Tim Copeland's Blog on College & University Marketing and Enrollment Management

Top Enrollment Marketing Blog Posts of 2011

As 2011 winds down, here's a look back at my most trafficked blog posts of the year:

Over the past few years, it’s been difficult to attend a higher education enrollment management or marketing conference without at least one ‘expert’ spouting that [insert age group] doesn’t read/use email anymore - this despite actual research from my own company, DemandEngine, as well as Noel-Levitz demonstrating otherwise.

In Who Says Email is Irrelevant? Not Facebook, a January 2011 post, I wrote about Facebook's June 2010 'about-face' on the topic of email marketing and their announcement of facebook.com email addresses.

Marketing to adult learners has traditionally been a 'build it and they will come' proposition. Colleges and universities carve out institutional access by creating new enrollment pathways outside of the traditional day-student undergraduate model. Q&A: The New Enrollment Marketing Plan for Adult Learners posted in February 2011 is a question and answer transcript for a webinar I presented on behalf of the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA).

In April 2011, I wrote about how associations across the country are reporting declines in renewals and new member growth. In Does Membership have Its Privileges? Raising the Bar for Today's Higher Education Association, I raise the question for colleges and universities considering their memberships and offer some ideas in a DemandEngine white paper.

Given the interest in higher education CRM, this next article was the most heavily-trafficked posting of the year. In Five Things Your Higher Education CRM Vendor Doesn't Want You to Know, I write about topics any college or university should consider if a purchase is under consideration including CRM's checkered past and how many higher education CRM vendors don't even use their own technology.

One of my personal favorite postings of the year comes courtesy of Craig Maslowsky, VP of Enrollment Management and Marketing at Excelsior College. In Social Shilling and the Temptation of the Higher Education Vendor, I wrote about Craig's posting in a LinkedIn group for references and recommendations on CRM technology and the aftermath that follows. Sorting through the ridiculous (example: Leads360-"We are the only enrollment management solution designed for schools that compete for students"), I contacted Craig along with Keith Hampson, the founder of the Linkedin Higher Education Management Group for their thoughts.

The year 2011 saw a wave of higher education vendor mergers and acquisitions ranging from Datatel-SunGard Higher Education, Oracle and RightNow Technologies, and most recently, Hobson's acquisition of Intelliworks. In August 2011, I reported on a 'tip' I received through web analytics prior to the Datatel-SunGard Higher Education merger announcement.

Finally, I believe that it's always instructive to watch how other industries tackle similar questions and challenges. In Social Skepticism? Research Note from the Nation's Retailer, I write about retail eCommerce trends and recent report from Forrester Research including an increased level of skepticism around the role of social networks in driving sales.

Thank you to the many loyal readers of my blog. If you are not a subscriber, I invite you to enter your email address in the top, right-hand corner of the screen to receive automatic updates of new postings.

Merry Christmas and have a safe and enjoyable New Year.

Hobsons Acquires Intelliworks

Higher education technology consolidation is in the air.

Today, Hobsons, a leading provider in recruitment, communication, and student success software for colleges and universities, announced its acquisition of Intelliworks, a leading provider of relationship management solutions for higher education.The acquisition adds Intelliworks' expertise in non-traditional higher education environments.  

Craig Heldman, chief executive officer of Hobsons, Inc., highlights, “This transaction will enable us to deliver more value to the clients of Hobsons and Intelliworks by blending the expertise and product knowledge of two proven industry leaders. The combination will benefit the higher education market and expand Hobsons’ ability to bring success to education through innovation, leadership and partnerships. It will also enhance our efforts in graduate, professional and continuing education and executive education, where Intelliworks has established a significant presence.”    

The combined entity, operating as Hobsons, will deliver a suite of integrated solutions for managing the entire student lifecycle.Hobsons and Intelliworks are committed to satisfying all existing client needs, delivering world-class service, and providing clear and easy upgrade paths to future solutions. As part of the transaction, Intelliworks’ Chief Executive Officer Todd Gibby will join Hobsons as managing director for higher education, responsible for leading the company’s higher education business.

“Combining Intelliworks’ and Hobsons’ resources and experience will enable us to deliver innovative, flexible, and scalable enrollment management solutions for every type of institution, including individual programs and departments within an institution,” added Gibby. “On behalf of the Intelliworks team, we are delighted to join Hobsons in serving academic institutions and helping to transform the way they engage with prospects, students, and all members of their communities.”

Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Degrees of Failure and Choosing the High School "Major"

Is it time for high school students to start choosing majors? A significant number of American teenagers graduate from high school unprepared to take their next big steps toward adulthood, according to a study by researchers at The Johns Hopkins University and the University of Arizona’s Center for the Study of Higher Education.

More than 40 percent of high schoolers do not follow a college preparatory track or take adequate career and technical education courses, and these missed opportunities can leave young people at a disadvantage after graduation when they enroll in college or look for a job, according to Stefanie DeLuca, an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Johns Hopkins, and Regina Deil-Amen of the University of Arizona.

Creating an underclass of students

“This group is a virtual underclass of students who are neither college-ready nor in an identifiable career curriculum,” DeLuca said. “They are likely to depart from high school having taken classes mainly from the high school general curriculum in which they received little to no job preparation or guidance. This group is also less likely to enroll in college, but if they do, they enroll at a remedial level and leave before earning a degree. Either path places them at risk for failure.”

DeLuca and Deil-Amen’s study, “The Underserved Third: How Our Educational Structures Populate an Educational Underclass,” was published by the Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk in April 2010.

Analyzing data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study along with other studies, DeLuca and Deil-Amen found that today’s high schoolers fall into three categories: those on a college preparatory track, making up an estimated one-third of the student body; those who prepare for the post-graduation labor force through career and technical education programs, making up a quarter of the student population; and the more than 40 percent of high school students who don’t have access to adequate college preparation or occupational training.

The college-track students were disproportionately white and of higher socioeconomic status, and the most unprepared students were the poorest, disproportionately underrepresented minority students, immigrant English language learner, and first-generation college students.

For some students who delay preparation for four-year colleges or jobs while in high school, two-year colleges seem like a second chance. Some students manage to meet the requirements for highly selective two-year community college programs or make it through expensive occupational programs at for-profit colleges—both options can prepare them for more lucrative jobs. However, many others end up in less selective two-year degree programs and often don’t complete the requirements. When they do, such programs may lead to less economically rewarding jobs, DeLuca and Deil-Amen wrote.

To combat these problems, the researchers support the fusion of both career and academic curricula in high school to provide more feasible methods of opening up career and college options for all.

Georgia's 17 Career Pathway Clusters

The state of Georgia is about start requiring ninth graders to pick a career path and follow a class schedule that's at least partially tailored to it. Georgia's career pathway clusters include:

1) Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources

2) A/V Technology and Communications

3) Architecture and Construction

4) Business, Management and Administration

5) Education and Training

6) Finance

7) Government and Public Administration

8) Health Science

9) Hospitality and Tourism

10) Human Services

11) Information Technology

12) Manufacturing

13) Marketing, Sales and Service

14) Public Safety and Security

15) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

16) Transportation, Distribution and Logistics

17) Energy

The objective is to raise career and college readiness for all students. Career pathways initiatives of some degree are already in place in most states. But next fall will be the first time that they become a mandate for all Georgia ninth graders.

State of Georgia School Superintendent John Barge and key lawmakers say the state has to make this move, if students are to have hope of getting the jobs of the future -- nearly half of which are forecast to go to people with an associate degree or occupational certificate.

“We must change how and what we do in K-12 education,” Barge said. The status quo isn't working, given the remedial courses required of many Georgia college students and the business community's complaint that many graduates entering the work force lack essential skills, he said.