1 in 5 students are not planning to enroll this year. 5 tips on yielding students during COVID.
Like most industries, higher education was not immune to the financial crisis spurred on by COVID-19. Many students and prospective students who were deterred by remote learning, financial hardships, and the emotional toll of a pandemic, opted to defer their education for another year or even opt out entirely. According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, associate programs dropped by about 10.9% and undergraduate enrollment dropped by 4.5% in Spring 2021, nearly twice the rate of the previous year. Out of all colleges and universities, community colleges were hit hardest with a drop of 14.6%.
The pandemic only exacerbated an already downward trend within the higher education community, where high competition and the financial burden of student debt amongst other issues were leading to declining enrollment rates. With uncertainty looming on the horizon on how long this crisis will last and how it will continue to impact our society, what are universities to do to continue to attract prospective students?
Students, who like the rest of us who are tired from the constant change and shifting landscape of a post-covid world, are looking for reassurance and certainty. Here are a five ways to get the conversation started in a way that will alleviate their stress and concerns about their academic future:
1. Address the hardship
Many families’ financial situations changed overnight, altering their children’s college plans in the process. Addressing these financial concerns in the recruitment process through scholarships, grant opportunities, and financial aid counseling can help reopen the door to these prospects uncertain as to whether or not they’ll be able to afford higher education costs. Also, consider promoting asynchronous options for students who may have taken on jobs in order to help financially support their families or those who are immunocompromised.
2. Improve your virtual hello
With traveling off the table for some, ensuring your university has a welcoming virtual introductory experience is a necessity. heavy upgraded SCC’s virtual tour to help potential students, current students, and faculty alike be a part of the campus experience from the safety of their homes. Unlike many generic virtual tour experiences, we personalized ours with SCC branding. Utilizing state-of-the-art VR technology, the tour gives an up-close look at live classroom settings, as well as dorms, libraries, arenas, and more. We wanted prospective students to have everything they needed to fall in love with SCC from afar while introducing them to the school’s virtual prowess upfront, giving them more confidence in their online instruction.
3. Create tailored video content
Improving your online presence should continue through every facet of your recruitment strategy. Keeping this in mind along with above enrollment statistics, heavy designed a social video campaign for SCC that focused on demographics of students, such as highschool seniors, adult learners, and nursing students, whose enrollment rates have been affected by the pandemic. Rather than inspiring action through fear of the unknown, we used an inspirational tone that reminded them to continue to have faith in themselves and their educational goals despite the uncertainty.
4. Support your community
Who better to help push towards innovative scientific measures to protect your community than an institution based on science and research? From UVA becoming the testing center for their community and Rutgers creating rapid COVID testing, schools around the country are stepping up in a big way. In doing so, they’re not only helping their community, they’re building confidence around their ability to handle this continuously shifting health crisis and keep their students safe.
5. Point out the good
With job listings exceeding pre-covid levels and an unemployment rate that could hit as low as 4% by the end of the year, upcoming graduates are entering a very different job market than their peers from the class of 2020. Communicating these positive statistics with your potential students can help relieve some of the stress built into the decision to make such a substantial financial investment in their college education.
Finally, depending on your school, students and parents’ desires for covid safety measures might vary. Taking the time to keep an open dialogue and listen to their collective needs while keeping your location’s covid cases in mind goes a long way. Ultimately your main goal should be to create a safe environment that promotes confidence and allows students to focus on what they came to do – work towards their career dreams and aspirations.