Education Commons^™

The Application Of Little's Law To Enrollment Management: Improving Student Persistence In Part-Time Degree Programs, Ellen M. Walk, Lewis A. Litteral

Management Faculty Publications

Little’s Law is applied to enrollment management in part-time degree programs. Using institutional data by program, on number of graduates per year, as well as number of credits taken and number of active students per semester, the calculated average time to graduation is compared to the average flow time predicted by Little’s Law. Despite significant variability among students who enter with varying transfer credits and take varying credits per semester, Little’s Law provides a simple model for measuring program growth trends, student productivity, and persistence to graduation. Implications for marketing, admissions, advising, course scheduling, and curriculum design are discussed.