We will return after the first of the year with a new series of posts relating to yield enhancement. The new series will present highly useful information and practices that will help everyone connected with student recruitment (even those who don’t believe they are connected to student recruitment).
In a study we released earlier this year called “The Value Proposition” we found that a student’s excitement about attending a specific college was a more powerful driver of enrollment than either cost or the perceived quality of the college. Feelings impact yield.
We will soon be releasing the findings from a subsequent study, “The Excitement Factor” that focuses solely on how excitement is created. Our deep dive on the topic provides even stronger proof that yield is so closely associated with student feelings. If you would like a copy of the full report as soon as it is released you can CLICK HERE to send us an e-mail to put you on the distribution list.
Here’s a sneak peek at some of the findings:
- One-third of college bound students say that “excitement about attending” had more influence over their college selection than did facts about the college.
- Four in ten students replaced their “first choice” college with another school at some point in their college shopping process and over 25% said it was because another school excited them more.
- Over 40% of students say they experienced an “aha moment” – an exact moment in time and place where they had a rush of excitement or gut feel that a particular college was the right one for them.
- Thousands of students in the study described things that colleges do to try to generate excitement that, unfortunately, have the opposite effect.
- When asked if colleges had taken a personal interest in them at any point in the recruiting process, two-thirds said “No” or “Don’t Remember” (in our view “Don’t remember” is the same as “No”).
These findings relate to your ability to yield the volume and types of students you desire. When we launch our new Yield Enhancement Series we’ll examine a number of ways you can control the interactions you have with prospective students, how you can measure the quality and impact of the experiences they’ve had (and will have) with you, the role counselors play in improving yield, the role others play, and much more.
In the meantime, have a great holiday!
Bob Longmire is President of Longmire and Company, Inc. He is a recognized expert on the topic of how prospective students and parents form their college selection decisions – and how colleges can use that knowledge to grow and control their enrollment.He can be reached at (913) 492-1265, ext 709 or at blongmire@longmire-co.com.
