Remember calling home (usually on Sundays) from the hall phone in your college dorm? Wait, you have to be of "a certain age" to remember that--and I do! Well, times are changing--and fast. Check this out: "The University of Virginia has removed about 3,850 land-line telephones from residence halls in a move that will save $500,000 annually." The good news is that colleges are finding new and innovative ways to save money; the not-so-good news is that I'm feeling older and older by the minute.
Helicopter parents--we know they are out there, hovering over students, ready to swoop in and offer their support and guidance whenever needed. The challenge for many schools is what to do with these well-intended but often exhausting parents. I just read an article that discussed a great way to engage today's parents as students are making the transition to college: refocus new student orientation so that parents' needs are addressed in an open and honest way. How do parents get comfortable with letting their student make decisions on his/her own? How do parents deal with student homesickness? And what about parents who are now empty nesters--how do they deal with that? Schools have developed creative ways to address these questions during new student orientation:
· At Northern Michigan University in Marquette the school plays actual recordings during parent orientation of upperclassmen recreating desperate calls they made home.
· At Stonehill College in Massachusetts parents are invited to attend a lecture on "letting go."
· And at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, parents are invited to read "The Odyssey" then attend a lecture and discuss similar issues to what their student will experience in a freshman humanities course.
I bet these "repurposed orientation programs" will not only help parents redefine their relationship with their student (from helicopter parent to parent of young adult), they may also increase new student retention. Think about it: if parents are comfortable with their student's college environment they will be more likely to encourage them to "stick it out and graduate." Makes sense, right? And why wait until orientation to start this important dialogue with parents. Colleges should expand the conversations they are having with parents during the admissions process by including specific examples of how their school will help make the transition to college a positive experience--for both students and parents.
From Tufts, to Johns Hopkins, to Ithaca College, check out The 50 Social Media Innovators in Higher Ed. These schools were recently recognized by collegesurfing.com for having "active Twitter feeds, fan-packed Facebook pages, creative YouTube videos, and compelling blogs" that capture the attention of their target audiences and promote their school in a compelling and technologically up-to-date way.
Congratulations!
In this challenging economic time, Scannell and Kurz offer ten very helpful financial aid strategies that will help you prepare for 2010:
1. Identify metrics that reveal how you're performing, then track them against the same or a similar period in the prior two years.
2. Benchmark annually on sticker price, discount rate, and prestige indicators with top competitors.
3. Help admissions recruiters make the case for affordability, value, and career outcomes.
4. Make sure financial aid counselors can talk comfortably and accurately about financing/payment plan options as well as financial aid programs.
5. Keep admissions and financial aid staffs on the same page by using net tuition revenue goals as the common denominator.
6. Use an analytical, not anecdotal, approach to adjusting aid policies.
7. Be as transparent as possible about awarding policies.
8. Watch out for policies that stack merit awards on entitlements, need-based aid, talent-based aid, etc.
9. Make sure renewal policies are not negatively impacting retention.
10. Be transfer friendly.
What do the following 13 careers have in common?
1. Federal-government manager
2. Higher-education administrator
3. Program evaluator
4. Corporate executive specializing in global business development or managing global workforces
5. Cognitive-behavioral therapist
6. Immigration expert
7. Researcher with expertise in two or more of these subjects: physics, math, molecular biology, engineering and computer science
8. Health-informatics specialist
9. Optometrist
10. Genetic counselor
11. Patient advocate
12. Physical therapist
13. Veterinarian
Let me know what you think! Send your response to jp@simpsonscarborough.com
I will post the correct response in a few days. Stay tuned. J
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
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.
What do Drexel, University of Phoenix, Capella University, Ferris State, Western Governors University, Penn State, Northcentral University, Oregon State, Fairleigh Dickinson , University of Texas, American Sentinel University, University of Illinois and Grand Canyon University have in common? They all were recently recognized as one of the top university websites excelling at Search Engine Optimization (SEO), according to a recent study conducted by WordStream, Inc. What's SEO, you ask? SEO is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural or organic" search results. Here's the BIG, remaining question: How does your school rate in term of its SEO?
I just read an article that posed a very interesting and timely question: Are social networks making students more narcissistic? Could that be one of the natural outcomes of all this social networking? Think about it: we are updating our Facebook pages on a daily basis and tweeting every chance we get--sharing up-to-the-minute info on what we're thinking, feeling, reading, watching--and anything else we may be up to. According to the article, over 65% of the college students polled somewhat or strongly agree that, "My generation of young people is more self-promoting, narcissistic, overconfident and attention-seeking than previous generations." Is this a positive perspective or a self absorbed, inward focused attitude? You decide. Or better yet, take Dr. Drew's Narcissistic Personality Inventory for yourself and see where you fall on the it's-all-about-me scale. As for me, I need to run and update my Facebook page and send at least two more tweets. See you online.
I just read a New York Times article, Rah, Rah, Résumé, that's brilliant in its simplicity. Here's the idea: in this troubled economy, alumni offices should make a concerted effort to extend a helping hand to support to their graduates if they lose their jobs. Good idea, right? But here's the brilliant part--it' a win-win situation: graduates receive the help they need when they need it the most, and schools have a perfect opportunity to reconnect with their graduates in a genuine and trusting way that will hopefully increase their willingness to support their alma mater--down the line--when they are back on their feet. In the end everyone wins--told ya it's brilliant. Oh, I was not at all surprised to see my friends at Lehigh receiving a mention in the article for "doing it right;" I had the chance to work with them earlier this year and their alumni office is one of the best.
