By Jeremy Tiers, Senior Director of Admissions Services
3 minute read
Dealing with “Summer Melt” was challenging during the pandemic, but many admission and enrollment management leaders that I’ve been speaking with are worried it could be even worse this time around – in large part because of delayed financial aid packages and deposit deadlines that in some cases weren’t extended.
Controlling what you can control is always important.
I continue to see way too many colleges and universities become almost entirely transactional in their messaging and communications to committed/deposited students. That’s a big mistake and one I want you to avoid.
Here are some additional tips and proven strategies that will help you effectively minimize melt from your incoming class of students:
- Your communication flow to commits/deposits should be a combination of emails and text messages.
- In terms of frequency, two to four messages per month is sufficient.
- Your messaging doesn’t have to come from someone in admissions, but if it’s from another department on campus that the student is unfamiliar with, consider a ‘handoff’ message from a familiar voice so everything feels connected.
- Your email content needs to be more than just timeline and next step messages. Focus on reiterating your school’s strongest value points, or topics that you know are most relevant to a specific group of committed/deposited students. Instead of just repeating the same facts, figures, and information, provide more of the current student point of view in your messages via direct quotes – what it’s like to live on campus or be a commuter; getting involved in clubs and organizations; fun things current students like to do off campus; what they think about their classes and professors (make it major specific if possible). You can also provide content that fills in some the blanks related to the upcoming transition. That could include things like what to expect during move in day and the first week of school. Or, what surprised this year’s group of freshmen the most. Or, the most frequently asked questions each fall. You could even share a welcome message from each college’s Dean, and introduce people from specific departments and groups on campus that a lot of freshmen interact with.
- Text messaging should be utilized for important reminders (dates, deadlines, and events), alerting students to emails they may have missed or missing items, and as a way to gauge how they’re feeling at key points in time. Give your incoming students different opportunities to engage by asking direct questions like, “What are you most excited about when it comes to being a student here?” Or, “How are you feeling about moving away from home?”
- Find ways to connect your new students to your campus community. Social media, in particular Instagram, is a great way to introduce and show them some of the people, places, activities, and events that make your college or university’s student experience fun and enjoyable. You can also virtually connect everyone on different platforms by hosting games or competitions where new students compete online against each other or even your current students. The goal is to create opportunities for your commits/deposits to meet some of their future classmates now and start to feel more comfortable with their new home away from home.
- Communication to the parents of committed/deposited students is an absolute must! Parents and family members will either be an asset or an obstacle. To ensure they’re an asset, continue to keep them in the loop in a way that feels personal (i.e. separate emails versus Cc’ing them on all student messages). Your content should focus on some of the same things I mentioned in the previous bullet, but from a parent point of view. You’ll also want to reinforce key value points related to financial aid, the ROI of your school’s degree, and safety. Lastly, I encourage you to consider getting feedback from the parents of current first year students about key things like letting go and how to best support your child during the transition. From a frequency standpoint, communicating once or twice a month with this group is sufficient.
- Finally, when it comes to completing important forms and documents, do your best to spread those out as much as possible. Delivering a long checklist all at once is not the preference for the majority of students.
If you’d like to talk more about melt communication strategies, connect with me here.
And if you found this article helpful, please forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it. You can also encourage them to subscribe to my weekly newsletter here.