[This is Part 6 of the Yield Enhancement Series: The Final Push, offering actionable and effective strategies for the closing weeks of the yield season.]
You are in the final weeks of your yield season and fully engrossed in your efforts to bring in your 2015 class. I know the last thing you want to think about right now is the dreaded “summer melt,” but there are actions you can take today to ensure that your admitted students matriculate later.
Melt (for the benefit of readers new to, our outside, higher ed) refers to those admitted students who give every indication of enrolling and then “melt” away – never to step foot on campus. Some are students who commit to one college and later find they are accepted at a school where they were previously wait-listed. There are students who will complete the admittance process at two (or more) schools to keep their options open until the last possible moment. Sadly, there are college-bound students who will be admitted yet never enroll or start their college education. The U.S. Department of Education estimates the melt rate between 10% and 20%. In certain points of the country (particularly in lower income areas) it can be higher than 40%.
A Harvard study titled The Forgotten Summer, authored by researchers Benjamin L Castleman, Lindsay C. Page and Korynn Schooley, delves into the “high rate of summer attrition from the college pipeline among college-intending high school graduates.” They also explore the effectiveness of various outreach efforts during the summer. You can also read about the Summer Melt Program created by uAspire, a non-profit organization whose mission is to help students find an affordable way to – and through – a post-secondary education.
Obviously, when a student fails to matriculate it is a lose-lose situation: A college-bound student gets derailed in his or her pursuit of higher education and your enrollment goals are impacted at the point of no return. But there is another reason you should be thinking about this now: The research shows that the factors that contribute to the phenomenon of melt are the same issues that are impacting the students in your admit pool today; coping with the reality of college costs, anxiety about finding the “right fit” and an overwhelming amount of often confusing paperwork, among them.
We will take a deeper dive into the subject of melt in the coming months. What is of importance today is to follow the lead of the most successful admissions counselors. They know they must build relationships with their students and gain valuable personal insight about each and every one of them. They know whether or not cost is the most critical factor and what attributes of their college will excite the student.
With that knowledge in hand, they nurture a relationship with the student that best serves the needs of the individual. They stay in touch, ask questions and have meaningful conversations throughout the entire admissions process. They make the student feel wanted, important, and engaged with the college. And, they don’t get unpleasantly surprised in July when the student tells them he or she has opted for another college or gone completely silent.
We help colleges and universities with their recruiting efforts every day, especially now during yield season. If we can help you, please let me know.
Continue the conversation on Twitter @LongmireCo. For more information about Longmire and Company’s Interactive Counselor Training Program, click here. Be sure to Subscribe to Versions of Conversion today so you don’t miss any of this highly-valuable information.
Rick Montgomery is as an Enrollment Strategist at Longmire and Company. With over 20 years in higher education marketing, he brings an innovative approach to helping colleges and universities meet their enrollment goals. Rick can be reached at 913/492.1265 x.708 or via email at rmontgomery@longmire-co.com.
