Why Effective Student Recruitment is the Most Important Thing School Administrators Can Do
While April showers bring May flowers, April also yields peak season of enrollment recruitment for schools. The early birds might enroll their kids in school during the late winter months and the procrastinating parents will do so over summer, or much worse, within just a few weeks of the start of a new school year.
Yet, the largest majority will handle the decision of where to send their children in April and May. These are the months that a school must be poised to execute and effective recruitment strategy.
Why is having an effective recruitment plan the most important thing that administrators can do for the overall health of their academic programs?
Reason #1: Full Rosters = Full Budget
When you make the investment into enrollment and design an enrollment recruitment program that works, you will find that the $50-$100 you put into recruiting each student on average will yield you $1000s in funding during the school year. Yes, funding does vary between state, city and county, but unless you are receiving less than $100 for that student, you can’t fail. Thinking in pure business terms you are making a profit, not taking a loss, when you make the investment into a strong recruitment program.
Reason #2: Recruiting the Right Students
I have always said that recruiting 1 student that will stay with you for a full year is way better than recruiting 2 students that fail halfway through. In addition to having steady funding, this translates to happier student population, less attrition through the academic year and better re-enrollment rates mean less you’ll have to put into future enrollment campaigns. It is essential that you take the time to identify you key demographics of students, based on geography, academic goals, parental involvement required and a variety of other reasons.
Reason #3: Better Community Relations and Happier Parents
If you do good job of identifying and perusing students and families which are a proper fit for your academic program, not only will students stay with you, but parents and local communities will share in this success, leading to a positive reputation for your school.
Reason #4: Word of Mouth Word of Mouth. Word of Mouth.
If you recruit the right students and meet their academic, emotional and social needs throughout the year, they and their parents will not only stay with your program, but they will share their story and recommend your school to their family and friends.
And finally, yes, I know that getting students to enroll is half the battle. Keeping them there is the other half. For schools that enroll at-risk population, it’s even harder. But, if you start off by recruiting students who fit well for the academic program you have designed, you will find that many of other pieces will fall into place, much easier than there was no strategy developed upfront.
For more information on effective enrollment strategies, check out our listing of upcoming enrollment marketing webinars at: http://www.mysmartmedia.com/#!events/cei0












