Hawaii Pacific University Boosts First-Year Retention by 2–3% and Generates $300K+ in Annual Tuition

The Challenge 

Manual Processes Lacked Real-Time Data & Enforcement Mechanisms 

Before Coursedog, HPU's scheduling processes lived in spreadsheets and reports. The team frequently exported data from their previous vendor and reconciled it against Cognos and Banner. The registrar's office acted as the middle layer between every academic department and the schedule itself. Brandon Childress, University Scheduler, estimates they fielded around 100 emails per term going back and forth on section changes alone. 

Additionally, their previous tool didn't provide an effective way to manage permissions or stages of the schedule. There was also no clean way to lock the schedule once it was finalized, creating risk of unexpected changes. 

"Some weeks there would be 5–10 new sections created or the enrollment cap would be increased on 10 different sections, even if those sections would no longer fit in their rooms." - Brandon Childress, University Scheduler 

Curriculum Updates Were Slow and Document-Driven 

Curriculum changes moved through Word and PDF documents, with proposals routed by email and tracked manually. Launching a new program could take 4–5 months, long enough that students sometimes had to wait another year or two before HPU could offer it. For an institution focused on growth and student success, that was time they couldn't afford to lose. 

"Coursedog was one of the first vendors we looked at partnering with in order to improve student success and our ability to serve students well." - Dr. Jennifer Walsh, Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Chief Strategy Officer 

Campus Space Was Difficult to Optimize 

Without real-time visibility into room usage, HPU couldn't easily match section capacity to room capacity. That created repetitive manual work and rooms that weren't being used as efficiently as they could be. 

"I had to run reports and match capacity of the room to the enrollment. It was a very tedious process that I had to do twice a week, for anywhere between 350 and 500 sections." - Brandon Childress, University Scheduler 

The Solution 

New Scheduling Tool Provides Greater Transparency & Data Accessibility

With Coursedog, HPU now has a centralized scheduling system accessible to every scheduler. Staff can search by name instead of memorizing user IDs, and they can immediately see in real time which rooms and time slots are already booked. 

Reports and dashboards do the heavy lifting that spreadsheets used to. The team relies on the instructor dashboard to see assignments at a glance, the enrollment dashboard to spot underfilled and overfilled sections in real time, heat maps to visualize scheduling patterns, conflict reports to surface double-bookings and meeting pattern violations, and room utilization views to understand seat usage across buildings. 

A 75% Reduction in Time Spent on Scheduling 

The biggest day-to-day improvement has been the reduction of manual work. Previously, much of that time went toward follow-up, conflict resolution, and clean-up because users could go into the SIS and make changes without anyone knowing. With Coursedog, schedule changes are controlled through a centralized process, ensuring the optimized schedule remains intact. As a result, staff now have more time to focus on strategic initiatives beyond scheduling. 

"Scheduling the 400–500 courses used to take about 20% of my time for 4–6 weeks each term, pre-Coursedog. Now it takes just 5%. A lot of the time used to be spent on follow-up, conflicts, and clean up, as pre-Coursedog, people could go into the SIS and make changes without me or anyone else knowing a change had been made." - Brandon Childress, University Scheduler 

HPU Increases Balanced Sections by 54% and Improves Room Utilization 

Coursedog's enrollment dashboard surfaces underfilled and overfilled sections in real time, allowing HPU to consolidate or cancel sections quickly rather than waiting for static reports or waitlists to catch up. HPU increased balanced sections by 54% with Coursedog. 

These improvements also extend to room utilization. By more accurately pairing section capacity with room capacity, HPU reduces the number of rooms needed by 8–10 per year and eliminates leased off-campus space without cutting sections or deviating from the planned class schedule. Coursedog also makes it easier to block unavailable times and gives the events team visibility into open spaces they can market for external events. 

"In the past, there was a lot of 'horse trading' for rooms. Now, we do a much better job of rightsizing rooms the first time around due to room capacity." - David Barrowclough, Registrar

Curriculum Proposal Review Drops from One Hour to Minutes Across 300 Proposals Each Term 

Coursedog has transformed HPU's curriculum management process. Previously, proposals lived in Word and PDF documents and took about an hour each to process per proposal. With Coursedog, that time has been reduced to 5–20 minutes, across roughly 300 proposals each term. The team can also see course dependencies, which helps them understand the impact on a program if a course isn't available.

Pre-Coursedog, standing up a new program took 4–5 months and now it takes less than two months, cutting stand-up time by more than half. HPU has been able to scale up approval of several new programs and bring them to students faster, which has contributed to their enrollment growth. 

A 2–3% Lift in First-Year Fall-to-Spring Retention Leads to an Estimated $300K Increase in Tuition Revenue

Coursedog's year-long scheduling capability directly contributed to a 2–3% increase in first-year undergraduate Fall-to-Spring retention. Pre-Coursedog, students could only register for one semester at a time and some would leave after the Fall term. Now that students can register for Fall and Spring at the same time, they are more likely to stay enrolled through the academic year. That 2–3% lift in first-year Fall-to-Spring retention has translated into an estimated $300K+ in retained Spring tuition revenue annually. 

"Before Coursedog, a student could only register for one semester at a time, and a number of students would end up leaving after the Fall. Now students are able to register for Spring as well." - Brandon Childress, University Scheduler 

HPU Refocuses Staff Time on Student Success Initiatives and Sees 200% Growth in Graduate Enrollment 

By significantly reducing the time spent building schedules and assigning rooms, HPU is now able to redirect staff time toward more strategic initiatives. 

"Coursedog has really helped us simplify our systems and processes, which makes for a better student experience. It certainly alleviated a lot of the headaches for our faculty and staff, which frees up our time to do the work that we're supposed to be doing: creating a new generation of transformational leaders." - Dr. Jennifer Walsh, Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Chief Strategy Officer 

Over the past five years, graduate enrollment has increased nearly 200%, with net revenue growth of 40%. 

"This change was made possible in part because we partnered early on with Coursedog, which allowed us to redirect personnel from managing antiquated systems with the efficiency we gained from their Academic Operations Platform. We've been pleased with the product and its positive impact on our student experience." - Dr. Jennifer Walsh, Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Chief Strategy Officer 

Looking Ahead 

HPU's partnership with Coursedog has reshaped how scheduling, curriculum, and space decisions are made, and the team sees continued opportunity to build on that progress. With faster program approvals, improved retention, and stronger room utilization, HPU is positioned to continue expanding its academic offerings and supporting long-term student success. 

"We've been using Coursedog at our institution for almost 2 years, and it has truly transformed the way we handle academic operations. From scheduling and curriculum management to integrating with our SIS, everything just flows more smoothly. The analytics provided are insightful and have genuinely improved our workflow, preventing errors and optimizing our processes for better efficiency." - Brandon Childress, University Scheduler