Higher Ed News & Whatnot 5/7/2024
The Recruiting Four-Step
Last week we noted the seven student groups that comprise your recruiting funnel:
Here’s a link to that post: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/whats-new-circa-4302024-cory-cozad-cu0mc/ .
This week we want to expand on the topic of recruiting just a bit and take a look at the recruiting four-step; the four essential and sequential steps that must be taken to recruit successfully.
First, you need to have a compelling brand in the marketplace before you start to recruit. Ideally, this brand strategy needs to target both prospects and influencers.
Second, you need to have academic programs that are of interest to students and not offered by your competitors. A differentiated curriculum is your most important strategic asset. The more your programs look and sound like those offered by your competitors, the more likely you will have great difficulty recruiting or you will be differentiated on price.
Third, you need to know how to recruit. This means you have a seasoned staff that is well-led and well-supported. You conduct the necessary research. You are good at using direct marketing. You are comfortable with social media. You know how to move a prospect to an inquiry and an inquiry to an app. You are using mROI.
And fourth (really kind of related to the third) you need to know how to use financial aid. It isn’t just about the amount of aid. Also important is the correct packaging, timing, and communication of aid.
Opinion: We like this model because it reminds us of a fundamental law of marketing: Every direct marketing strategy (response) is strengthened by a successful brand marketing strategy (image and awareness) aimed at the same student group. In other words, if your audiences are already familiar with you, they are much more likely to respond to your overtures.
Expanding Continuing Ed?
An article on the HIGHER ED DIVE website notes that while many colleges want to expand continuing education, they often don’t provide the necessary resources
Highlights from the article by Laura Spitalniak, include:
Opinion: Perhaps the best way to increase funding for continuing education is by using solid data to illustrate how much revenue such programs contribute to the college’s coffers. Until the link between cost and return is established, continuing ed, and other programs, will always suffer budget shortfalls.
Who Influences Students in the College Choice Process
In 2022, EAB Published its Gen Z’s Evolving Enrollment Journey. As we read the results, we were particularly interested in the growing role parents play in the college choice process. According to the study, the percentage of students naming parents and families in their top five sources has grown consistently, with a big jump in influence in the most recent survey.
Opinion: The role of parents in the college choice process cannot be underestimated. We know that parents are partners in the college choice process. We also know that parents play an instrumental role in creating the list of potential college candidates. What is interesting, however, is that parents also carry veto power. They will veto a college from the choice list that they feel is unsuitable. Interestingly, students almost always comply.
Smart marketers will include a parent component strategy in their recruiting communication strategy.
领英推荐
In our experience, parents are keenly interested in the following topics:
Mixed Signals on +State Funding for Higher Ed
According to the National Education Association (NEA), a majority of state legislatures spent less on public colleges and universities in 2020 than they did in 2008, an NEA analysis shows. This means colleges and universities must rely on students to pay the cost of college—and those students are borrowing to do it.
Other takeaways from the article include:
At the same time, there are some reports that state funding is up. According to a February 2024 article in Inside Higher Ed, 19 states increased their spending by at least 10 percent from 2023 to 2024, while nine states and the District of Columbia showed declines in spending.
Opinion: Though there are mixed signals about recent state funding of higher ed, we see states continuing to fund their colleges and universities to a lesser degree in the future and this will be a big problem for both public and private colleges and universities. For publics, the challenge will be providing the same quality education with diminished resources. And when/if they are successful, no doubt some in the state legislature will incorrectly reason that budgets should be cut further.
For privates, this means an increasingly competitive landscape that will include publics cherry-picking more talented and gifted and full-pay students.
Links:
Other Links Worth Noting
Here are some other articles and resources we discovered that are worth your time:
The seven practices include:
We found the section on managing tuition costs particularly helpful.