News

Beginnings are a critical time — you can plant important seeds for future constituency with some deliberate planning around how you will convey messages regarding awareness, gratitude, and giving to students during their transition into the institution. In this article, a university president, three enrollment managers, and a thought leader in institutional advancement offer their advice on steps that universities can take during the admissions process to invite new students to see themselves as active members of the university community and lifetime stakeholders in the university — to take pride in their future alma mater from day one. Prior to Admission In fact, you can start engaging potential students in the community and culture of your institution even before day one. MIT offers a case study on how to do this effectively, having recently seen success in engaging prospects and applicants in the culture of the institution even prior to admittance by rethinking the admissions website. Now a “Web Portal and Community,” the site features student, staff, and alumni bloggers. What has worked well for MIT is the openness of the blog. “Invite student, staff, and alumni bloggers to post not only advice for the admissions process but also let them talk […]

Just as it is important not to miss the opportunity of inviting students into a lifetime relationship with the institution at convocation or during orientation, it’s also critical to manage the opportunity presented by the students’ transition out of their undergraduate years. Many institutions miss the chance to educate students about the real role of private giving in the institution’s financial health and set the wrong expectations for their future alumni by relying on gimmicks to improve senior gift participation rates. What Doesn’t Work For example, here are three tactics that, while they may help drive up senior gift participation rates, also damage your ability to engage the seniors effectively as alumni later: Treating the gift as a “quid pro quo” by offering a t-shirt, tickets to an athletic event, or a university coffee mug to students who give — this sets the expectation that when your future young alumni give to the institution, they receive something tangible in return Asking that every student give one dollar — when the gift ceases to be meaningful, you gain participation rate at the expense of your renewal rate “Shaming” seniors into giving by publishing the names of students who do not participate in the […]

Even as the demand in international markets for a US education continues to rise, more institutions are responding to budget pressures in part by stepping up recruitment of international students, who typically bring significantly more tuition revenue than domestic students. According to the Institute of International Education, in 2008-09, more than 26,000 Chinese students were enrolled in college in the United States, up from 8,000 students eight years earlier. The New York Times has playfully dubbed this “the China Boom.” US colleges continue to see rising enrollments from India and other nations, as well, with India’s top education officials seeking partnerships with US institutions for help in boosting college attainment rates. Even enrollment of international graduate students is rising after a recent lull, according to an annual report by the Council of Graduate Schools. However, if you are not an Ivy League school with a well-established reputation in your target countries, how can you ramp up your international recruiting efforts swiftly? PRIMERS ON KEY RECRUITING STRATEGIES Recruiting International Students: Getting Started (November 2009) Recruiting Chinese Students: What You Need to Know (May 2010) Web marketing guru Bob Johnson, president of Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC, notes that your website is the first […]

In 2007, Academic Impressions researched the top student philanthropy programs in the United States and identified a student philanthropy model that highlights three core components shared by the most effective student philanthropy programs:     The Academic Impressions Student Philanthropy Model This model provides a conceptual framework for examining the components of an effective approach to inviting students into your long-term donor pipeline: Creating awareness: Do your students know how their education is funded? Do they understand the importance of private giving to their school? Developing gratitude: Do your students express gratitude for the support they have received? Do your students feel grateful for the role of private support in their educational opportunities? Cultivating giving: Have your students acted on their awareness and gratitude with a philanthropic gesture? “To successfully cultivate committed, lifetime donors, student philanthropy cannot be a series of ad hoc initiatives — it has to be a thoughtfully crafted strategy that spans the student life cycle and has leadership support.” Naomi Nishi, Director of Program Design and Customization, Academic Impressions Awareness Lay out expectations for students regarding their relationship with and responsibility to their alma mater, do so unapologetically, and do so starting at the beginning of freshman […]

Amid the decline of state support for public institutions and a less forgiving fundraising climate (a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy study showed a 12% decline in giving for 2009, the sharpest drop in 50 years), ensuring the future financial health of your institution will require more intentional footwork in establishing a reliable pipeline of invested donors. To develop a stronger donor pipeline, the key is to start earlier. However, institutions attempting to raise giving rates for young alumni are often rebuffed. In a study of the attitudes of young alumni conducted this summer, the Engagement Strategies Group confirmed that the majority of young alumni are reluctant to give due to high tuition costs and a lack of understanding of how institutions of higher education are funded and how institutions do (and don’t) draw on endowment spending to finance their needs. Colleges and universities need to solicit more support from their former students, but what such reports demonstrate is that the best opportunity to create an ambassador for your institution is to cultivate them while they are still students on campus. It is more expensive and much more difficult, if not impossible, for the development office to repair relationships after commencement. […]

This week, the Washington Post highlighted the efforts many smaller colleges are making to add football programs as a strategy to recruit more men — one of several strategies colleges are currently employing to enroll more men (other efforts include adding academic majors that commonly appeal to men). However, recruitment is only the first part of the solution — colleges also need to address the growing gender gap in student retention. We interviewed W. Kent Barnds, vice president for enrollment, communication, and planning at Augustana College, who recently facilitated an Academic Impressions workshop on the issue, to learn more about where colleges have opportunities to engage male underclassmen. Barnds directs attention to the research collected in Why Boys Fail by Richard Whitmire and Teaching the Male Brain by Abigail Norfleet James, and then offers the following tips for applying the findings to practical strategies an institution can undertake to improve retention of men. Engage Men with Career-Oriented Experiences “Take a step back. Adding sports to attract young men is a good step, but beyond that, are you asking the critical questions to learn if your academic environment and your academic support environment will help you keep them?” W. Kent Barnds, […]