September 5, 2013

The Fall Scramble in Higher Ed Admissions Offices

Sep. 5, 2013 at 08:00 AM | By Don Tollman | Comment Count

Recruiting students who are the “right” match for colleges and universities has always been a challenge. With a declining number of high school graduates, a fact I’m sure you’ve been well aware of for several years, the competition to attract students who are indeed “college ready” and prepared to be successful in college has become an even more daunting task. While the number of traditional students is declining, the number of colleges and universities to which they are applying is multiplying.

Students have options and are learning and being coached to explore those options to a greater extent.

It’s no secret that higher education admissions offices are facing shrinking resources amongst expectations to recruit a freshman class that not only meets enrollment goals but also maintains academic standards. Colleges and universities are attempting to work smarter (Here's 5 Tips on How to Use Your CRM for Education Effectively), but to accomplish this, admissions officers must first get the attention of students, peak their interest, and then follow-up.

Today, there is an ever-increasing focus on technology to recruit students. While students themselves rely to a great extent on technology to research colleges and manage their lists of potential matches – think college search sites like College Confidential - my ongoing interaction with students leads me to believe that personal contact is, still more often than not, the deciding factor in where the student ultimately enrolls.

For admissions officers working with limited budgets, making a decision about which high schools to visit and which college fairs to attend is a challenge in itself. Recognizing ROI of recruitment events from previous years is always important. Knowledge about which high schools have the strongest relationships with an institution also plays a role. But, depending on the goals of the institution any given year, recruiting activities may requisite adjustment.

With the pressures of meeting institutional goals, moving into new recruitment areas can be scary. Remember, it is imperative to elicit face time with the audiences you are trying to attract. (Try tailoring campus visits like Cal Poly San Louis Obispo)

Recruitment today puts relationships front and center. This means engaging with parents, counselors, school administrators, local media, industry influencers, and community members. Researching demographics and graduation and college attendance rates prior to committing to a new recruitment area can ease the burden.

Preparing for the fall recruitment rush is an enormous process. Here are a few activities and tasks I found during my 20+ years as a college admissions officer to be essential to a successful recruiting year.

Confirm admissions goals for the year.
Edit and proof admissions applications (both paper and electronic).
Train staff to represent the institution accurately.
Finalize recruitment travel schedule and assign staff.
Update staff on the application review process for the year.
Finalize and publish daily and special campus visit schedules.
Update web content and measure visitor interaction using Google Analytics. (The University of Wisconsin Superior and Stout show you how.)
Update print publications.
Create messaging plans for students, parents, and educators.
Establish and manage a social media plan for the year (How Concordia University creates an effective social media strategy).

Providing accurate and timely information can be the tipping point in capturing and keeping the attention of potential students. A strong follow-up plan, including personal contact, can make the difference in students actually enrolling. Now, let’s get to work!

Stay Tuned: In a future post we will look at some of the pitfalls to avoid in student recruitment.

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