Recruiting for College in the Recession

I wrote a little article for our member colleges... just thought I'd share it with you and get some feedback...


All through 2008 we kept hearing threat of our national economy starting to go into the “R” word (recession) only to find out in December that we had been in one all along. For many of us who work in and with higher education this was not a big surprise, as the past year saw huge slashes in budgets for all departments, salary and hiring freezes or even layoffs in extreme cases with more forecasted for 2009. Yet despite these dire financial circumstances our colleges and universities are expected to do more with less: meaning with decreased resources these schools still need to bring in more and more enrollments.

For many schools this loss of support from lost endowments or state funding will cause a need for closer inspection of current marketing and admissions practices to ensure that they are getting the most for their money on every action taken by the department. In 2007 Noel Levitz reported that the average four year private institution spent $1,941 per student on recruitment. These costs included salaries and benefits of the admissions staff, advertising, outsourcing/vendors, supplies, travel, etc. This can be compared to the public universities who spent an average of $398 per student or the two year public schools who spent $121 per student. (Noel Levitz, 2007) However, it will be interesting to see what happens to these figures in 2009 (the year of the next Noel Levitz study) after adjusting to fewer available funds.

One way that many schools are trying to cut costs is looking at relying more heavily on their web presence. Many studies such as ones conducted by Noel Levitz, Eduventures Inc, and Christian Science Monitor are showing students relying more and more on the college website to obtain the information that will help them make the decision to attend one school over another.(Ashburn, 2007) “Your website may be your most powerful recruitment tool” says Gary Fretwell of Noel Levitz (2007). This is because students have access to it twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, they do not need to schedule an appointment to visit it nor do they need to wait to get the information in the mail when it is at their fingertips. In the publication University Business, Robert Sevier of Stamats Communication recently agreed, asserting “Your website is or will soon become your marketing center of gravity. The purpose of print, e-mail and other channels is to drive traffic to the web”. (2008) If that is the case, then how are some schools driving more traffic to their website?

Many schools are using keyword searches where they pay companies like Google or Yahoo per click for various words or phrases. Unfortunately this is becoming extremely popular and where the cost-per-click (CPC) was once only $8.00 to $15.00 it is on the rise to around $30.00 to $60.00. (Blumenstyk, 2006) Another route to handle this is to turn to a directory for exposure, such as Zinch, Collegebound.net or Anycollege.com. These sites have various ways of setting up costs, such as pay per lead systems where a single, qualified lead can cost as much $40.00-$75.00 or they have flat rates where any number of leads can come through at one rate and the college can choose if and how they would like to contact that student.

While at one time directories such as these were solely the domain of for-profit colleges such as the University of Phoenix or Argosy, today non profit schools are turning in larger and larger numbers to these sites. Anycollege.com currently has a member base of 93% non profit colleges and only 7% are for profit. These numbers show a clear turn in the marketing direction of the colleges and universities around the country. Coleen Daly of UMASS Online, one of the largest non profit online schools in the United States looked into the financial viability of these online directories and concluded “The analysis [UMASS Online] has conducted show these programs are cost-effective”. (2008) Northwest Missouri State University was able to track sixteen students who were accepted to start in Fall ’08 that came from directory leads and were able to see that they paid less than $100 per accepted student on these leads. This is on top of having the results of exactly how many students clicked through to their website from the directory, found their online application or requested information.

By using the college website to reach out to students it allows the college to still reach prospective students in a less staff-intensive way, also saving time and money. Interactive emails, text messaging and podcasts are becoming more and more popular as ways to reach out and engage the students on an individual basis while still being cost effective. (Blumenstyk, 2006) One text message can reach thousands of students, which in turn drives them to the website or allows them to reply back directly to an admissions officer, eliminating much of the need for hours spent cold calling prospective students as well as thousands of dollars in print material.

This strong web and technology presence is also getting utilized in another way: adult learners are turning back to colleges as they find themselves out of a job. “A lot of people find themselves laid off and realize this is a good opportunity to retool, to get some new expertise or branch out and expand their job opportunities,” Reginald Bassa of the University of Missouri-Kansas City said. (2008) In ever increasing numbers these adult learners who are returning to school either after a career has hit a dead end or who never took the opportunity in the first place are joining the ranks of high school juniors and seniors using the web to find the college that will have the right program, schedule and services to fit their needs. Web searches and information are particularly attractive to these students because they can perform their initial college search plus research the colleges that look appealing to them from the comfort of their own home and at a time that works with their family.

While it’s still a fairly new way of procuring prospective students both traditional and non-traditional, utilizing the web through driving students to the college website and expanding the college branding strategy through use of online college search engines and directories can be an extremely cost effective approach to the limited budgets and staff that are looming in almost every college in 2009.


Resources:

Ashburn, E. Prospective Students Rely on Campus Visits and Web Sites to Learn About Colleges, Report Says. Chronicle of Higher Education, 5/25/2007, Vol. 53, Issue 38: Accessed on Academic Search Premier on 12/31/2008

Blumenstyk, G. Marketing the For Profit Way. Chronicle of Higher Education. 12/01/2006 Vol. 53 Issue 15 Pages 20-25. Accessed on Academic Search Premiere on 12/31/2008.

Bogdon, T., College Education During Recession Could Pay Off. Kansas City Tribune, 12/19/2008, retrieved from http://kctribune.com/article.cfm?articleID=18559

Sevier, R. Marketing: The Big Questions Answered. University Business. 05/2008, Pages 57-59. Accessed on Academic Search Premiere on 12/31/2008.

Recruitment & Retention in Higher Education. 14 Steps to a Great Admissions Website. Recruitment & Retention in Higher Education. 01/2008. Volume 20 No. 1. Pages 1-2.