Research data published by National Student Clearinghouse on May 22, 2024 showed some potentially promising news: freshman enrollment nationally was up 3.9% compared to spring 2023. This is encouraging from a national picture. However, many institutions are expressing concern over meeting their upcoming enrollment goals, especially given that the new student enrollments still fall below pre-pandemic levels.
Many of those who have been at the forefront of college recruitment and enrollment strategy know that their enrollments, even before the pandemic hit, were falling short of goals both overall and with specifically targeted populations. The demographic wave that was so well documented, and which many were preparing for, only seemed to have come that much sooner with the pandemic. That is why it is imperative to fully reconsider your enrollment strategy regularly. Higher education enrollment divisions have historically followed large corporate branding strategies, specifically in technology, by adapting them to their student recruitment efforts. A coordinated, technologically enabled effort to identify best-fit customers, lead them through the awareness funnel, and nurture them through omni-channel approaches is the norm in the corporate sector. These tools are available to higher education professionals now, and a strategically built approach utilizing one or more of these options is one way to assure you are best positioned to be successful and reach students where they are. Some key elements of a new enrollment strategic approach are beginning to see utility for institutions, for instance:
- Diversification of Student List Buys: Even before the pandemic caused a significant growth in test optional approaches by colleges, the ways to reach potential new students was already beginning to become challenging. Once all students in a targeted region or demographic were reached out to in your state, for example, where else could you go for new student lists for in-state enrollments? How far geographically could you go into out-of-state markets, given the inverse ratio of enrollments to distance from your campus? New date-informed sources of potential student names have become readily available. These extensive databases create the opportunity to target into regions, demographics, family incomes, etc. in a way that allows a deeper understanding of potential markets and opens potential new ways to reach college-going individuals.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Tools: In the private sector, CRMs have long been considered indispensable customer acquisition tools. The deployment of CRM tools on college campuses is quickly becoming a necessity as well, as opposed to a convenience. A CRM is the hub of activity, and its ability to better control everything from communications to territory management has given enrollment leaders the opportunity to develop more fully automated outreach efforts. This has allowed for better intelligence of the enrollment funnel and the freeing up of recruiters’ time to get back to what is needed the most—personal time with potential students and families. These tools provide campuses with real-time insights into their communication and outreaches, giving immediate intelligence as to how their classes and efforts are progressing.
- Customized Student Marketing and Communication Tools: The consumerization of higher education has created the need for more robust communications tools. Emails are necessary, but their low cost and ease of use have created a world in which potential students who express interest in only a few institutions may potentially receive hundreds of emails a month. Students have become savvy enough to know when reaching out to institutions to create a unique email to allow all messages to funnel into one account that is often ignored. However, these same students (and their families) want to know how they will be valued on their campus, as well as find out the information that is specifically relative to them as a potential future student. Highly customized omni-channel campaigns that not only reach out to the student personally, but are also tailored to their interests, programs of study, extracurricular activities, and specific campus needs are now the expectation of the recruit. Campuses that can be first to a student with highly tailored and personalized emails, landing pages, and print materials are going to be able to demonstrate how their campus is at the forefront of service—and how it will be enhanced by that student’s presence in the upcoming year. That is exactly what the student wants to hear!
- Decision Intelligence: The emerging best practices mentioned above can only be successful if they are able to directly influence an institution’s overall and targeted enrollment goals. That is why each of these initiatives needs to be data informed by effective decision intelligence tools at the hands of the enrollment leader. For example, predictive analytics informs what is likely to happen based on your historic information, while prescriptive analytics provides the best course of action to pursue to achieve a desired outcome. In each case, a robust artificial intelligence approach to class building provides highly actionable information and implementable tactics to an enrollment leader. By informing and updating a responsive enrollment strategy throughout the entire recruitment cycle, this next wave of machine learning intelligence maximizes all of the tools a campus needs to be successful.
Changing student expectations and shifting enrollment trends require institutions to identify more effective ways to reach students using high tech and high-touch services. New solutions have emerged that allow for more automated and customized methods of interacting with recruits. However, great challenges often yield innovative approaches. Enrollment leaders now have many options to potentially augment their existing strategies and to keep pace in an increasingly competitive environment. Those who are willing to strategically embrace these technologies and services will be best positioned to tailor their recruitment efforts in a way that is customized, adaptable, and engaging for the student—and ultimately win the new enrollment race.
Written by: Craig Cornell
Craig Cornell is the Vice President for Enrollment Strategy for Undergraduate and Systems at Liaison. In that capacity, he oversees a team of enrollment strategists and brings best practices, consultation, and data trends to nationwide campuses in enrollment management. Craig also serves as the dedicated resource to NASH (National Association of Higher Education Systems) and works closely with other higher education systems that Liaison supports.
Before joining Liaison in 2023, Craig served for over 30 years in multiple higher education executive enrollment management positions. During his tenure, the campuses he served often received national recognition for enrollment growth, effective financial aid leveraging, marketing enhancements, and innovative enrollment strategies. Craig has published, consulted, been a keynote speaker, served on multiple boards, chaired national committees, and has presented for many state and national organizations on the many facets of strategic enrollment management and effective financial aid leveraging.