On stage at CECU 2026
The AI Enrollment Stack: 2026 benchmarks, signals, and the end of last-click thinking.
This session is about what's actually changed in career college enrollment marketing over the past year and what programs should be doing differently because of it. Google's AI Max and Performance Max have restructured how paid search campaigns are built and how results get attributed. Meta's Andromeda rewrite has changed how creative and audience targeting interact at the platform level. Both of those shifts have moved enrollment inquiry generation further away from the last-click attribution model most programs use to report results.
Brad Stephenson and Josh Muskin from Level Agency walk through what these changes mean in practice, grounded in Level's 2026 Higher Education Performance Benchmarks data. Christopher Mercado, Director of Marketing, US Operations at Northbridge University, brings the institutional perspective: what these platform and measurement shifts look like when you're the person responsible for hitting enrollment targets.
Attendees will leave with:
- A framework for restructuring campaigns for AI Max, Performance Max, and Meta Andromeda.
- A value-based bidding approach and differentiated conversion signal strategy.
- Specific adjustments for AI-driven search visibility.
- A path from last-click toward incrementality-based measurement.
- A clearer picture of how prospective student research behavior has shifted and how messaging should follow.
Christopher leads marketing for Northbridge University's US operations. He's presenting from the institution's seat: what it actually looks like to navigate platform and measurement changes when you're responsible for enrollment outcomes.
Josh brings over a decade of expertise guiding C-suite executives on digital marketing strategy, media diversification, and market insights, with a strong record of driving net-new revenue growth.
Brad blends creative and analytical skills, with a data-focused master's from Carnegie Mellon and a background in acting and journalism. He brings more than 20 years of digital marketing experience and leads marketing strategy at Level.
