet student demand by balancing overloaded courses.
High enrollment ratios (over 85%) make it difficult for students to register, which could impact student retention in the short- and long-term. Leverage enrollment ratio data to highlight first-year overloaded courses and look for opportunities to shift resources from low-demand courses to high-demand in the same subject areas and determine if there’s justification for additional sections.
Optimize resources by identifying underutilized courses.
On the flip side, if course offerings are underutilized (below 70% capacity at enrollment date), institutions may not be optimizing their scarce resources of facilities and faculty to meet student needs. If an institution offers a course that is in low demand, it often comes at the expense of offering another course that would better align with student needs. Consider underutilized courses and reduction candidates for reallocation opportunities.
Benchmark your metrics across other institutions
The HESI provides a continuous improvement process designed to help your institution benchmark data points among similar units from comparable colleges and universities. Each of the metrics above and more are calculated to plot your institution and provide paths of recommendations to improve. By measuring this data together, you can improve your enrollment ratio, retention, time-to-completion, and graduation rates to help college or university move forward.
Determining the effectiveness of your schedule is a surprisingly difficult question.”
– John Hamman, Chief Analytics & Insights Officer, Montgomery College