Enrollment Success
Last year, Eastern Michigan University faced a familiar challenge: how to move unresponsive admits late in the cycle to enroll.
So they put it to the test. EMU offered a group of students a choice – a $2,000 housing grant or a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP). 100% chose the LRAP.
Why? Because LRAPs give students and families a powerful promise: if a graduate’s income is modest after college, their LRAP will help them repay their student and parent loans.
As Katie Condon, VP for Enrollment Management at EMU, shared in our recent webinar, this A/B test proved just how much financial confidence matters. These weren’t highly engaged prospects – they were admits who hadn’t been responding. But when EMU addressed their fear of student debt, they got results – enrolling 39 students post-June 15th!
Encouraged by the impact, EMU went bigger for Fall 2025 – integrating LRAPs earlier in the recruitment cycle to differentiate their value and support future educators. They are offering their LRAP – the EMU Educator Promise – to all new, incoming education majors . They are also offering LRAPs to unresponsive admits late in the cycle this Spring.
Colleges across the country are using LRAPs to:
• Maximize enrollment by offering LRAPs to all incoming students.
• Drive yield for key programs like education or social work majors.
• Win late-cycle decisions by reducing students’ fear of borrowing.
If you are interested in learning more about how your institution can use LRAPs to support education majors like EMU, let us know! Fill out our form here and someone from our team will reach out shortly.
