Keeping Students and Families Engaged Through the Enrollment Cycle
The following is excerpted from a blog by Spark451, a Jenzabar Company.
What a long, strange admissions cycle this year has been! Historically, when we think about yielding students, there has always been the idea of preparing for the potential melt that we might experience. Usually it’s over the summer, post orientation, when students might get cold feet, or feelings have changed and the school where they deposited is no longer the one they want to attend. As experienced enrollment professionals, we try to combat these scenarios with thoughtful communications and innovative experiences, where we can show students that, yes, our school is where you belong.
It’s likely that this year we’ll be running into similar reasons why students change their minds, but in addition to the normal melt we’ve come to expect and prepare for, we’ve also had a difficult year awarding financial aid due to the challenges of a restructured FAFSA, updating calculations in SAI (Student Aid Index) to account for inflation, and delayed release of information to schools. It’s going to be more important than ever to make sure you’re doing everything possible to help students figure out their financing for college, and to reduce melt by proactively engaging students and their families through the spring and summer.
To discover what two main things you can do to keep students and families engaged through the enrollment cycle, read the full blog here.