Enrollment Collapse or Re-imagined?
All across the country college presidents are concerned about the opening of school and the enormous impact COVID-19 could have on the fall semester. Will colleges remain open two weeks? A month? Is Thanksgiving too much to expect? Will the vaccine really be ready by years end? Or will this nightmare continue into spring? Colleges have cleaned and de-densified for safety, hired testing labs to deliver results, and yes, they have also hired epidemiologists to consult. They have stretched their facilities manager, student life director, and their CFO to deliver, but they haven’t thought of everything. Have they?
Across campuses, Admission Directors are just now joining the group of stressed-out senior leaders. They are concerned about a different Fall. How will they pivot their entire team and everything they currently do, while contending with college fair closings, limited high school visits, and a cohort that has possibly not seen their campus yet? How will they enroll the next year’s class? Can they rely on virtual platforms to showcase the campus? Will a student enroll if they can’t physically visit the dining hall, the coffee shop, the residence hall, or the college town? Or will they enroll in an on-line school that offers them everything they really need – a college degree, in less time, and at a reduced cost. If they can’t have a good experience why take the chance and have a bad one? On-line programs were already devouring market share before the pandemic struck. Now on-line is the edge.
Presidents are expecting their VPEM to handle enrollment with smaller budgets, slashing travel completely and eliminating meals normally served during open houses. But are there enough virtual events and creative solutions to the COVID-19 problem of engaging prospective students trapped at home with their devices? And, don’t forget about parents – they are still paying, right? They want to see where their child will live and study. Ultimately, will virtual platforms be less expensive? Have you developed a pandemic enrollment plan to drive net revenue?
Who will now look at your school without football, cheerleaders, marching bands, sororities or fraternities? Will they trust that everything will return in the future? It is a bleak prognosis for your VPEM and their team. How many fall open houses will they need to plan if they can only host a few families in the auditorium or gymnasium? And, that is if you are still open in October and November. The visit numbers and the available week-ends simply do not compute.
Who will keep your VPEM focused? Your CFO is already experiencing tough times with all of the housing refunds, CARES Act funding rules, and hotel contract negotiations. After all, someone has to support and defend the budget cuts? How will you keep your leadership team energized, healthy, and motivated? Are you equipped to create an all hands-on deck for recruitment after you no longer need the epidemiologist? Pandemic recruitment will be a much different scenario. Hopefully you built up senior leads to sustain the enrollment for next year’s class, but what about the fall after that? How will you convert them to enrolled students, without a plan? Is it already too late? Maybe not for rising seniors but I guarantee you are behind for juniors. And, one more thing -- who keeps you sane and successful?