IN THIS ISSUE

• Ten Ways to Make Your Facebook Page Sing: I
• Stamats Focuses on Graduate Students
• The 2009 Freshman Application Story
• Developing an Effective Transfer Student Recruiting Strategy: Part I, Article by Bob Sevier

Tens Ways to Make Your Facebook Page Sing: I
By Fritz McDonald, Vice President, Strategic Creative

Sure, let’s just get on Facebook—everyone else is, and besides, it’s where our students are, right? You’ve probably heard this more times than you can count…you might even agree with it. As the age of social media dawns on college campuses, institutions are jumping on the biggest, most prominent social site because it looks easy to do and it’s free…isn’t it? I’ve talked about the myth of social media costs before and won’t bore you again with it here, but you should always remember that these things require resources in the form of someone-has-to-do-it and that someone usually costs something.

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In just a short few weeks I will be heading off to Boston for the Stamats Integrated Marketing: Graduate Student Marketing Conference that focuses solely on the graduate student population. While I am excited about the program which includes speakers from private (Fordham University) and public (Ohio University), online (Penn State World Campus), and branch campuses (Northeastern State University–Broken Arrow Campus) as well as a terrific case study on the use of social media from Harvard School of Education; what I am most intrigued about is the overarching theme of this event—engaging graduate students in conversations that lead them to enroll.

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The 2009 Freshman Application Story
By Eric Sickler, Principal Consultant

Moody’s Investor Service just released a “Special Comment” report on the findings of a recent survey of their rated private and public colleges and universities. Just more than 150 schools participated, but don’t let the smallish sample put you off; Moody’s interpretation and subsequent forecast will greatly shape the near-term financial future of higher education. Specifically, “…Moody’s anticipates new stress on revenue for a significant minority of private colleges and universities which could depress future operating performance.”

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Going forward, one of the most important audiences for your admissions efforts is transfer students. Too often, however, colleges lack a thoughtful, written transfer recruiting strategy. To help remedy this problem, I wanted to outline some issues and ideas that will help you develop the most effective transfer recruiting strategy possible.

In this issue of QuickTakes, I am going to address some strategic issues (what and why). In the next issue I will address more tactical ideas (how).

Effective strategy always rests on a solid foundation. With that in mind, it is important to address a handful of conceptual/philosophical issues related to transfer recruiting before the actual development of a transfer recruiting strategy. Some of those issues include:

• Evaluate your institutional commitment to transfer students. Many schools look at transfers simply as a source of revenue and do not always consider the ethical (are we truly a good fit, are we welcoming?) and practical (do we have the right support services available at the right time?) issues that must be addressed as part of a comprehensive transfer strategy. The commitment to recruiting (and retention) of transfer students must be institution-wide and clearly demonstrated in both thought and action.
  
  
• Establish clear, measurable goals for your transfer strategy. These goals should incorporate such areas as:
  
  
  • Number of transfer students
  • Type of transfer students (from two-year institutions, from other four-year institutions, of color, etc.)
  • Academic quality (talented and gifted)
  • Financial aid goals
  • Net-tuition revenue goals
  
  
• Make sure your transfer recruiting efforts have corresponding transfer retention efforts. Too often, schools focus on the recruiting of transfer students but do not pay the same level of attention to their retention. At the very least, this should include a transfer student ombudsman who is able to help transfer students adjust to their new campus and academic advisors who are specially trained for transfer students.

• Hire a full-time transfer recruiter. A clear sign of your overall commitment is the hiring of a full-time transfer student director. This director should be responsible for both transfer recruiting and transfer retention. In addition, he or she must be empowered to evaluate transcripts, assess the transferability of credits, and even make initial financial aid calculations.


• Get inside their heads. Conduct research of current transfer students to determine what motivated them, their preferred communication channels, the college-choice characteristics of most importance to them, the majors of greatest interest, and the role of financial aid and influencers in their college choice.

• Create a profile for a successful transfer student. One of the best ways to predict who might be interested in your programs is to look at who you have well served in the past. Look at their demographic and VALS (values, attitudes, and lifestyle) profiles. In addition, try to determine where these students come from (schools and geographies).


• Learn why some transfer students do not persist. Delve beyond “cost” and determine if there are some systemic institutional stumbling blocks that should be addressed.


• Create a transfer advisory group. Let a group of existing transfer students contribute to the development of your transfer plan. Involve them in decisions about communication channels and content. Use them to identify disconnects between what you promised during the recruiting process and what was actually delivered during their first semester or year on your campus.
• Be credit friendly. The quickest way to undermine your transfer strategy is to make students repeat courses or unduly lengthen their time to a degree. Always with one eye on quality, be willing to accept credits from other institutions. If possible, let the AA a student has earned at the local junior college satisfy your general education requirements.

In the next issue of QuickTakes, we will look at some more tactical ideas that will increase the effectiveness of your transfer recruiting strategy.