retention Tag

Overcoming bad press: college marketers vs. student debt crisis

In our previous posts, we learned how college marketers are applying marketing solutions to the problems of a declining customer base and poor retention rates. An undercurrent that has propelled both of the problems is the issue of student debt.   Search “student debt crisis” and you’ll find four years of headlines such as “Student Debt Is Dragging Down an Entire Generation”. It’s no wonder that Gen Z is cautious about the cost of college. Their paranoia of debt is compounded by the fact that they have witnessed friends and family lose jobs and homes during the 2008 recession.   Is rebranding or a brand refresh the solution?   When you have an image problem, damage control may include a total rebranding. Take Pennsylvania’s original Beaver College for example. After years of bad jokes and declining applications, they put an end to the ridicule back in 2000 when they rebranded as Arcadia University. By 2005, applications...

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Would you settle for a 30% retention rate? Neither should colleges.

In our last blog, Higher education is desperate to lure more of Gen Z. How will they succeed?,  we focused on how Colleges and Universities are bolstering their efforts to attract Gen Z as new-student enrollments continue to drop. The college strategies we reviewed are applicable to any business looking forward to Gen Z or serving them today. Of course, onboarding is just part of the story. The next challenge for higher education is retention - how to keep Gen Z engaged and enrolled through to graduation.   According to the most recent statistics available, 59.4% of students do not graduate from 4-year institutions and 70% of students do not graduate from 2-year institutions. It’s a sad statistic for our young people, the colleges they attend and our nation as a whole — especially when you consider that a majority are lower-income, minority students who may be the first in their family...

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