The New Typical Student: Courting Adult Learners for College and Universities
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Transcript of The New Typical Student: Courting Adult Learners for College and Universities
THE NEW TYPICAL STUDENTHOW THREE SCHOOLS ARE COURTING ADULT LEARNERS AND WINNING THE ENROLLMENT GAME
Melissa Marcello Managing Director Champlain College Division of Continuing Professional Studies
Andrea Fagon Director of Marketing and Communications CUNY School ofProfessional Studies
Cristina Ruggiero, Ph.D. Associate Dean University of Pittsburgh College of General Studies
Jason Smith Managing Director OHO Interactive
38% OF COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE 25 YEARS OR OLDER.
National Center for Education Statistics
THE NEW “TYPICAL” STUDENT
https://www.aacu.org/publications-research/periodicals/research-adult-learners-supporting-needs-student-population-no
THE NEW “TYPICAL” STUDENT
WHAT DOES “NON-TRADITIONAL” MEAN?
▸ Independent of parents for financial aid reasons
▸ Having one or more dependents
▸ Being a single caregiver
▸ Not having a traditional high school diploma
▸ Delaying postsecondary enrollment
▸ Stopping out of degree program for many reasons
▸ Attending school part time
▸ Being employed full time
31% OF ALL STUDENTS HAD 2-3 NONTRADITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 74% HAD NO NONTRADITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS.
National Center for Education Statistics
THE NEW “TYPICAL” STUDENT
http://www.ecampusnews.com/research/nontraditional-student-nces/?all
SCHOOL PROFILE
CUNY SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
▸ 2,800 students
▸ Student mix: 85% Online
▸ Demographics: 25-45,
60% female, Undergraduates
are degree completer's.
▸ Key focus areas:
Business, Communications,
Psychology, Nursing RN to BS
SCHOOL PROFILE
CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE ONLINE
▸ 4,300 Active Students
▸ 100% Online
▸ Demographics:
▸ 47% female, 53% male
▸ Avg. age 36
▸ 65% from partner orgs
▸ Key focus areas:
▸ Business & Technology
SCHOOL PROFILE
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH - COLLEGE OF GENERAL STUDIES
▸ 1,005 total with 776 FTE
▸ Student mix: Offer on-line and hybrid and evening courses. No 100% online programs.
▸ Demographics: 78.1% under the age of 30. 47.4% between 21-25
▸ Key focus areas: Criminal Justice, Media & Communications, Natural Sciences/Health Services
PROSPECTS
WHAT IS AN ADULT LEARNER? HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER STUDENTS?
PROSPECTS
PROGRAMS
PROGRAMS
ONLINE / HYBRID / IN PERSON / SELF-PACED
10%5%
85%
CUNY
12%
46% 12%
29%
Online Hybrid In Person Self Paced
PITT-CGS
100%
CHAMPLAIN
WHAT UNIQUE APPROACHES TO YOUR PROGRAM OFFERS HAVE YOU TAKEN?
PROGRAM OFFERING
PROGRAMS
WHAT ARE THE TOP PROGRAMS AND WHY?
▸ CUNY Online
▸ Online RN-BS in Nursing, BS in Business, BS in Communication and Media, MA in Data Analytics, MA in Psychology, MS in Business Management and Leadership.
▸ CGS
▸ BS Natural Sciences, BS/BA Health Services [gateway to professional health programs; i.e. MD, physical therapy, physician assistant]
▸ BA Media & Professional Communications [digital media, pr, marketing (w/o having to do business degree)]
▸ BA Administration of Justice [law enforcement, corrections, cybersecurity]
▸ Champlain Online
▸ BS Business, BS Accounting, MBA
▸ BS Cybersecurity, BS Computer Forensics, MS Digital Forensics
PROMOTION
PROMOTION
PARTNERSHIP CHANNEL – CHAMPLAIN
67%
33%
69%
31%
Undergraduate truED - Std. Enrollment
Graduate truED - Std. Enrollment
PROMOTION
ROLE OF WEBSITE
▸ Serves prospective students along the decision-making continuum
▸ More than an online viewbook - at it's best it's a full experience of the place (even a virtual place)
▸ User expectation and use case is multi-device
▸ It could be the only admission counselor for 25%+ students
PROMOTION
ROLE OF WEBSITE
▸ Content customized for AT&T employees
▸ Reinforce employer messaging
▸ Clear CTAs
▸ Presumption is BOFU/"Intent" rather than TOFU
PROMOTION
WHAT IS WORKING – CHAMPLAIN
▸ Partnership (truED) & standard funnel
▸ A local & national marketing strategy
▸ A new sub-brand
▸ Multichannel investments including earned media
PROMOTION
WHAT IS WORKING – CHAMPLAINEvolution of the Champlain Online Sub-brand: National & Local Campaigns
PROMOTION
WHAT IS WORKING – CHAMPLAINMS Information Security Operations 1/21/2016 Launch
First cohort: March 2016
PROMOTION
WHAT IS WORKING – CHAMPLAINImpact of Earned Media & Paid Search Spend on Web Traffic/Leads
PROMOTION
WHAT IS WORKING – CGS‣ Digital Marketing-GPS,
Google Display, Facebook, Bing
‣ 1/3 of prospect pool comes from digital marketing
‣ 16% of applications from digital marketing campaign leads came from Facebook
PROMOTION
WHAT IS WORKING – CGS▸ Community
College Advertising
‣ Messaging:
Flexible course delivery, degree completion, transfer credits
DEDICATED PROGRAMMATIC LANDING PAGES TARGETED SOCIAL AND DIGITAL MARKETING
WHAT IS WORKING – CUNY SPS
‣ INCREASED LEADS = INCREASED APPLICATIONS PER PROGRAMS
INSTITUTIONAL BRAND CAMPAIGN WORKING AT BEING CREATIVE– CUNY SPS
SOCIAL MEDIA BRAND CAMPAIGN / CONTESTS
#WEARECUNYONLINE
WORKING AT BEING CREATIVE– CUNY SPS
Goal: Recruit students
1:1 Marketing Personalization
Anonymous User
Goal: Recruit students
1:1 Marketing Personalization
Anonymous UserAdmissions “Hot List”
“Named User”
PLACE
HOW DO YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN YOUR SCHOOL WITHIN THE LARGER COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY?
PLACE
PLACE
WHERE DO YOU FIT IN THE SCHOOL?
▸ “29%:The share of college undergraduates who are traditional students.”
▸ Connection to the institution overall
▸ What challenges do you face?
▸ Get away from talking about the “freshman” residential experience
▸ Admissions deadlines vs. rolling admission
▸ How have you overcome these challenges?
WRAPPING IT UP
3 TAKE AWAYS
▸ In marketing to non-traditional students, it’s less about finding them and more about them finding you.
▸ Your institution’s value proposition and key messages must be tailored to the non-traditional audience: what is important to a 17-year old is likely very different from what is important to an adult learner.
▸ Key marketing messages: how much? how long? how flexible?
TAKE IT HOME
▸ Slides are available here:
▸ White paper on recruiting adult learners: bit.ly/OHO-Adult-Learners