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The Truth about Post-pandemic Higher Ed Admissions

July 1, 2020July 8, 2020

Troubling new data provides stark evidence that higher ed admissions offices can no longer rely on yesterday’s strategies to meet tomorrow’s recruitment and enrollment goals.

For example, most recently surveyed college students (56%) believe they are now unable to afford to pay tuition. And whereas only about 50% of college leaders have said their institutions are “very likely” to resume in-person classes this fall, most students (56%) have described online-only classes as “unappealing.” Another survey revealed that only 2% of 18-to-24-year-olds want to attend college exclusively online.

This news, in turn, raises an important question: What can higher ed admissions offices learn from the current crisis to limit the potential damage caused by future societal and economic disruptions?

According to several recently interviewed higher ed admissions leaders, the solution involves more than just maintaining the size of their traditional applicant pools. It also requires schools create bigger — and better — applicant pipelines. One proven way to do so, they say, is by joining Liaison’s Centralized Application Service (CAS™) Community.

A proven higher ed admissions remedy

A CAS is an online recruiting and application platform that allows colleges and universities to save time and money. It grows enrollment and simplifies admissions through a paperless, cloud-based platform to recruit best-fit students. With a CAS, which is available to institutions at no cost, admissions offices have experienced up to a 70% reduction in time to decision. They also reported a roughly 90% reduction in manual administrative application processing tasks while avoiding the need to add headcount to manage growing application volumes.

Setting up a CAS was “quick and easy,” said Kyron Carter, Manager of Enrollment Analytics at Howard University. “We were up and running within six weeks.”

Sean Pitzer, Associate Director of Graduate Admissions at St. Cloud University, saw a similarly quick implementation: “With Liaison’s help, we were able to launch a new application for our 60 graduate programs within about five weeks.”

Wider reach, deeper applicant pools

When potential applicants log on to a CAS, they can search for the programs that interest them at every participating college and university. As a result, those who were previously unaware of your programs are able to discover them and upload their application materials quickly and easily.

How effective is joining a CAS for schools interested in boosting enrollment?

“After our first cycle in BusinessCAS^TM [the first and only CAS for business programs], we’ve seen a 44% increase in our class size,” said Dee Steinle, Executive Director of MBA and MSB Programs at the University of Kansas. “We were expecting significant results when we saw a 50% increase in applications just one month after launching the CAS, but this is beyond what we even imagined.”

Toby McChesney, Ed.D., Senior Assistant Dean of Graduate Business Programs and Special Assistant to the Provost at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, said his institution also experienced dramatic results — even after the onset of the current pandemic. “Despite the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak — and the concerning trends related to graduate management education applications that predated it — we’ve seen a 33% increase in applications for Fall 2020,” he said. “For our Summer Online MBA alone, we saw a 180% increase in applications and a 163% increase in matriculants.”

Faster results, better higher ed admissions outcomes

Before adopting a CAS, Oregon Health & Science University’s admissions team manually processed all applications and supporting documents. Automating document management with the CAS was “like moving from the Stone Age to an iPhone,” said Richard Goranflo, Ed.D., Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs. Application processing times have decreased by 99%. “I’d say we do 5% of the manual processing we used to do,” Goranflo said. “It’s shocking how little time we’re spending on admissions compared to the past, and it’s fantastic.”

By processing applications on weekends, holidays and even during campus shutdowns, Liaison helps programs overcome potentially debilitating staff and time limitations — no matter what’s going on in the world. In other words, a CAS allows your institution to protect itself from disruptive events and maintain “business as usual” admissions operations even if physical campuses are forced to curtail their operations.

Whether your institution is trying to recover from the impact of COVID-19 or better position itself to deal with the next crisis that may threaten its recruitment and enrollment goals, joining the CAS Community offers immediate and lasting benefits that can pave the way to a better future.

Highlights from Higher Ed: Overcoming New Challenges with Change

November 3, 2017January 4, 2018

1. The U.S. isn’t alone in needing a change to admissions policies

“Reflecting the difficulty of the journey taken by those from disadvantaged backgrounds should be a common sense principle in university admissions,” said Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, when discussing the radical change that the education charity wants elite UK universities to undergo to promote equity of access. He adds: “giving low and moderate income students a break is the norm” at their U.S. equivalents.

2. Combining to cut costs

Connecticut’s community colleges may be seeing a difference in cost as a proposed plan would combine the 12 community colleges under the direction of a single vice chancellor. The plan would save $28 million and would cause a rise in ranking to the fifth largest community college in the country. How will this affect admissions and potential applicants?

3. Making an unfamiliar system familiar

As the Hispanic population of Montgomery County, Indiana increases, the Journal Review reports that local schools are offering more help to these students, many of whom are the first in their families to pursue a degree or even graduate high school. “Some of our families may not have much background on how to navigate secondary education,” said Amy Carrington, who directs the English-as-a-second language program at Crawfordsville Community Schools. “So it’s hard for them to help their students because not only is it in another language, it’s a different … system than what they’re used to.”

4. Higher ed faces new challenges and demands

What effect does the Presidential administration have on higher education? PwC explores the answers to this question in this year’s Perspectives in Higher Education report.

CCBC Takes a 3 Step Approach to Driving Student Success

September 12, 2017March 29, 2019

Applicants’, students’ and graduates’ needs drive the Community College of Baltimore County’s services

“It’s not that ‘non-traditional’ has a negative connotation for us. The term just doesn’t apply because we’re not of the same tradition,” shared Ebony Thomas-Butler, admissions coordinator at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) School of Health Professions, during a recent conversation about how her college supports its diverse student population. “We’re focused on creating opportunities for all of those who are interested in higher education. Parents, grandparents, veterans, career changers — we’re here to help all students achieve success.”

As an institution that serves many of the students who the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) would consider non-traditional, CCBC offers great insight into the three-step approach that’s needed to drive success for students from all backgrounds.

Step 1: Start before the application is complete

CCBC streamlines its admissions process because the College recognizes that those who are considering higher education already have enough on their plates before they even start the application process.

“During the months when we’re expecting the highest application volume, we sit down with students at least once a month for one hour CAS Application Workshops, sessions dedicated to walking them through the application, step by step. We go through the transcript request process. We demonstrate the application technology. We talk through common barriers that they might encounter. Increasing familiarity with the process and driving comfort with the technology minimizes unneeded frustration during what’s already a stressful, life-changing process,” Ebony explained.

Once prospective students are ready to apply, they’re met with a modern application experience in the form of Liaison-powered Centralized Application Services (CAS™ and UniCAS™). Regular application status updates and phone/email support along the way allow CCBC to maintain its hands-on support of applicants throughout this stage.

Step 2: Guide enrolled students to graduation

Once students have enrolled, dedicated academic advisors take over, leveraging their experience to guide students as they monitor academic success and also stay on the lookout for when life just gets in the way. “For instance, students — or their parents or their children — get sick and need breaks from academic responsibilities. Or their power gets cut off, and that adds a hurdle to completing the work required for their program,” shared Ebony. “We offer a range of services that help students manage money, learn time management and maintain overall wellness. Sometimes that looks like walking them through getting a bus pass. Other times, it looks like our formal academic development program course.”

Through grant funding, the School of Health Professions employs a project director specifically focused on driving student retention. As a part of this role, the director meets with incoming students and facilitates a “Tools for Success” course focused on personal and professional success. The course covers time management, study skills, test taking and test anxiety as well as general communication skills, and the director continues developing these skills with students during one-on-one sessions that drill down to specific academic concerns. If human services assistance is needed, the director connects students with Success Navigators, college representatives who can help overcome these personal obstacles.

Step 3: Include post-campus opportunities in the definition of “success”

Another component that sets CCBC apart: a focus on what happens after students leave the campus.

“Program directors offer networking opportunities, and we have a career services department that ensures the time and effort these students put in leads to career advancement. In fact, in addition to being attracted by the specialty programs — some of our programs are the only ones offered in Maryland — and our high first passage rates on Board and Certification exams, a main reason that students find their way to CCBC is because they want to start their career as soon as possible. They recognize that we’re here to help them achieve that goal.”

Expand your focus for greater student success

With the risk of student attrition on the rise, higher ed institutions of all types would do well to take an approach similar to CCBC’s. “It all comes down to seeing students as whole people. They’re pursuing degrees or certificates, but that’s not the only thing going on in their lives. By expanding our focus to support them earlier and later in the process, and recognizing that life is unpredictable, we can drive more student success. It benefits our academic communities and society as a whole to support success on and off campus.”

Highlights from Higher Ed: Legacy Admission and Rejection

September 8, 2017January 4, 2018

1. Still underrepresented after all these years

Many are concerned about affirmative action, because they worry that a singular focus on increasing applicants from one background decreases the representation of those from all other groups. But is this the reality? According to The NY Times, not quite. In fact, “black and Hispanic students are more underrepresented at the nation’s top colleges and universities than they were 35 years ago.”

2. Changes are coming to higher ed…finally

As an industry higher ed may not be known for its propensity to change, but if you’re paying attention, there are some key indicators that the admissions process is slowly but surely evolving. This Huffington Post article sums up five key trends in college admissions.

3. Legacy admissions in the hot seat next?

The Chronicle of Higher Education has a question: Once we’re done discussing affirmative action stacking the deck against certain pools of applicants, will we shift our focus to policies that “rig” the system against disadvantaged students?

4. Rejected, but why?

There are many reasons that college applications get rejected, from there being too much interest for the number of seats available to the quality of the submitted materials leaving something to be desired. This U.S. News & World Report article offers some insight into six common reasons for rejection — and also inspires some thought about how a Centralized Application Service (CAS™) can help address them.