Maximizing Your CARES Act Funding

No campus tours can happen right now. No in-person meetings. Many leaders for the first time are leading a team remotely. That is very different from being able to visit an enrollment representative at their desk. It is a very different skill- set to build a strong relationship with a stranger over the phone and walk them through the decision making process to commit to earning a degree without ever visiting the campus or meeting the enrollment representative face to face. If your enrollment staff do not know how to do this, it doesn’t matter what the features and benefits of your institution are, the prospect will not enroll with you. Right now, every prospect counts even more than ever.

A common issue within community colleges, technical colleges, four year colleges and universities that has tremendous impact on the institution’s revenue is the effectiveness and efficiency with which their enrollment teams operate.  Often, enrollment teams are trained on “product knowledge,” the details of the institution - but are grossly under-prepared in the soft-skills. The relationship building skills, the skills required to handle prospective student objections and concerns effectively and the skills required to help prospective students come to an enrollment decision for that particular institution now, rather than later. As a result, most enrollment teams under normal circumstances are operating with one arm tied to one foot behind their backs. Now add Covid and a whole new level of complexity enters the arena.

There are three main reasons why enrollment teams do not receive the training and development necessary for them to be able to maximize their potential. 

1. Training and development isn’t in the budget.
2. The soft-skill training has not been developed to be delivered.
3. The time required to develop and deliver the training does not exist. 

Thank goodness for the CARES Act. According to EAB, at least 50% of CARES Act funding must go to emergency financial aid and as much as 50% is to cover COVID-19 costs.  The switch to remote leadership, remote enrollment practices and from classroom to digital or virtual classroom delivery methods has been expensive.  One absolutely imperative COVID-19 expense that does exist is staff training and development in the new skills necessary to effectively and efficiently enroll and retain prospective students for this upcoming summer and fall terms. 

The EAB link also reflects that average amount of funding institutions can expect to receive from CARES.

Public 4 Year: $7,769,966.25 Private for profit 4 year: $894,464.49

Private not for profit 4 year: $1,465,573.04

Public 2 Year: $2,897,977.72 Private for profit 2 year: $659,363.08

Private not for profit 2 year: $308,740.94

Public less than 2 year: $185,994.77 Private for-profit less than 2 year: $289,744.84

Private not for profit less than 2 year: $258,356.19

Click here to find your institution’s projected CARE funding.

Your enrollment team needs training, now you can afford it. The soft-skill training has been developed and is currently being delivered, and can be delivered to your enrollment team immediately. The time for you to develop and deliver the training probably still does not exist, you are very busy. I have developed the training. I will customize it to meet your needs and your culture, and I will deliver it for you.

By increasing your enrollment team's skill-set in both new enrollment and retention, you will exponentially increase your revenue. In most cases, if I spend time with a team and only one extra enrollment is yielded from the training, the training costs are paid for, which means any additional enrollment is extra revenue. If your average annual revenue per student is around $10k a year, and you have an enrollment staff of 7, and each of them increase their enrollments by just one student, that's $70k revenue increase due to that training investment, a return no where close to the investment made for the training. To do more with less, you need to invest in training and developing your enrollment staff.

Now is the time to train your enrollment team and your enrollment leadership team for this new paradigm.  I want to invite you to visit my website, www.zackkassebaum.com . Look at some of my offerings, check out the testimonies and the results I have yielded and let’s talk. I can help increase your enrollment and retention. I would delight in working with you and your team.