The Enrollment Clinic

Harrison "Soup" Campbell went from Bible college and a high school social studies classroom to running growth at NextGrad — the ad network that's turned high school hallways into higher ed's newest, and most contested, media market.In this episode of The Enrollment Clinic, Soup traces his path from teaching and coaching to pioneering social media recruiting in the MySpace era — including the time a room full of college leaders told him "we will never get on the Facebook" — through a decade in college admissions, seven years building ZeeMee, and now leading growth at NextGrad.We dig into what NextGrad is actually selling: exclusive digital and print advertising placed inside high schools, reaching students up to nine hours a day in an increasingly phone-free, bot-free environment. Soup makes the case that "real eyeballs" matter more than ever as ad fraud costs the industry over $150 billion a year, walks through how NextGrad proves ROI without traditional attribution, and explains why the company turned down a partnership with Mr. Beast to protect the trust it's built with high schools.We also cover what's wrong with most in-school advertising creative right now, why QR codes are a dead end in phone-free schools, the tension between flagship universities and the high schools that still want to see them on screen, and where Soup thinks AI in higher ed marketing is more hype than substance.If you work in enrollment, admissions, or higher ed marketing, this is a look inside a channel most institutions haven't figured out yet — and a reminder that in a small industry built on trust, reputation still travels faster than any ad.

Sanjay Laul, founder of MSM Unify and Laul Global, and one of the most influential builders in student mobility today sits down with Gjergj Dollani, host of The Enrollment Clinic to discuss his views on Higher Education.His path into higher ed wasn't a straight line. It was fraught with challenges, set backs and even failure. One observation in the streets of Delhi eventually grew into a global education company now operating across 50+ countries.This conversation goes past the usual talking points into where the industry is actually headed.What we cover:→ Why Sanjay sees AI as the biggest shift in higher ed since the internet, and why every new MSM hire has to pass an AI capability test before they start→ MSM Aventra, the integrated CRM, SIS, and LMS platform built to run the full student lifecycle→ MSM Campus OS, the "education process outsourcing" model already deployed across 15 institutions→ The real story behind the Canada and US policy shifts, and why Sanjay is still betting on the US to stay the #1 destination→ How China is quietly pulling ahead as the world's top country in student mobility, both sending and receiving→ The growth markets most enrollment leaders are sleeping on: Southern Europe and all 54 countries across Africa→ The uncomfortable truth Sanjay says the sector still refuses to face...Enrollment, recruitment, higher ed leadership, this one's worth your time.

Gjergj Dollani joins the Education Marketing Leader Podcast to unpack why fear — not prestige — now drives college choice, and what it means for higher ed marketing.Today's students aren't chasing the "best" college anymore — they're trying to avoid picking the wrong one. In this episode, originally recorded for Chris Raposo's Education Marketing Leader Podcast, Gjergj Dollani (ClearCourse Advisory) breaks down why fear — not hope — now drives the enrollment decision, and what that means for how universities need to market themselves.Gjergj and Chris dig into why college closures and mergers are spooking prospective students, how Gen Z's later independence (drawing on Jonathan Haidt's research) is pushing students to stay closer to home, and why a "subscription model" for higher ed — lifelong access to retooling and micro-credentials — may be where the industry is headed. They also tackle the trade school vs. college debate, how AI is already reshaping entry-level hiring, and why higher ed marketers rarely benchmark outside their own industry. Gjergj closes with lessons from running his own chocolate shop and what it taught him about ownership, P&L thinking, and outcome-driven marketing.Connect with Gjergj Dollani on LinkedIn or at ClearCourseAdvisory.co.

What if the enrollment KPI you've been optimizing for is the wrong one?James Steen, VP of Enrollment, Admissions, and Marketing at Houston Christian University, joins host Gjergj Dollani on The Enrollment Clinic to challenge some of the field's most deeply held assumptions — and share what's actually driving growth at HCU.With 33 years in higher education enrollment, James breaks down:Direct admissions as both a recruitment strategy and a brand awareness play — and why lower yield rates can coexist with enrollment growthHow HCU nearly doubled its engineering program in a single year through a transformational donor partnershipAligning admissions and marketing KPIs under one leadership structure when their timelines rarely matchGrowing a faith-based institution in an era when many are closing — and what HCU's diverse, majority-Hispanic student body says about the future of Christian higher edWhy 75-80% of online students live within 150 miles of campus — and what that means for your recruitment strategyPreparing students for an AI-disrupted workforce by launching new programs fast enough to matterWhether you're navigating the demographic cliff, rethinking your funnel metrics, or leading enrollment at a tuition-dependent institution, this conversation delivers hard-won perspective from someone who's been doing it since before the internet existed.

In this episode of The Enrollment Clinic, Gjergj Dollani sits down with Rob Clark and Chris Rapozo, co-authors of The Attention Gap, to unpack why so many colleges struggle to break through online despite spending heavily on marketing.The conversation dives into the growing disconnect between how universities market themselves and how students actually discover schools today. Rob shares how he helped generate over 5 billion social media views, while Chris explains how years in higher ed marketing and podcasting led him to co-write a book challenging the industry’s traditional approach to content, branding, and speed.They discuss why polished institutional marketing often underperforms, why authenticity now beats perfection, and how slow approval processes are quietly killing relevance. The episode also explores student behavior, parent influence, AI tools, content repurposing, and why many schools are still treating social media as an afterthought instead of a primary discovery engine.If you work in enrollment, admissions, or higher ed marketing, this episode is a direct challenge to rethink how your institution earns attention in a world moving faster than higher education is built for.