Vermont College of Fine Arts

Accelerating Enrollment Growth for the MFA in Film Program

BACKGROUND:

The Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) is known for its prestigious low-residency arts programs, including its MFA in Film–an intensive, mentorship-driven program for filmmakers pursuing documentary, narrative, and screenwriting projects. The VCFA MFA in Film program needed to grow enrollments from 14 students annually to 30. Working with Greenstone, VCFA launched targeted Meta advertising campaigns that generated over 346 qualified leads within months, building a pipeline that puts the program on track to meet their ambitious enrollment targets.

THE CHALLENGE:

VCFA's MFA in Film serves a specialized audience and historically enrolled around 14 students annually, with semesters averaging 7 new students. Leadership set an ambitious goal: increase to 30 annual enrollments, or 15 per semester. This represented roughly 100% growth in a market where prospective graduate film students often take 1-3 years to decide on a program. The admissions team needed a way to reach more qualified prospects and nurture them through a thoughtful, relationship-driven enrollment process.
Previous efforts had relied primarily on organic outreach and referrals. While the program maintained strong conversion rates on their applications (around 80%) the challenge was filling the top of the funnel with enough serious prospects to hit the new targets.

Goals

Increase awareness of the MFA in Film program among qualified prospective students.

Generate consistent top-of-funnel leads to support ambitious growth targets.

Build a scalable enrollment pipeline aligned with VCFA’s personalized admissions approach.

Improve conversions by pairing targeted ads with email nurturing and guided follow-up.

THE SOLUTION:

Targeted Meta Ads: In partnership with VCFA, Greenstone Media launched a Meta advertising campaign, combining awareness campaigns with retargeting to reach prospective students at different stages of their decision-making process. As data accumulated, we refined audience targeting, optimized creative assets, and refreshed campaigns to ensure the ads were making the best use of VCFA’s marketing budget.
High-Converting Landing Page: The campaigns drove traffic to a dedicated landing page featuring a downloadable guide, clear value-driven messaging, and invitations to info sessions.
Lead Nurturing Emails: Greenstone created email nurturing sequences optimized for engagement and click-through rates. These messages supported VCFA’s relationship-driven admissions model by helping prospects move from initial interest to conversation.
Conversion-Driven Outreach Support: We provided recommendations for phone and SMS outreach to maximize lead-to-application conversions—especially important for a program where personal faculty and student interactions are a major differentiator.

THE RESULT:

Within one quarter, the campaigns generated 104 qualified leads, and within 6 months, captured 346 leads in VCFA's admissions system—prospects who downloaded the guide and began receiving nurture communications.

A clear model for growth:

If 346 leads convert at 6%, VCFA adds nearly 21 enrollments—tripling the semester stretch goal with a conservative conversion goal. This is on top of their already successful referral network and strong alumni loyalty. VCFA is tracking toward meaningful enrollment gains in year one of the partnership.

104 qualified leads captured in first quarter, 346 total in 6 months
18,504 landing page views
$45.17 cost per lead—below target goals
10% lead-to-info-session conversion rate

Lead Generator

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Landing Page Design & Development

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