Autonomous Agents in Higher Education Part 3: The Agentic Recruiter

One of the great "moments of truth" in college recruiting is the time when a student and/or family approach a table at a college fair.? They are exploring the possibilities, and something about the table interests them.? Do they already know our name and why we’re such a great institution?? Is there a particular academic program they seek?? Maybe they want to know about campus life.? The recruiter has seconds to get it right – to ask the right questions and to provide answers that compel further conversation, but also make the institution stand out from the others at the fair.? Those first moments of interaction determine whether the student has just started the path to becoming an engaged alum, or walks away to find a better fit.

We are at an exciting point in technology.? Autonomous agents can augment our work and create greater access to our resources.? They can be on 24/7/365 and hold conversations with visitors about a range of topics.? They can converse with an international student halfway around the world, to an adult learner who only has time to engage us in the late evenings when her kids are put to bed, or to a graduate student who needs specific information to determine if our programs of study meet their needs.

It also means we have new moments of truth in recruiting.? How will the agent respond?? Will it strengthen our brand and compel the student to take action? Or will it fail to engage the student at a level that makes our institution, its programs, and value indistinguishable from our competition?? How we train and test our agents must be as thoughtful and rigorous as the efforts we place into training recruiting teams.

Over many years of recruiting and training teams of recruiters to perform their work, there were a few critical elements that stood out:

• Be warm and engaging but focus on being helpful, rather than pushing for an inquiry card or an application before you get the right signals from the student.
• Make our academic programs and educational experiences memorable.
• Whether they ask or not, make sure to inform students and families about how affordable a high-quality education can be, and how we do that.

We will consider how we apply these concepts to an agentic recruiter.? First, let’s consider how to present the top issues that can make a memorable impression on the prospective student and/or her family.

What Makes an Academic Program Memorable?

When we consider how students make decisions on attending college, the availability and quality of academic programs is a perennial top factor [1].? With nearly 4000 degree-granting institutions in the United States alone [2], how can students tell one from another?? How many of these institutions likely have a degree in history, biology, business, or computer science?? If there is little differentiation on the availability of a chosen program, how can the student determine which program is the right one for her?

This leaves program “quality” to be determined.? In our college fair scenario above, simply noting that the college has a psychology degree, “and it’s great!”, would not be sufficient for the student or family to determine what quality means, or to remember anything specific about what quality indicators the program may have.? Arming the recruiter with some features of the program that can be translated into benefits for the student is a successful strategy for making a lasting impression.

In the 2023 edition of the CIRP Survey of American College Freshmen [3], three of the top five factors for choosing to attend college are career-related: securing a better job, training for a specific career, and earning more money.? The remaining two were academically related: learning about things that interest them, and gaining a general education and appreciation of ideas.? When choosing a specific college where they enrolled, the “potential to secure a good job after graduation” ranked just behind “overall reputation” [4].

Returning to our college fair scenario, the student who approaches and asks if the university has a psychology program may receive a, “Yes, we do,” reply but then what should follow?? Statistics on job placement may be one fact but (caution) only if they are clearly and easily understood.? Is an 84% placement rate six months after graduation good?? Compared to what?? Is there a magic line of starting salaries, above which everyone would think your program was high quality?? In this brief interaction scenario, facts will appear as sound bytes without context. Unless there are audience-tested results that can be touted, it may be wise to avoid reliance on statistics as proof of quality.

Internships provide practical training in the field, and are sought by prospective students.? Including available internship opportunities could help make a memorable impression.? Are there other features, such as study abroad programs in the major, unique or interesting laboratory or research opportunities?? Any singular features or combinations of them could separate the university’s program from others the student may consider.

Storytelling is another powerful tool.? While live recruiters may have charisma and tell a great story, the agentic recruiter will need to have always-on resources.? Short video clips of students talking about their experiences in the program, interplay between students and faculty, and recent graduates who can offer testimony of the program’s quality and preparation for their chosen career can be useful in creating distinctive, memorable programs.? Practice and audience research has shown that authenticity, not polished production, is key to convincing them that these are real experiences, not shiny surfaces created by marketing executives.

Presenting Affordability

Affording a post-secondary education, especially a baccalaureate degree or higher, is a major concern for students worldwide.? Governments have increasingly shifted the responsibility for education from their budgets to the student, and her family when dependent.? Whether this is the introduction of fees and loans (United Kingdom), or stagnation of funding directly to universities (Brazil, Canada, China, U.K., others), the end result is that students and their families are paying more of the cost [5].? While public funding for higher education has risen, on average, over the past five years, the costs of tuition, housing, and fees have also increased. The gap between them continues to widen.

Among first-time students considering higher education, costs are a primary concern.? In a recent survey of prospective first-time students, costs were rated as “extremely important” in considering where to attend college, and over 50% of respondents had ruled out one or more schools based on cost alone [6].? For adult learners, cost is also a major factor.? There are nearly 37 million adults under age 65 who have earned college credit but no degree [7].? Of those sampled in a large study, roughly 85% cited cost as a major reason they had not returned to complete a credential, despite increased recognition that having one is highly or extremely important [8].

How much does it cost? The answer becomes complex in most American college and university settings.? Most but not all have a flat rate approach, where full-time studies are defined within a range of credit hours, and the tuition and fees are set as a single charge, as long as the student enrolls within that range.? Public university charges consist of a multitude of smaller fees but most have created a straightforward answer somewhere on the website, usually on the admissions site where prospective students may see it.? Private institutions are typically simpler in their fee structures and also have a straightforward answer posted.

The issue becomes more complex when disclosure of the “cost of attendance”, a calculation required for all need-based aid by the U.S. federal government, is conflated with the question of cost.? Most people want to know what they will owe the institution.? While knowing that books, supplies, transportation and personal costs should be considered may be helpful for budget planning, it confuses most students and parents, especially those with little or no college background.? They mistakenly believe that the cost of attendance is what they will owe the institution.? While many schools have divided this into “direct” and “indirect” costs on the website, this can be overwhelming for many who are browsing the site to see costs may rule the school in or out of consideration.

Financial aid is its own special circle of Hell.? It is nearly impossible to determine what you may receive when you are just browsing. The complex stream of federal, state, institutional and external aid sources heightens confusion.? The only true way to know the net cost - direct costs less grants and scholarships - to be financed by loans or payment plans, is to apply for admission, apply for financial aid, and wait.? This exercise in delayed gratification (or delayed disappointment) is one of the major causes of stress in the application process.

So how does our recruiter at the college fair address this and present affordability as a positive topic?? First, she must be proactive.? Waiting for the student to ask about costs places the recruiter on the defensive. It ignores that the student is concerned about costs and is likely just uncomfortable asking the question.? While engaging the student about memorable academic and educational programs, the recruiter must include a brief statement about affordability (perhaps the tuition rate is lower than most other competitors, or 100% of students received grants or scholarships last year, etc.).? Second, it must be simple and clear.? The tuition, fees, and room/board (if planning to live on campus) total $xx,xxx.? If there are any specific scholarships in the student’s program of interest, it is good to include those in the statement.

Research also shows that a compelling student experience (academic, social, experiential) mitigates the concerns over cost among first-time students [9].? This combination approach:

1) presenting value through memorable academic programs, plus

2) social and experiential opportunities (for first-time students), plus

3) clear information on costs and affordability,

is likely the best method to build interest for enrollment.

Deploying the Agentic Recruiter

In parts one and two of this series [10], information on what agents are and how they work was provided.? Rather than repeat that information here, please consult those articles, as needed.? In recent months, dozens of prototype agents have been spun up to demonstrate the power of the Atlas Reasoning Engine.? These agents have been astounding in their ability to have logical conversations with users, simply by pointing to the institution’s website as the source of knowledge.

The success of the agent in answering routine questions (“Do you have a business degree program?”) depends first on the quality of information at its source.? In this case, it looks for information on business programs on the institution’s website.? If undergraduate and graduate business degrees are offered, it will likely provide information on both.? It will attempt to provide additional information beyond whether or not the degree program exists, but this is dependent upon the information it finds and how linked or logically connected that information is to information on majors or degree programs.? It would not naturally address cost or affordability, as part of that response.

This is where instructions, written in natural language, are used to guide how the agent interacts with users.? Simple instructions can be added to the “topics” (jobs) that we gave to the agent.? In this case, the topic is “answer questions about academic programs, majors, minors, and certificates”:

• If not already known, ask a clarifying question to determine if the student is interested in undergraduate or graduate programs, then provide information on the appropriate level.
• Include any information on internships that are available for the user’s program of interest.
• Suggest and provide the link for any video clips that are found on the same web page as the academic program.
• Always ask a follow-up question, “Would you like to learn how affordable a degree can be?”, and if the user responds yes, provide information on costs using this website [insert specific page where simple tuition and fee information is found] and include information on scholarships and financial aid using knowledge from this website [insert websites where information is located].

These are starting points.? Testing the agent’s responses will highlight the quality of information on your academic program and other web pages.? This may inspire your institution to beef up the relevant information, so that the agent, and anyone who visits your academic program, financial aid, scholarship, campus life, or other critical pages, can get the best possible information.? For institutions that serve adult learners, information on employer reimbursement eligibility, payment plans, and course scheduling options can tailor the information to their needs and interests.

Adding additional instructions can further tune an agent's responses to be more personal and accurate.? For example, adding a clarifying question to learn where the student lives can more accurately tailor the responses for international students, or include state aid information for those who are in-state residents.

Adding Agentic Power

While these innovations alone will add great value to your recruitment efforts, there is additional value found in the power of agentic tasks.? These are automations built into the CRM, such as signing up a student for a campus tour, open house, or completing the request for information, among others.

Automations should be simple to construct.? In Salesforce CRM, these are drag and drop, no code interfaces.? Following your established business process, a path is created to move data from step to step.? Once the flow (automated business process) is constructed, it can be assigned to the agent.? This keeps the agent from performing tasks it shouldn’t.? If you haven’t given the agent the task, it can’t perform it.

Attaching the agent to your CRM data makes the conversation much more personal.? The agent would know if the student had already signed up for an open house, and can be directed to avoid the suggestion.? Already an applicant?? Diving into a list of next steps and answering more nuanced questions on programs, aid, etc., would be appropriate.? The agent allows personalization at scale when it can see the status, past interactions, and interests of the student.

One specific benefit would be to ask if the student is still planning to pursue an “x” program/major.? We have all experienced the student who applies in October for the following fall, then arrives at orientation or registration with a completely different major in mind!? Building and attaching a flow to responses – alert the assigned admissions team member to review the application file, confirm the change with the student, request any needed materials for the new program’s requirements – could all be started by the agent.

Conclusions and Next Steps

Deploying an agentic recruiter requires several important considerations.? It starts with a thorough understanding of and consideration for the factors that your students will use when considering your college or university for enrollment.? These are not one size fits all but a tailored list of topics that are critical to the impression you will make on the prospective student.? The all important first impression can’t be underestimated.? Using research on your student populations, consider the various levels or types of credentials you offer to guide the way you assemble information.? It may inspire parallel projects to improve the location and thoroughness of information that appears on your website.? After all, not everyone who comes to the site may interact with an agent!

The agentic recruiter’s success is dependent on the location, thoroughness, and accuracy of the information it sees as its source of knowledge.? This is rarely on one webpage, although each academic program page should have strong information on features of the program that will make it memorable in the mind of the prospective student.? The agent may and often does require additional instructions to make sure it knows where to find the information, and how you want it to suggest additional information when responding to questions or requests for information.? The “combination” approach to program quality – memorable features such as internships, research opportunities, global studies, etc., – plus affordability statements and information, plus student life options for first-year students, may be the best way to compel prospects to become applicants. The agent will need instructions to ensure that it includes these factors when creating responses.

Highly advanced AI, like Salesforce’s Atlas Reasoning Engine, can impress a prospective student merely by the way it can respond to requests. It can offer insights into program features, suggest ways to afford a high-quality education, and differentiate between undergraduate, graduate, in-state, international students, and more.?

Personalization is powerful when it allows the agent to know what past interactions have occurred and what information has already been provided.? Connecting an agent to a CRM allows the agent to confirm information that frequently changes, such as a preferred program of study.? It can also guide the agent to suggest next steps that don’t duplicate ones already taken, or remind prospective students of upcoming steps or events.

Agents can be assigned tasks (automations) that make completing processes, such as signing up for an open house or scheduling an appointment with an admissions counselor, smooth and easy.? The agent can kick off a complex process, such as changing the major in the application record, while making it seem simple to the student.? Because the agent can only perform tasks that are assigned to it, skeptics can be relieved that it won’t step beyond its bounds.

This is an exciting time to be in enrollment management, and in the technology field.? We have incredible opportunities to engage with and stay on the forefront of artificial intelligence. The ways it will shape our field, our work, and the work of enrollment teams, are still emerging.? Change is happening at a rapid pace, so staying atop the innovations in AI is an essential skill for enrollment managers today.? Hopefully, this series is helping you understand some of the potential that this technology holds to improve the health of your institution in finding more students, and the success of your students in finding the perfect fit program they seek.

[1] U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics. High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) First Follow-up Public-Use Data File (NCES 2014-358).

[2] National Center for Education Statistics. (2022) Table 105.50.?

[3] Freeman, A., Nguyen, N., and Seidel, K. (2024). Factors Affecting First-Year College Students’ Choices: Insights from the 2023 CIRP Freshman Survey. American Council on Education, Washington, DC.

[4] Ibid., page 7.

[5] Usher, A. (2024).? Presentation to the European University Association Funding Forum, Helsinki. Global Trends in Public Tertiary Funding Outside Europe. 10/3/2024.

[6] Art & Science Group (2023). Student Poll. Vol. 16, Issue 4. November 2023.

[7] https://nscresearchcenter.org/some-college-no-credential-dashboard/

[8] Gallup and Lumina Foundation (2024). State of Higher Education 2024.? https://www.gallup.com/analytics/644939/state-of-higher-education.aspx

[9] Art & Science Group (2023).

[10] https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/autonomous-ai-agents-enrollment-management-student-success-tom-green-lvmte/ and https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/autonomous-ai-agents-enrollment-management-student-success-tom-green-5apke/