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Higher Ed Deep Dive
Colleges get a crash course in digital recruiting during the pandemic
Enrollment professionals say recent virtual trends will stick around
this year and beyond. Whether colleges take full advantage of them is
another matter.
Jeremy Bauer-Wolf
Jan. 29, 2021
Angel Pérez, head of the top college admissions association, got an
email in the fall after his group sponsored its first-ever online fair,
which the pandemic made virtual by necessity. A student thanked Pérez,
writing that they'd been exposed to institutions they wouldn't have
otherwise.
It was an "aha!" moment for Pérez, CEO of the National Association for
College Admission Counseling. To him, it was evidence that although
many hallmarks of the college recruitment cycle had been absent for
months, the options arising in their place were generally more
accessible.
A slew of largely digital recruitment tactics have emerged from the
turbulence of the health crisis, shaking a college enrollment landscape
that was already evolving. Colleges were anticipating a drop-off in
high school graduates. And under pressure from the Justice Department,
NACAC in 2019 loosened its recruitment guidelines, weakening the
significance of historical admissions deadlines and giving institutions
license to poach students past those dates.
Enrollment professionals expect long-term recruitment plans will fuse
new digital tools with the mainstays. They are quick to note, though,
that nothing will replace the personal touch of a student connecting
with a professor on a tour or falling in love with campus. And while
social media can enable them to cast a wider net, the digital divide
persists and was exacerbated by the pandemic. Institutions also must
understand the nuances of platforms like Twitter and video-sharing
service TikTok to get the results they want.
But Pérez knows one thing is certain: "The digitization of this process is here to stay."
A new online frontier
The coronavirus hit the college admissions cycle at a particularly
inopportune time. Students generally pick their colleges by May 1, and
a push to woo them defines the preceding months. Institutions were not
only attempting to meet their enrollment benchmarks, which the pandemic
made much more unstable, but they were also grappling with deep
auxiliary revenue shortfalls.
Colleges widely took their recruiting virtual. Tours and welcome days
were translated into online formats. Social media strategies were
rethought.
NACAC hasn't yet quantified how prevalent such tactics were, but its
latest State of College Admission report notes that enrollment
officials consider hosting campus visits to be one of the most
important methods of connecting with first-time freshmen. These were by
and large impossible to host in the early months of the crisis as areas
went into lockdown.
"They've relied on that college visit to turn applicants into enrolled
students," said Sara Harberson, author of the book "Soundbite: The
Admissions Secret That Gets You Into College and Beyond," which
publishes in April, and a former admissions professional at the
University of Pennsylvania and Franklin & Marshall College.
NACAC instead converted its traditional college fair into a virtual one
in September, drawing 30,000 students, Pérez said. There, they could
venture into online "rooms" where college representatives would present
information about their schools. Admissions officials might have
conversations with individual students or give a group an overview of
campus, he said. NACAC is continuing its online fairs, with some
specific to regions or interests, such as STEM or the arts.
Colleges are rethinking the campus tour, too. Although many filmed
these excursions pre-pandemic for students to watch online, more have
also started hosting live-streamed versions, Harberson said.
Student ambassadors are also popular in admissions, selling prospective
students on the magic of college and answering questions from an
on-the-ground perspective. Institutions brought these students into
Zoom rooms, sometimes along with faculty and even governing board
members, who weren't likely to participate in recruiting before the
crisis, Pérez said.
Although digital events can reach more students, some are still left
out without reliable access to the internet and devices. But Pérez
expects the popularity of these online exchanges means NACAC and
colleges will keep them going following the health crisis.
Reaching students
For now, many students remain isolated and "hungry" for interaction,
said Madeleine Rhyneer, vice president of consulting services and dean
of enrollment management at consultancy EAB. So keen are they for
contact that some legacy outreach methods that might not have even been
considered before the crisis — like calling students directly — are
working, she said.
This is part of the hypercompetitive environment the pandemic fostered, Rhyneer said.
Colleges are trying more fervently to cater to prospective students'
needs as an acknowledgement of their struggles and to fill seats. This
might involve being available for digital appointments on the fly or
setting them up at odd hours, a trend she expects will persist.
"There's a return to a much more personal approach that's very targeted
to this generation," Rhyneer said. "They want to know, you're talking
to me, not 300 other people."
A personalized touch is evident at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in
Massachusetts. Andrew Palumbo, the assistant vice president for
enrollment management and dean of admissions and financial aid, said
his institution has tried to account for barriers, such as by
permanently nixing its $70 application fee. The college's financial aid
officers also have standing time slots available to answer questions
online, Palumbo said. And the college made sure its digital recruitment
programming — webinars, panels — was available to students in as many
time zones as possible.
The college incurred new costs: a platform for digital content, web
development and an increase in video production and closed captioning
to ensure its accessibility, he said.
Savings came from not holding events or traveling, but the institution
also ended up with "unbudgeted" expenses: little perks like T-shirts
and lawn signs announcing the class of 2024's enrollment decisions.
Palumbo didn't specify how much money the college spent.
Though institutions, particularly admissions offices, tend to be
cash-strapped, Palumbo hopes they will figure out how to pay for a
blend of online and conventional recruitment tactics. Having many
virtual methods of recruitment also alleviates some of the grueling
travel admissions officials undertake.
WPI's system isn't perfect at bridging the digital dive, he said. "But
this really increases the amount of schools we can ‘stop' at," Palumbo
said. "We don't have to use that time to travel. We can be in
California, we can be in Oklahoma. … It's a great opportunity to
recruit students who desperately need college support this year."
Barriers remain
Once applicants are aware of a school, they need help navigating the
admissions process, which is especially true during the pandemic. In a
jarring twist for some students, most four-year institutions have
discontinued entrance exam requirements for those starting in fall
2021. Several high-profile institutions, including Cornell, Columbia
and Harvard universities, have already extended their test-optional
policies.
But applicants aren't completely buying the idea that they don't need
to take the tests — to the point that NACAC called on institutions to
publicly affirm they won't penalize students who don't provide scores.
Most colleges that did away with the tests for a time prior to the
pandemic haven't reverted back.
Also, the traditional deadlines for picking a school are becoming less
rigid. This can be a positive development, Pérez noted, as it gives
students and families more time to plan for college.
But he is also concerned colleges will use flashy incentives to get
students to commit to enrolling earlier than usual, which he said could
prematurely curtail their college searches. This was notoriously
attempted at North Carolina's High Point University in 2019, when
administrators dangled priority housing, course scheduling, prime
parking and early move-in slots for students who applied and committed
early there.
However, Harberson, the former admissions leader, said students and
families could benefit from being able to press for perks such as more
merit aid, especially in light of the economic instability.
Colleges must also find ways to stand out to students amid the
onslaught of marketing they're exposed to, said Julian Vasquez Heilig,
professor and dean of the University of Kentucky's College of Education.
Applicants don't want digitized versions of stereotypical brochures
showing students throwing a frisbee on a sunlit knoll, Vasquez Heilig
said. They want to see colleges telling important stories, he noted,
especially in light of movements like the fight for racial justice that
was reinvigorated last summer. Vasquez Heilig cited the university's
civil rights and education initiative with the NAACP as an example of
the type of program to promote among prospective students.
He said that partnership could have appealed to applicants like those
entering the College of Education, many of whom are interested in
correcting racial injustices. The university's attempts to bring in
those students appear to be working. The College of Education admitted
600 students two years ago, and it's up 200 more this academic year, he
said.
It will be key for colleges to hire staff who will prioritize this type
of work, and to take the time to grasp the subtleties of the different
digital platforms, Vasquez Heilig said. TikTok is meant to be more
creative, and often lighter and humorous, he noted, while Twitter is
more of a straightforward communication tool.
"How do you create content for that platform? How do you work with
their algorithms? It takes a lot of sophistication," he said. "We have
a limited amount of time to appeal to these students, so we have to be
very strategic."
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