The first focus of a non-public or unbiased college admissions workforce is to drive enrollment, nevertheless it shouldn’t cease there. Everybody within the college ought to to be dedicated to preserving households and college students engaged in order that they need to return yr after yr. One factor that makes an enormous distinction in enrollment and retention—but is commonly ignored or beneath resourced—is the technique and technique of onboarding.
Your college’s onboarding course of is important to pupil retention and your technique ought to contain not solely admissions workers, but additionally your whole management workforce. From the Head of College being seen and accessible to the advertising and marketing workers growing e-mail content material to the admins managing your guardian portal, every member of your workforce has a vital position in onboarding.
Rick Newberry, President of Enrollment Catalyst, has labored with greater than 500 personal and unbiased colleges in crafting their advertising and marketing and enrollment methods. In a current Blackbaud webinar, he shared the assumptions he’s seen college leaders make about onboarding households which may threaten enrollment. Listed below are the highest 5.
1. You assume they’ll present up.
The contract could also be signed, the coed enrolled, and even a deposit made, however that doesn’t imply they’ll present up on day one, nor that they’ll proceed to attend all through the varsity yr. There are lots of variables which will change between contract and attendance, so your job isn’t achieved when a household enrolls.
Your enrollment is in danger if:
- The varsity fails to nurture the household relationship
- The kid has a poor preliminary expertise
- The onboarding course of is disorganized
Keep in mind: retaining a pupil prices lower than recruiting a brand new one. Within the 2022 Impartial College Value-Per-Enrollment Research, median cost-per-enrollment of 1 new pupil was $3,677. These bills—together with admission staffing, admissions advertising and marketing and communications, promotional and software program prices, journey, and extra—are solely rising.
2. You assume they perceive your college’s tradition.
You already know your college. You already know what your acronyms are. You already know the aim and nature of your teams and occasions. A brand new household doesn’t know. They haven’t skilled any of it earlier than, so you possibly can’t assume that they know the cadence of your college yr, what precisely a catchily-named group is, or what an occasion is all about.
For example, new households won’t be aware of the annual Fall Competition, which is a major occasion on your group. Why ought to they attend, not to mention volunteer? Equally, they may not perceive the assorted teams and actions obtainable for his or her youngsters or become involved. Did your enrollment course of embrace delving into every baby’s abilities and pursuits? How are you serving to them discover these teams past itemizing them in a packet or in your portal?
You probably have customizable digital checklists in your enrollment administration system, you should definitely embrace college teams and actions so households can point out curiosity. Then schedule duties on your workers to observe up and guarantee college students get related with others who share these pursuits.
3. You assume households and college students will meet new individuals on their very own.
They’re becoming a member of a brand new group, and a few mother and father and college students are shy. They could be extra introverted. They could not like crowds. But you recognize it’s vital that they meet and really feel related to your school, workers, and different college households.
It’s essential to create a tradition of belonging the place new individuals really feel accepted and valued. Assist construct their sense of group by encouraging key members of the family to take part in group actions, providing them assist, and progressively exposing them to new methods to make connections. Offering alternatives for one-on-one interactions could make a major distinction. Many colleges create a buddy system for college kids. Think about doing the identical for the adults concerned.
4. You continue to depend on an enormous welcome packet.
Packing the whole lot into one envelope and sending that to households isn’t essentially one of the best ways to share very important data. Do you actually suppose they’re going to learn all of it? Are you certain it reached the appropriate individuals in that family?
What if, as an alternative, you had college leaders, advisors, and pupil ambassadors attain out to households proactively? How are you going to interact extra members of your group to maintain the welcome going in the summertime months and all through the varsity yr?
5. You assume they aren’t questioning their enrollment determination.
They’re. Households will spend some huge cash to attend your college and there are different elements at play. You’ve guided them by the whole admissions funnel. They made an enormous determination, and so they’re enrolled. They’ve signed the contract.
But within the Enrollment Administration Affiliation’s (EMA) 2024 The Trip to Impartial Colleges Report, greater than 1 in 3 households already enrolled in an unbiased college had been actively contemplating a brand new college outdoors of the unbiased college house. EMA calls it an “industry-wide leaky bucket.”
What are a few of these households’ largest considerations and questions? Attempt to perceive their mindset. They’ve seen your supplies, learn on-line evaluations, and peered into your social media channels. They’ve visited your campus. However they don’t actually know what your college is like as a result of they haven’t skilled it.
It may be onerous to switch into a brand new college. They seemingly thought of their choices for over a yr earlier than contacting you. Perhaps they had been 3 or 4 alternate options earlier than selecting your college. They may frequently consider whether or not it was the appropriate determination for them as a household. It’s your job to point out them it was and nonetheless is.
Transferring ahead
The onboarding course of at personal and unbiased colleges is a elementary element of pupil retention. It requires the involvement of the whole college group—from the Head of College and admissions to advertising and marketing and entrance workplace workers—to make sure that new households really feel welcomed and supported. By addressing widespread assumptions and offering clear communication, colleges can create a constructive expertise for brand new households, finally resulting in greater retention charges. Investing in a complete onboarding technique is important for long-term success.
Dig deeper into onboarding—together with profitable methods already applied at some colleges—in our on-demand webinar: Past Enrollment: Onboarding Ok–12 Households for Retention Success.
