One of the main challenges facing universities today is that of declining enrollment numbers. In order to make up for this decline, schools are looking for newer, more creative ways for recruiting high school students and generating more interest in the programs that they offer. This seems to be quite the uphill batter at times for most schools, though, with the consequences of not being able to meet the necessary enrollment numbers being detrimental to a school overall.
The fact of the matter is that there are many factors that are contributing to major financial losses at higher education institutions across the country. The state funding that schools once received per student has been dropping steadily for the last decade with many schools reporting a decline of 45% of such funding from 2008 to 2018. Schools have attempted to compensate for such losses by increasing tuition. This, however, doesn’t help to attract students who might struggle to pay such high tuition fees.
Ultimately, though, students will attend a school that they know will help set them up for the best chances of success. Getting the message out about how your school can do this for its students is part of the challenge of recruitment.
Here are two ways in which universities today are looking to showcase the very best of their schools so as to bring in more students.
Marketing
Every business under the sun should know the value of good marketing, and universities and higher education institutions are no exception. Schools need to consider prospective students as if they were prospective clients and tailor their marketing efforts directly to those students. This means honing an understanding of what students are looking for in a school these days as well as how to make your school fit into that ideal for the student.
Because of the complexity of marketing a school, many universities are choosing to partner with an education marketing agency. Such companies have done a great deal of research and acquired experience on how to best market to prospective students. They are able to tailor marketing campaigns directly to your school so that you can marketing to students who are more likely to show interest in your programs. Many schools to opt to go this route enjoy an increase in enrollment numbers as well as student retention.
Hosting events
Every university knows the value of holding promotional events of various sorts for prospective students. Each year, schools invite prospective students for campus tours of the buildings and student housing offerings so that they can get a better idea about what it would be like to attend that school. However, not all prospective students are able to attend these events in person.
In order to compensate, schools are now taking their information directly to the students by sending admissions representatives to high schools and college fairs across the country. In this way, you can interact with prospective students in person even if they are unable to visit campus themselves.
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