We all know the significance of our campus tour program, right? It's one of THE most important factors that influence a student's enrollment decision. In fact, I cannot tell you how many times prospective students have told me, in a focus group setting, that their campus tour directly impacted their enrollment decision. How the campus looked and felt during their tour either "clinched the deal" or was "a deal breaker."  With that, have you seen the article that just appeared in University Business, 10 Tips for a Meaningful Campus Tour: It takes more than walking backwards? If not, check it out--It's full of important reminders, like remembering that campus tours should give students a chance to look around to see who they may become friends with. And that we should let students mingle with other students in a casual, less formulaic manner. And that we should be real with students and give them the information they want.

Think of all the time and resources admissions offices devote toward developing fancy publications and high-tech websites---now, here's the question of the day: how much time and money are you dedicating to our campus tour program so that this very important enrollment activity is working for you?

-Jeff Papa

 

You must visit InsideCollege.com.  It is a site of college and university lists. Some of them are funny like "Colleges Where Geek is Chic" or "Colleges for the Clothes Horse" or "I Can't Believe I Can Get In There".  Some lists are interesting like "Colleges that Build Moral Character" or "Colleges with No Tuition". Other lists are informative "Colleges with Great Pre-Med Programs" or "Colleges with Great Reputations that are Not Incredibly Selective".  It is is an Alloy Education site that features the lists of Steven Antonoff (an educational consultant and former Dean of Admissions at the University of Denver) which are featured in his book The College Finder.  There are 700+ lists that are based on three types of lists: 1) Facts and Stats Lists, 2) Expert Choice Lists, and 3) User-generated Lists.  Check in out!

-Dana Edwards

I just read the Inside Higher Ed piece on the use, or lack thereof, of NSSE data by colleges and universities. I always get a kick out of reading the comments that follow. My favorite are from individuals that find fault with the data rather than taking a chance on finding fault with themselves or their school. Maybe the NSSE instrument is not perfect, but it is better than any other survey that allow us to measure ourselves against cohorts and like minded schools.

The challenge for university administrators is to prepare the campus for the results. We need to do a better job of including faculty and staff into the strategic planning process (notice I did not say marketing) on a wide scale basis. Rather that have the token faculty member on a committee, hold town hall meetings as to how and why the school is measuring what it is measuring and then make the data accessible afterward. Create accountability committees (why not, there is every other type) that is given the task of taking the data and creating useful, action based plans to be implemented by the school.

Connecting the NSSE data to the strategic planning process does three things. First, it takes away the potential stigma of "marketing" that some schools still face. Second, the strategic planning process is typically better understood, especially if the school has a rolling planning process rather than one built around capital campaigns. Finally, it also enhances the probability that there will be a budget line attached to it.

For those that want to argue over the technicalities of the process rather than the spirit, that's okay too. Those that act will more likely thrive while those that ponder will be lucky to survive.

Tom Hayes  http://simpsonscarborough.com/hayes.html

Our research director, Meredith, had been on me for a year to get on Twitter. "You are on a different college campus every day," she said. "A lot of people will be interested to hear what you have to say about that." With a little help from Mere and the other twenty-somethings on our team, I've started to get the hang of this mode of communication. I'm certain that I am not the best tweeter on the planet, but I am totally convinced that Twitter is a valuable communication tool.

Consider my friend, Dr. Jamie Birge, as an example. Dr. Birge recently assumed the presidency of Franklin Pierce University, in New Hampshire. We included a blurb about FPU's "The Walk" in SimpsonScarborough's October eNewsletter.

Dr. Birge is a brand new president. The students don't know him. The alumni don't know him. Shoot, the faculty hardly know him. He should be tweeting! What better way to help people get to know you than allowing them to follow your daily activities? Plus, Jamie has such a great personality and that would completely show through on Twitter.

I've heard lots of people my age and older say, "I just don't get it" about tweeting. And, here with my closest friends, I am willing to admit I said that a couple times too. But, there is definitely a role for Twitter. And clearly an audience. So, tweet that!

-Elizabeth Scarborough

Click here to follow me on Twitter

 

Over ten years ago, I worked at a targeted marketing company where we measured Return on Investment (ROI) for Fortune 500 companies such as P&G and Kellogg's who participated in advertising and promotional programs.  Free samples were distributed and new customers were measured and projected to determine an ROI. Each cent spent for advertising, free samples, product production and distribution of a new scent of Tide was put into a formula so that P&G knew how much money it made.  I just read about a study conducted with over 180 public and private institutions about the profitability of their online programs. Forty-five percent of respondents did not know if their online programs were making money!  Increasing enrollments (often out-of-state enrollment for publics) is so often the solution to keeping institutions financially solvent when determining ROI in many areas on campuses would help identify areas of opportunity while informing enrollment goals. Calculating ROI for various aspects of operations on a college campus is a challenge but its not impossible. Tracking something is far more effective than tracking nothing.  I truly believe higher education could learn from corporate america and benefit greatly with regards to ROI. 

In a very interesting report from LipmanHearne entitled "High-Achieving Seniors and the College Decision," (with assistance from the National Research Center for College University Admissions), it was found that college-bound high school students in the United States still seek "the right fit" over lower cost when it comes to selecting a college. I urge you all to read it!
The study cited in CASE's BriefCase outlines that while price is important, it is not "very important" and that the college tour was the most influential source of information among 30 choices on a college decision. This stage of the process is all about the emotional buy. What got the student to your campus is the logic phase, how big, how much and what majors etc...Now it is up to "gut" feelings (my term not theirs). This is also where the services mentality of marketing comes in to play. How do you make a great first impression? How can you manage perceptions of reliability and responsiveness to the students' (and parents') needs? How well you do get across the feeling that your campus feels like home to the student and a safe one at that to the parent? The ability to communicate these perceptions takes a customer focused mindset and an integrated effort.
Oh yea, It also helps to have a really sunny and warm day!

Maybe it is just me, however, I sometimes don't understand the decisions made in higher education to cut costs. Recently, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has opted to provide all if its Spanish 101 classes on line rather than in  face to face environment. One teacher, with the help of graduate students will handle four sections of class. The university states that they have studied the situation and found there is no difference in outcomes from a face to face environment and a hybid face to face/online experience. The students "thought" they mastered the material better but the tests said otherwise.
I understand the university and the department has been faced with massive budget cuts but this is a decision I don't get. First, the demographics alone in the U.S. would indicate that it is a good idea to master Spanish. Second, tests can tell you about grammar and syntax but not pronunciation and developing one's ear. Third, the confidence one has in speaking another language goes a long way to mastering it. Even if you speak Spanish like I do (poorly...I studied French high school and college), you are far more likely to improve because you will try and practice in real life situations, so thinking you mastered it has merit.
Adapting to budget cuts are a fact of life. However, it would seem like there are courses less important to the market to skimp on then Spanish. Why not just hand out a Berlitz or Rosetta Stone product and say good luck (and by the way make sure you charge triple what you would pay at a mall kiosk or community college due to your academic rigor).

The other day I was reading a headline in the UB Daily Newsletter that really got my attention: Mail Ranks #1 Among Alumni for Information, Solicitations from Colleges and Universities. Interesting, right? Here's an unbiased study that looked at the best way to reach and engage alumni; a question many of us are posing, especially in our current economic situation. Well it turns out that the sponsor of the research is Pitney Bowes, a company that focuses on "print and mail" to reach audiences. HELLO!! Can you say bias? I'm not saying that the research should be dismissed just because they did the study, but I am saying that we need to look at the methodology very carefully and consider any biases that may have influenced the findings because the sponsors have a vested interest in the data. Seems reasonable, right? But here's the best part, when I clicked on the link to learn more about the study, I was brought to the Pitney Bowes website and not the study itself. Hmmm, what could that mean?

 

-Jeff Papa

 

Most of you probably read the front page article in the Chronicle this week called, The Millenial Muddle. It discusses several authors that have written about the millenial generation but focuses most on Howe and Strauss. They coined the term "millenials" when they wrote "Millenials Rising," a book considered required reading by most in our business.

Several people quoted in the article challenge the notion that all young people in the age range of the millenials share the characteristics that Howe and Strauss say "define" the generation. Well, of course, not all young people are "engaged, optimistic, and downright pleasant" as H&S write.

Remember the normal curve, which shows us how data points are distributed about a mean (see image below)? When writing about an entire generation you have to focus on the trends that define the bulk of the population; hypothetically, the portion of the population in between 5 and 15 below. But, that doesn't mean that every last person in that age group is going to fit the profile. 

See the tails on either side of the normal curve? If this curve plotted every member of the milennial generation, there would be hundreds of thousands of young people represented in those tails. The folks in the Chronicle article who are talking about students they know who don't fit the profile H&S describe, are simply talking about students who are in the tails of the curve. That doesn't mean that the H&S profile is inaccurate in characterizing the entire generation. There are outliers for sure, but taken as a whole, it could be that H&S are dead on in their depiction of the millenials even if you know students who seem very different.

-Elizabeth Scarborough

Click here to follow me on Twitter

 

One of the most interesting questions facing colleges and universities is who most influences prospective students. According to the whitepaper, "Charting a Course: Finding Direction Amidst the Swell of Data on Student Recruiting" by Dr. Robert A. Sevier, "prospective students say that high school guidance counselors are playing a declining role in the college choice process." This is further evidenced in the Student Poll article, "Parent Involvement in College Planning" published by the College Board and Art & Science Group, LLC. This article notes that prospective college students are, "somewhat less influenced by high school guidance counselors." Moreover, the study How Students Really Decide: College Selection from the Inside, conducted by college decision-matching Web site Zinch.com, notes that school guidance counselors were significantly less influential, with only 6.8% of students rating them as being extremely influential.

The study High-Achieving Seniors and the College Decision, conducted by Lipman Hearne in April 2006, provides a variety of data points on information sources that play a role in a prospective student's application and enrollment decision. 38% of prospective students said that high school guidance counselors played a role in determining where they applied, but 10 other factors including, campus visit, conversations with the student, brochure, mother, college's Web site, friends, father, alumni, person in admissions office, and faculty played an even bigger role. Further, when prospective students were asked to rate how influential high school guidance counselors were in their decision to enroll at the college or university they were currently attending, 17% gave this set of influencers a 4 or 5 on a 5-point sclare (where 5 equaled very influential). For the same question, 64% rated campus visit as a 4 or 5, followed by conversations with student (44%), mother (36%), father (31%), recruitment materials/brochure/publications (28%), friends and peers (27%), conversations with graduate or the college or university (25%), conversation with faculty member (24%), college or universities Web site (24%), conversations with someone from the admissions office (24%), a teacher (19%), and another family member (18%).

So, if high school guidance counselors aren't the biggest influencers to prospective students, who are? According to the whitepaper "Charting a Course" cited above, "traditional prospective students continue to be heavily influenced by parents and peers." This sentiment is reflected in the aforementioned Student Poll article which notes that, "college-bound high school seniors are generally satisfied with the current level of their parents' involvement in the college search process. But nearly 30% want more, not less, parental involvement, a figure that jumps to over 40% among students with lower SAT scores and household incomes." Further, the Zinch.com study reports that, "parents, by far, are the strongest influence in students' college decision-making process," and notes that 58% of the students polled cited their parents as "extremely influential," or rated their influence as a 6 or 7 on a 7-point scale of influence. This study also provides data naming visits to college campuses as the most influential information source in students' decisions of where to apply, with 47% of prospective students rating them extremely influential, followed by college Web sites (27% extremely influential), and college viewbooks (21.6% somewhat influential).

- Renee Kart

 

As Obama is calling for an additional five million community college graduates by 2020, the pressure is on.  As some states are showing a decreasing number of college-bound students, there is an overwhelming number of prospective non-traditional adult students across the country.  Sounds simple -- get these individuals enrolled in community colleges and Obama's goal will be met by 2020. Legislation that is in Congress now will provide $12 million in the next ten years.  But the supply of students and that money will not make it happen without an incredible amount of effort.  Research is being conducted on the community college system right now in order to reach this five million graduates.  The Community College Resource Center, the Ford Foundation and the National Cener for Postsecondary Research are conducting various studies that will yield information to increase the rate at which students complete community college.  This rate affects the ability to produce graduates. Therefore, getting students to complete classes more quickly will help reach that 5 million graduate head count. Another issue is that currently too many students are not prepared to successfully complete community college.  If there are to be one-third more community college students in the system in the coming years, there will be more students who are not prepared unless some systemic changes are made.  Secondary schools must increase their focus on post-secondary school preparation.  Study skills, test taking skills and time management are just some of the issues to be stressed to these students headed for community college.  Early testing will also flag students in high school that may need assistance in preparing for college.  For those non-traditional adult students, community college will have to provide the extra support to keep students from dropping out.  Policies in the coming years will be created on a state by state basis.  The state holds the key to the effective use of these funds as the pressure is on to produce community college graduates.  To read more visit.

Something about Quinnipiac University's response to David Letterman's current "situation" seems a little desperate to me... Maybe it is just because I am soooo tired of hearing about this story.

This morning I was watching one of the morning news shows that wasn't on commercial break (it was early, so I don't remember which one), and I heard something like "faculty tweet about 50 times a day." I was running late so I missed the segment, but I did mke sure to look it up when I got to the office today. I think this is just so cool, and a great story to have out there.

This is the article I found about it in the Washington Post (article).The school is GWU and they have been called "The Most Active College for Twitter Use," according to this study. They limited their study to administrators officially affiliated with the university. According to their methodology,

"To narrow the scope of our investigation, only accounts officially affiliated with university administrations were included. This excludes unofficial students groups, fans of sports teams, and the personal accounts of professors, students, and university employees. Limiting our study to official accounts enabled us to examine the Twitter usage of university organizations, rather than the usage of student bodies and the surrounding community."

According to the study, the 17 official GW accounts tweet on AVERAGE 58 times a day. That is insane! I have been trying to get the SS staff to get involved with twitter, and it has not been an easy task. But I guess like everything else, one you get going it is easy to get addicted! I love the idea of twitter and how it can keep you connected, and I love that this story is in the news. To me, it shows a great level of involvement and community, and that i always a great message to send about your school. The research is actually really interesting, and you should check out the full report at http://universitiesandcolleges.org/top-100-colleges-twitter/.

And please, follow Elizabeth on Twitter! I want to boost her "twitter self-esteem" and get a good following! http://www.twitter.com/elizscar

Do you have a good example of someone who is an obsessed twitter fiend at your school? Send me an email at meredith@simpsonscarborough.com. I would love to inteview someone about their twitter skills and how it has worked for them. Thanks!

--Meredith Simpson

 

 

In a world of increasing costs, competition and diminishing students you might want to remember the old axiom "you can fight change, invest in change or create change." The only way you will lose it to fight/ignore the shifting marketplace. One very good tool you might investigate is scenario analysis. In essence, it is an exercise that creates "what if" scenarios based on plausible or combination of plausible situations and develops action plans for each scenario. It allows you to plan for situations based on likelihood of occurrence. My own school, Xavier University, did an excellent job of preparing for the first wave (there will be more) of the H1N1 flu.  When it did hit, the plans that were devised months in advance were implemented and the school year continued with a minimum of disruption. Students were well taken care of (many in what became know as the "isolation hotel"), and the everything went smoothly. Fortunately, even though we had around 150 students come down with the flu, they were mostly mild cases. The point is that we were prepared.
Whether you are facing budget cuts from the government, a dwindling student population in your state, strong competition from other schools, the worse thing you can do is ignore it (or them) followed closely by talking about it without doing anything.

Tom Hayes

I recently read an article focusing on the "Sophie's Choice for Community Colleges" (Inside Higher Ed, October 8, 2009). The context of the article focused on the hard choices community colleges are facing in California. As a result of too many students and not enough money, this story focused on one school that was making major cuts to remedial education and ESL programs. What I found just as interesting were the twenty odd comments to the article. Some of these were critical of California always being used as the bell weather of community college environments and some lamented the situation. Others still suggested there are other places for people to get the education they needed (high school GED programs etc..).

I have a couple quick thoughts.....many of the environmental changes that occur in higher education occur first on the east and west coast....the east coast due to the high percentage of schools and west coast due to population trends and a cash strapped state. If people are not paying attention to what is going on in these locations, they will be in for a shock later. Second, our nation has to do a better job of valuing education. We cannot and will not be able to compete in the world marketplace with an under educated population. Everyone says they value education but they expect others to pay for school, the state, the federal government,, the individual.
We are facing a cohort of potential college attendees that do not have a historical value of education and a environment where willingness to pay is decreasing. As a college professor, I also understand how so many of the high school graduates are just not prepared for college. We have to do a better job in primary, secondary and at the college level of educating the populace or we will all pay the price.

Tom Hayes

According to College Graduates Hit Hard During Recession, unemployment data for college grads is a classic "good news, bad news" situation. Or, as I like to call it, a "good news, less than good news" situation. What do you want first? Let's start with the good news.....the unemployment rate among college graduates is notably lower (4.9%) than high school graduates who did not attend college (10.8%). Now for the "less than good news," the number of unemployed jobseekers is growing fastest among Americans with higher education; in fact, the number of unemployed college graduates surpassed 2.2 million, an increase of 136% since December 2007. Considering that many of us are actively searching for specific outcome data, as a distinguishing institutional characteristic, we need to closely monitor unemployment rates and understand how that information directly impacts our ability to communicate our successes to key external audiences.

 

-Jeff Papa

 

There was a really good article in the Chronicle yesterday titled, High Response Rates Don't Ensure Survey Accuracy. My friend, David Wheeler, told me about it on the phone today while we were talking about the response to the survey we are running together right now of U.S. faculty. Our response rate is great and our sample size is large but I was explaining to David that can be good and bad.

The article discusses some aspects of this in very simple terms. David Radwin from Cal Berkeley describes several case studies in which lower response rate surveys have proven to be more accurate than surveys with higher response rates. He explains how even surveys with strong response rates can be biased.

Here's an example of how that can happen. Say you are conducting a survey of alumni to figure out how to get them to be more actively involved with your institution and assume you generate a 40% response rate to your survey. Most would consider this to be a great response rate for this type of study. But, who are your respondents likely to be? The ones who are already involved. If that is, indeed, the case, your study could be significantly biased even though your response rate is high.

If you are a consumer of marketing research, these are basic issues you should understand. When you go read the article, continue down to the comments. Someone from Washington State posted a link to some additional data on the effects of incentives and the amount of time a survey is available based on his experience with online course evaluations. Good stuff!

-Elizabeth Scarborough

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