Author: Dwyer Education Strategies

John W. Dysart President The Dysart Group, Inc. Social media outlets are becoming a standard tool for college and university recruitment. A recent study indicated that 95% of institutions utilize social media as an element of the recruitment plan. There are a variety of available mechanisms for social media being used by admission offices. Among the most popular are Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and to a lesser extent Pinterest and Ning. Facebook is still the most popular outlook for schools followed by YouTube and then Twitter. Regardless of the outlets you are using, there are a number of effective strategies […]

Dr. Scott Miller President Bethany College Dr. Marylouise Fennell Principal Hyatt-Fennell If you could find a cost-effective way to expand your visibility to targeted audiences while promoting your institutional brand, would you take advantage of it? Social media allow you to do this and more, yet only about 175 of some 3,500 college presidents nationwide actively use Twitter or Facebook; approximately 900 use LinkedIn, YouTube and other tools. Those who do not employ social media are missing out on opportunities to enhance their message. Here are some proven reasons we think you will ?like? social media applications for your institution. […]

John W. Dysart President The Dysart Group, Inc. We are rapidly approaching the end of another recruitment cycle. If you are still hoping to improve your outcomes or at least maintain your current trends, you should make sure your enrollment division administrators are doing the following: Aggressively encourage new and returning students to apply for financial aid. Send written reminders, email messages and text messages to encourage completion of the FAFSA. Don?t hesitate to get on the telephone and call students who have not applied for financial aid. Make sure all of the students who have applied for financial aid […]

John W. Dysart President The Dysart Group, Inc. As colleges and universities seek to increase enrollments, many are attempting to expand their geographic reach by trying to recruit more out-of-state students. There are real challenges for schools seeking to grow the pool of out-of-state students: Studies show that 72% of high school graduates attend college in their home state and that only 14% leave their home geographic region to enroll in college. Out-of-state students usually are not eligible for state grants and this can increase the financial aid costs for the institution. There can be new expenses associated with dedicated […]

John W. Dysart President The Dysart Group, Inc. The higher education landscape is changing quickly. Demographic realities are impacting public, private and for-profit institutions. We are seeing, at many colleges and universities, increasing numbers of minority students, first-generation college students and high need students. Such trends are likely to continue for years to come. The good news is that there are literally hundreds of institutions willing to recruit and enroll students of color, students with high financial need, students with low standardized test scores, students with lower than average high school grade point averages and students coming from families with […]

Dr. Marylouise Fennell Principal Hyatt Fennell Dr. Scott D. Miller President Bethany College Competition among peer institutions is the most intense we have seen in over 30 years, with the demand for student-centered programs, services and facilities forcing significant shifts in institutional spending. But such ?cool? offerings come at substantial cost. It?s no secret that today?s Millennial generation expects amenities beyond what their grandparents and parents could have imagined in their wildest dreams. Food courts, shopping malls, fitness centers, state-of-the-art athletic facilities, high-end residences and well-equipped recreation attractions are not only expected, but essential to driving enrollment and retention. A […]

John W. Dysart President The Dysart Group, Inc. It is that time of year again. Students and families are in the midst of the college selection process. Up until now, choosing a college has been an abstract exercise. Now that the choices have narrowed, affordability comes into play. There is no question about the importance of price and financial aid. While we may hope that the final decision will be made based upon academic offerings, the quality of faculty and the opportunities for co-curricular activities, net price certainly influences the decision and sometimes is the determining factor. The role of […]

Academic Impressions is hosting a conference on tuition discounting in December. This is a reprint of a short interview regarding tuition discounting with enrollment management expert John W. Dysart, President of The Dysart Group, a boutique enrollment management consulting firm specializing in recruitment, financial aid and retention. Several industry experts continue to warn of higher-than-ever average tuition discount rates. However, a recent Academic Impressions survey completed by nearly 100 institutions revealed several institutions experiencing net tuition revenue gains, despite offering discounts at or above national averages. Do you see these situations as merely outliers or are they proof that institutions […]

Susan Coia Galley Founder Institutional Research, Assessment and Report Consulting Cost-Effective and Return On Investment (ROI) are terms with origins in the business sector. The dictionary defines Cost-Effective: ?Producing optimal results for the expenditure.? Complementing this definition: ?Return on investment (ROI) is the concept of an investment of some resource yielding a benefit to the investor. A high ROI means the investment gains compare favorably to investment cost. As a performance measure, ROI is used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. In purely economic terms, it is one […]