Marketing Archives - Page 2 of 26 - Ruffalo Noel Levitz Blog: Higher Education Enrollment, Student Retention, and Student Success

When it comes to filling your academic programs, it’s not about doing more. It’s about doing what’s relevant to students.

February 22, 2018 by Ashley Spain, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Marketing, RNL Leave a Comment

To be more competitive when recruiting students for specific academic programs, you need to create an academic journey to nurture their exploration.

“Why should I study at your campus?”

It’s a simple question, but it is the cornerstone of student search. Academics plays a pivotal role—do you have my major? is one of the first questions students have when they start their search. But students today also require more than seeing if you have the major they want or reading descriptions of your academic programs. They want to know if they are a good fit for your programs, and if your academic programs and your institution will meet their needs.

In addition, the competition for students in their search for the right college and the right academic programs has grown more fierce in recent years. Students now can find information on institutions across the country and the world with a simple search. According to our E-Expectations research, 60 percent of college-bound juniors and half of college-bound seniors search for the school name and program name when searching for colleges online. Nearly half of those juniors and about 40 percent of fall seniors search for program names. At the same time, your competitors are getting increasingly creative in how they recruit students for the programs they want to fill. How do you stand out from the competition and engage the students who will make your academic programs shine?

The key is to create a targeted, personalized journey for prospective students, one that engages them the first time they learn about your institution and the academic programs you offer. This generation of students has grown up in the era of personalization and content tailored just for them. These students expect the same kind of customized experience during their college searches that they encounter when shopping online, browsing websites, and using social media. That personalization—the feeling that your institution not only has the major a student wants but is the place for them to pursue their academic dreams—is how you will outmaneuver your competitors and shape enrollment in your programs.

It goes way beyond filling seats

Beyond meeting the enrollment targets for your academic programs, ensuring prospective students are well-informed about—and find themselves a good fit for—specific majors means they will make more informed enrollment decisions. Those decisions are about more than where they go; what they choose to do is just as important. With a carefully created, personalized plan building early awareness, you can do better in connecting students early to the right major—and then in exceeding their expectations as they pursue their opportunities at your institution.

Successfully shaping enrollment for your academic programs means letting go of your old plan

We have written previously about why the traditional college communication plan is broken. But it is especially critical, in an era of increased competition for students and greater expectations for personalization, to engage on an individual level when recruiting for your academic programs. Your outreach needs to feel relevant and customized for them. This cannot be done effectively through linear or static communication streams that highlight aspects of the majors you are targeting.

Instead, students are looking for an academic journey for choosing the right academic programs. They want to be empowered and drive the experience, finding information and making decisions at their own pace and in the order they prefer. They find their way to their enrollment decision and want to access the information they want when they need it.

Think of it in the context of a conversation with a prospective student. Rather than providing a flow of information at planned stages—which may not meet a student’s expectations or needs for their college search—each exchange and each piece of information or interest the student shares will tailor that conversation and increase their engagement. The benefit is, in giving students more freedom to shape their exploration of your institution’s academic programs, you increase your opportunities to steer them toward a decision to apply.

Ideally, you create an academic journey that creates that experience for them. This journey should have three key aspects that engage the right students for your academic programs and nurture them toward enrollment.

Invite students to engage by tapping into their academic interests on a personal level (for instance, by using an interactive “fit quiz).
Empower and educate students as they research your institution, letting them find the information they want in any order they desire, rather than along a present timeline of communications.
Engage students until they enroll by connecting them with relevant information—career possibilities, financial aid information, faculty profiles—and reaching out to their parents to make them advocates for your institution.

Read how to create this academic journey in our white paper

Download our white paper, Majors Matter More Than Ever: Creating an Academic Journey for Prospective Students. You’ll read more details about how student expectations have driven the need for an academic journey approach to filling your academic programs.

Get your copy now.

Highlights from our enrollment management research: 10 things we learned in 2017

December 12, 2017 by Ruffalo Noel Levitz Leave a Comment

In 2017, Ruffalo Noel Levitz conducted enrollment management research on a variety of fronts: benchmark polls of higher education professionals, field research among active and prospective students, and reviewed data from millions of student records from our campus partners. We turned this enrollment management research into research reports and white papers on college student recruitment, student retention and success, and enrollment strategy.

As we head into 2018, here are 10 insights from that research that can help guide your enrollment management efforts.

Your communication plan doesn’t work for today’s students.

Changes in technology, student demographics, and communication behavior have made traditional, institution-driven marketing plans obsolete. Instead, students want to direct their journey from researching prospective colleges to the point where they apply and enroll. Download our white paper, Why It’s Time to Throw Away Your Communication Plan: Transforming Enrollment Marketing Through Student-Driven Engagement.

New research shows that Generation Z students do things their way, and not always the way colleges expect.

They fill out more applications to more colleges, conduct more research about colleges online, and use a wide variety of channels and resources in their college searches. Download our 2017 National Report on the Perceptions and Communication Preferences of High School Students.

Purchased names, campus visitors, and stealth applicants were the top three sources of enrollees for public and private four-year institutions.

Our enrollment management research also looked at practices for inquiry qualification, financial aid awarding, digital advertising, and many more activities. Download our 2017 Marketing and Student Recruitment Report of Effective Practices.

The average freshman discount rate has continued to rise for our public and private client institutions.

For our private institution clients, transfer student discount rates run lower. Compare discounting levels using new benchmarks, see the trendlines, and examine factors behind the increases, including changes in freshman need levels. Download our 2017 Discounting Report: Benchmarks for First-Year and Transfer Students.

Parents are more engaged than ever, with many completing applications on behalf of students.

Our 2017 E-Expectations study of students and parents shows how involved many parents are, and that it is increasingly important to capture parent information at the inquiry stage and to develop communication flows for them. Download our 2017 E-Expectations Trend Report.

The influence of high school counselors is substantial.

We also learned that counselors’ referrals to colleges are most influenced by program availability, quality, and financial aid. Download our 2017 Report: High School Counselors and Their Role in College Planning.

Just over half of today’s college students are satisfied with their college experience.

A 54 percent overall student satisfaction rate at four-year private institutions, 53 percent rate at four-year public institutions, and 64 percent rate at two-year public institutions coincides with lower-than-desired retention and graduation rates at many institutions. See what’s driving students’ views. Download our 2017 National Student Satisfaction and Priorities Report.

Half to three-quarters of the incoming class brought immediate needs for support in 2016.

At the beginning of their first term, 49 percent of incoming freshmen wanted help with their writing skills, while 70 percent wanted help with selecting an educational plan to get a good job. Does your institution know the needs of its incoming students on day one for retention planning? Download our 2017 National Freshman Motivation to Complete College Report and its Addendum by Race/Ethnicity.

First-year programs, academic support, and one-on-one advising were top-rated strategies for retention and completion.

See two studies of what’s working in retention, including dozens of new benchmarks and ratings for 28 tactics, 30 management practices, and 13 population-specific programs for four-year, two-year, public, and private institutions. Download our 2017 Report: Effective Practices for Student Success, Retention, and Completion and our 2017 Student Retention Indicators: Benchmarks for First-Year, Second-Year, and Transfer Students.

Building a data-informed student success strategy is key to improving student retention and completion rates.

But which data should campuses collect, and how can they develop the action plans that will foster student success? Download our white paper, Achieving Student Success: Building a Framework for First-Year Students.

Find our enrollment management research online

Visit our website for all of our enrollment management research, reports, and white papers on trends, student behavior, and best practices.

Looking for strategic insights for meeting your enrollment and student success goals?

Schedule a free consultation with our enrollment management strategists. We can examine your challenges and discuss your next steps for student search and recruitment, financial aid awarding, student retention and completion, enrollment management planning, and more.
Ask for your free consultation.

Creating a student-driven college enrollment experience

November 30, 2017 by Patricia Maben, Senior Vice President for Product Strategy, RNL Leave a Comment

In our previous blog, we wrote about how changes in communication and student expectations have made traditional college communication plans obsolete. What institutions need to do is create a student-driven college enrollment experience where prospective students can pull the information they need, when they need it.

Naturally, such a shift creates a lot of questions. What does it look like to not orient around that traditional plan? What’s the core now?

It becomes about crafting an experience where each student builds his or her personal “core plan.” The experience they have in doing so—online, on their device, in their home, and on your campus— will make or break their choice to further engage and explore. Daunting, yes: but much more effective—and exciting.

Consider the concept of micromoments, as defined by Google: “Critical touch points within today’s consumer journey, and when added together, they ultimately determine how that journey ends…they’re the moments we turn to a device—often a smartphone—to take action on whatever we need or want right now. These I-want-to-know, I-want-to-go, I-want-to-buy, and I-want-to-do moments are loaded with intent, context, and immediacy.”

How does this translate to college student recruitment? Students are already experiencing micromoments with your institution—the question is, how are they faring? Is the content meeting their specific needs and expectations at each of these particular moments?

To embrace these moments, it’s critical to “be there, be useful, and be quick”—in other words, anticipate needs, provide relevant content, and eliminate unnecessary steps to get to the answer. Further, it requires connecting the dots across their entire experience, not just from one screen or at one point in time but across those points.

The web is where they live, of course, but your website is just one part of how they experience your institution—and understanding what’s relevant to them requires more than just measuring their website interaction. It demands an understanding of how they answer key questions; what they click on, open, forward, share; why they’re exploring; and how you can meet their needs and shape their experience.

[Read more…]

3 stories of college marketing and recruitment success

November 29, 2017 by Ruffalo Noel Levitz Leave a Comment

A strong college marketing and recruitment plan is critical to an institution’s long-term success. Each year, Ruffalo Noel Levitz awards top honors to three campuses at our National Conference on Student Recruitment, Marketing, and Retention for their innovative strategies.

And this year, we also honored one of our own by renaming the award as the Peter S. Bryant Marketing and Recruitment Excellence Award. Peter Bryant is one of the nation’s most respected enrollment managers. During his career at RNL, he has connected with more than 750 institutions to diagnose enrollment opportunities, making a lasting impact on campus and at RNL.

Three award-winning programs for college marketing and recruitment success

This year’s winners received the award at the 2017 National Conference on Student Recruitment, Marketing, and Retention, convened by Ruffalo Noel Levitz in Denver, Colorado.

Goshen College (Indiana): Declining enrollment and staff turnover had left Goshen in disarray. The college turned to RNL to build a comprehensive strategy that addressed challenges such as student recruitment and search. Most notably, the initiatives helped Goshen achieve a 56 percent increase in admitted first-year students and a 34 percent increase in enrolled first-year students from 2014-17. This year, Goshen enrolled their largest incoming class in eight years, and they continue on the path to success. Read the case study.
Hawkeye Community College (Iowa): Hawkeye partnered with RNL for strategic enrollment planning to combat enrollment challenges sparked by demographic changes and new state guidelines. Launching an intercollegiate athletics program and implementing other long-range projects helped the college stop an enrollment decline and grow student headcount by 5 percent in two years. Read the case study.
Southern Utah University: Southern Utah University reversed turbulent enrollment trends, partnering with RNL for enrollment solutions and embracing new ideas. By sourcing ideas from across campus, the university funded 14 new initiatives that led to a 40 percent increase in total freshman applications and a 51 percent increase in new freshman enrollment over two years. Read the case study.

These campus successes highlight how institutions are proactively adjusting to change and creating holistic solutions that focus on enrollment and student experience.

Read the full success stories and ask for a guided tour of our enrollment solutions

See the case studies for Goshen College, Southern Utah University, and Hawkeye Community College for details on how they achieved their goals. And if you want to see how you can achieve enrollment success now and in the long term, ask for a guided tour of RNL Complete Enrollment. Our strategists can talk with you about your goals, challenges, and strategies.

New nationwide college student satisfaction report shows areas where college students feel their experiences could be improved

November 10, 2017 by Julie Bryant, Associate Vice President for Retention Solutions, RNL Leave a Comment

Our new college student satisfaction report—the 2017 National Student Satisfaction and Priorities Report—shows what colleges students identified as their top priorities for improvement.

This report contains data from the Ruffalo Noel Levitz satisfaction and priorities surveys, which institutions use to help prioritize institutional changes. In turn, RNL regularly reports the collective findings from across the nation to identify trends in college student satisfaction. Here are some of the findings from this year’s college student satisfaction report.

Students’ calls for improvements—a sampling

Across higher education, students are concerned about their ability to register for the classes they need without conflicts.
At four-year private institutions, students prioritized their concerns about the availability of financial aid and their perception that tuition may not be a worthwhile investment.
Students at four-year public institutions indicated concerns with their perception that faculty may not be fair and unbiased in their treatment of individual students.
At community colleges, students were concerned about academic advisors’ knowledge and the timeliness of faculty feedback.
Students at career and private schools placed a priority on the equipment in the lab facilities being kept up to date.
Adult learners indicated concerns with receiving timely feedback and avoiding the campus “run-around.”
Online learners identified concerns with their perception of the quality of online instruction and their perception that student assignments may not be defined clearly enough.

These are just a sampling of the issues identified by more than 600,000 traditional and nontraditional students at 970 institutions across the country who completed the RNL Student Satisfaction Inventory™, the RNL Adult Student Priorities Survey™ or the RNL Priorities Survey for Online Learners™ over three academic years: 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17.

At a glance: How satisfied are today’s college students?

Overall, college student satisfaction for the following six data sets has remained steady in recent years, with nontraditional learners continuing to reflect higher overall satisfaction scores:

As shown above, the majority of today’s college students are satisfied with their college experiences, but there is room for improvement. To move the needle on student satisfaction, RNL recommends that institutions drill down into the specific survey items measured on the RNL surveys and to intentionally respond to identified challenges.

Gathering student satisfaction data and responding to student priorities are key ways to improve student success. Studies reflect a link between overall satisfaction scores and individual student retention at four-year institutions (Schreiner, 2009) and at community colleges (Miller, 2015). Institutions with higher student satisfaction also have higher institutional graduation rates (Bryant and Bodfish, 2014). In addition to supporting retention efforts, the satisfaction data provide the student voice in strategic planning activities, document institutional improvements for accreditation purposes, and identify positive experiences for recruitment messaging.

Do you know how satisfied your students are? I encourage you to assess student satisfaction on your campus regularly, and to compare your students’ perceptions with national data on student satisfaction and priorities for your institution type.

Download the full college student satisfaction report to see all the areas of high and low satisfaction

Download the 2017 National Student Satisfaction and Priorities Report to see all of the top challenges identified by students as well as the student-identified strengths for each institution type, highlighting what is working on college campuses.

Call 800.876.1117 or email me to learn more about RNL Satisfaction-Priorities Surveys or the 2017 college student satisfaction report. I will be happy to discuss how campuses are using satisfaction data to make positive changes that matter to their students.