As promised, more is following on enrollment management but an article from the Public Relations Society of America newsletter (http://www.prsa.org/dctest/HomePage/viewNews.cfm?pNewsID=558) caught my attention as a reminder of the importance of our daily actions. Bottom line: the way we treat students and the public daily makes a huge difference in whether or not a student has a good experience at West Hills. If he/she does, they will tell 20. If not, they will probably tell 200. It’s an important part of enrollment management—and we’re all directly responsible.
The article is about the experience of a PR practitioner as he helps care for his father during his father’s final days. The writer suggests that a hospital can advertise and pay for PR but what really builds its reputation is how it operates on a daily basis and how employees treat patients.
While we’re not generally dealing with life-threatening situations, the same holds true at a college. If our students are treated with fairness and kindness, they will probably have good things to say about our college. They will “sell” us to their friends. Since students are our business, those sales are the best kind.
Enrollment Management
College enrollments around the country are declining. Here at West Hills, we’ve seen the effects of that far less than in some places (in great part due to our online programs) but we are feeling it.
Kathi Swanson, president of CLARUS Corporation, who has worked with community colleges on defining market needs for almost 20 years, presented a workshop at West Hills College Lemoore recently to help us understand market indicators and help with forecasting based on school enrollment and area population trends. She also touched on defining our markets and assessing potential.
She started with national elementary and secondary school enrollment figures stating that they had increased 19 percent between 1988 and 2001. Between 2001 and 2013 they are expected to increase only five percent. In California they are expected to increase by 15.7 percent.
Once she talked about assessing market conditions, she switched to an entertaining discussion of applying the data and defining markets. Much of that discussion centered on reaching out to the high school segments, adult markets and finding niche markets.
“Meet the Generations” focused on descriptions of different age groups with defining characteristics.
Using information from the Pew Trust on media habits of 8-18 year olds, she said a major study in 2005 reported the impact of a computer in every home, high speed Internet, iPods and big screen televisions.
The typical U.S. child lives in a home equipped with three televisions, most with cable or satellite and 50 percent with premium channels.
In the day before the survey was taken, 65 percent listened to rap/hip hop and 32 percent listed to alternative rock.
This group, which has been dubbed the “i” generation is very comfortable working in groups. They also create their own web sites using MySpace.
Next on the list was Generation Y, the Millennials—those who are now 13 to 25. After the Baby Boomers (those born from 1946-1964) this is the largest generation with 75 million.
The CLARUS president said that 38 percent of this group identify themselves as multi-racial and that they report high levels of community service. They are connected 24/7 she said and are more success driven and lifestyle centered that previous generations.
They believe, she said, that education is good, integrity is admirable and their parents are their role models. They have never experienced life without computers and they believe that the younger you are the more you know. All information is a click away.
To market to this group, she said colleges need to look to cable tv, the Internet, MTV, direct mail, sponsoring events where they are and have a web site that is high on “hip” factor.
She also said that the parent-child bond is strong in Millennials and that they frequently turn to parents for help with major decisions.
Almost 60 percent of West Hills’ students are in this generation.
Generation X, those born between 1961 and 1981, grew up in the “Me” generation of the 1980s and tend to be underemployed, intensely private and unpredictable. They are also becoming today’s “dutiful” parents and tend to be better educated. They want “quantity time” with their children while “quality time” was the much-quoted goal of Boomer parents.
About 35 percent of West Hills’ students fall in this category and she said the best ways to reach them is through no non-sense messages that give comparative information.
Marketing methods similar to those used with Millennials are called for but she added “word of mouth” and “buddy” recruitment to the list.
Baby Boomers, at 76 million strong, represent a strong market for colleges, she said as they are likely to enjoy good health and remain actively engaged longer than previous generations. Many will need training as they seek second careers.
The final group, the “Matures,” makes up 20 percent of the population and was born 1912 through 1945. They are the wealthiest generation and are willing to spend it on their children and grandchildren so Swanson suggested intergeneration marketing like combining credit programming with trips and events.