The culprit? Course design that simply doesn’t work for today’s learners.
Too often, institutions focus on the upfront win: getting students in. But retention is what drives revenue. And if your online courses are outdated, disorganized, inaccessible, or dull, students will leave. Quietly. Mid-term. Or worse — they’ll stay just long enough to drag your satisfaction scores down before transferring somewhere that feels more engaging.
This is the part of enrollment management no one talks about: design quality.
What We See Behind the Scenes
At Babb Education, we work with institutions — and we’ve seen the pattern.
A university rolls out new online programs to stay competitive. But the courses are often built by busy faculty without formal training in design, or handed off to a small internal team with no bandwidth for scalability. Students log in expecting something dynamic, structured, and interactive. Instead, they get PowerPoints with text blocks, walls of weekly discussion boards, and long videos with no clear relevance.
t’s not just disappointing — it’s a dropout trigger.
In fact, we’ve seen institutions lose as much as 15–20% of new enrollments in the first term alone when course design fails to deliver on student expectations.
Here’s the Hidden Cost Breakdown
When a student drops:
- You lose tuition dollars.
- You damage brand reputation (and yes, it travels fast on Reddit and the most unique places).
- You risk lower retention rates, which hurt financial aid eligibility and accreditation standing.
- You may even lose the chance to win that student back.
Now compare that to the cost of working with a woman owned small business like ours to build a well-designed, student-centered course from the start — something clear, accessible, aligned to objectives, and ready to scale - under budget.
t’s not even close.
But This Isn’t Just a Warning — It’s a Wake-Up Call
It’s time to stop seeing instructional design as a ‘nice to have’ and start viewing it as a core retention strategy.
Design impacts engagement. Engagement drives satisfaction. Satisfaction affects retention. Retention keeps your institution alive.
Presidents, directors and provosts: if you’re investing in enrollment marketing, you must match that investment with intentional course quality. Otherwise, you’re pouring dollars into a leaky funnel.
How Babb Education Can Help
We’re not just designers. We’re educators, strategists, and retention-minded partners. We’ve helped institutions refresh legacy content, reimagine online programs, and boost course satisfaction with clear, research-based instructional design.
If you want your enrollment growth to stick — and your students to stay — it’s time to rethink design as a frontline tool in your strategic plan.
Contact Babb Education today to learn more about how we can help you.
