10 Strategies for Increasing Student Enrollment

In 2020, college enrollment reached 15.85 million undergraduate students, declining 4.31% yearly. Are you having the same problem with increasing the total number of students enrolled in your college or university? You need to employ effective strategies for increasing student enrollment, which we'll discuss below - keep reading.

1. Maximize Storytelling

Are you wondering what strategies can help with increasing student enrollment? You may not be using storytelling as a tool to attract more students to your university. What is the story of your institution? What inspiring stories do your faculty and students have? Remember that your school is a brand too, so make it stand out with storytelling. Speak directly to their hearts. Keep them engaged. Allow them to understand and appreciate your school and its core values.

You can make the presentation of your school's story by providing them with an immersive digital experience. Leave a solid first impression and let them feel that your school is what they want and need by using our personalized Video Viewbook. Given that more incoming students are checking out schools virtually, you need to give them the best virtual campus experience with an engaging tool like Video Viewbook.

2. Connect With Students on Social Media

Engaging with students on popular social media platforms is one of the top strategies to increase college enrollment. They spend ample time on social media, so take advantage of this opportunity to use the different features available on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. Utilize live video, paid advertisements on each social media platform, or simply feed posts.

3. Reduce Response Time With Automation

As the current generation wants immediate answers to their questions, you must adapt to their communication style to get their attention. Moreover, if you can build an emotional connection with them earlier, you'll have a higher chance of getting them enrolled in your school. Once they have decided that they like a specific school, it's usually hard to turn back.

Use automation features to help achieve that first connection and keep the students from waiting. These include sending responses, reminders, following up, prioritization, and more.

4. Analyze Enrollment Analytics

From the specific messages that prospective students like to the deciding factors for their enrollment, looking at enrollment analytics helps you figure out how to increase college enrollment. With such reports, you'll know how to distribute your resources more effectively. You can avoid unnecessary mistakes and come up with better decisions.

Here, you'll need a robust reporting mechanism that allows you to gather relevant information about your potential students and assess the school's performance. This includes the courses, campuses, and specific admission representatives. At StudentBridge, we have a reliable tech platform that gives you access to real-time analytics. Moreover, you can use the platform for customization, continuous edits or changes, automatic updates, and more.

5. Create an Admitted Student Website

Some schools keep their incoming students excited by launching a new student website. This makes the time between application and admission unique. The students themselves will also feel special and valued.

When building this admitted student website or portal, ensure to add relevant and valuable information for students and families. These include financial aid documents, task sheets or checklists for the next steps, interactive campus tours, and event reminders.

Furthermore, make sure that the website emphasizes your school's value proposition. Add links or resources that will address prospective students' everyday concerns. Then, ensure a format audit for your website so the pieces of information provided are organized, accessible, and mobile-optimized.

6. Hold Swag Contests

Another strategy for increasing student enrollment is to attract more prospective students by creating trivia quizzes on social media. Students who participate with the correct answers will get a chance to grab a free school shirt, sweatshirt, cap, bag, or any other popular item unique to your school.

Then, you may urge admitted students to post pictures in which they wear school-branded swag shirts. Those who win this photo contest with the highest number of votes or likes will receive corresponding prizes.

7. Use Video To Provide An Authentic View Of Your Institution

Are you doing enough to capture students’ attention and keep them engaged? If your answer is ‘no’ or if you’re unsure, authentic videos can be the solution you’re looking for.

Research shows that a strong majority of students find videos to be helpful 96% of individuals watch explainer videos to learn more about a product or service, and 71% percent of Gen Zers watch over 3 hours of video per day. And when you consider how you only have 8 seconds to capture and maintain a Gen Z’s student attention, videos are your best bet for attracting and engaging students.

For impactful videos that engage students and drive enrollment:

1.  Elevate student voices because students want to hear from peers (not just administrators or figureheads). Let current students and young alumni talk about class sizes, opportunities, social fit, and the campus community. ‘Day in the Life’ content can also be particularly valuable here, helping provide a relatable and authentic view of student life.
2.  Talk about navigating the “new” that is college life. Many students are leaving what’s familiar to go to college, and videos that can reassure and excite them are a powerful way to build trust, affinity, and community. Leverage empathy and honesty by allowing students to talk about their experiences as first-gen, transfer, international, out-of-state, or adult students.
3.  Show, don’t tell, students about your campus. Show off your facilities like where students live, do research, exercise, and explore. Record video walk-throughs of the spaces when students are using them — which is especially helpful for locations like labs or dorms that may not be open to walk through during an on-campus visit.

You can easily create and repurpose videos too. Lessons, interviews, presentations, and webinars can be quickly adapted into smaller video content. For instance, you can make an Instagram story or reel out of a video lecture or webinar.

Moreover, you can hold virtual events instead of typical on-campus events. StudentBridge can help you engage with and attract more students online by creating convincing video vignettes and adding other relevant content

Use positive reviews and testimonials from previous and current students to enhance your school's credibility and appeal to more prospective students. What achievements have they experienced with the help of your school? You might also want to conduct surveys after each school year to acquire parents' and students' feedback and take the necessary action to improve your system and increase college enrollment.

9. Prioritize Personalized Mobile-First Communication To Attract Gen Z Students

Reality check: Students want to receive text messages during the enrollment process. Studies show that 9 out of 10 high school students are open to receiving text messages during the enrollment process, and that text messages are influential in students’ decision-making processes. This is a great way to reach students quickly — where they already are — and inspire timely action.

But personalization is critical to making the most of this communication channel. Seventy-three percent of high school seniors graduating in 2022 said personalized and relevant outreach was influential or very influential in their decision-making, yet only 44 percent said the outreach they received from colleges was very personal and specific to their interests.

So if you’re looking to stand out during the admissions cycle and stay top-of-mind for students, personalized mobile communications are an absolute must.

To meaningfully personalize communications:

• Include students’ names (this also helps you not get flagged as spam)
• Provide timely, relevant information specific to students’ unique interests, goals, and needs)
• Give students a way to reach out 1:1 with questions)
• Align messages to where students are at in the college search and decision-making processes)

Those looking to really achieve more this year should also communicate with parents and other key supporters, which StudentBridge can help you do even if you don’t have parents’ contact information.

10. Increase the access and impact of your campus visits

Campus visits are a powerful engagement opportunity, but not all students can complete a guided visit before (or even after) enrolling. In fact, 19 percent of high school seniors graduating in 2022 reported not visiting any college campuses prior to enrolling — which presents a real dilemma for institutions that rely on campus visits to stand out from the competition and sway students’ decisions to apply and enroll.

To broaden the reach and impact of your campus visits, it’s vital to have strong virtual and self-guided visit options in place. These offerings need to be comparable to your guided visits, bring your institution to life for those not on campus, and inspire students to take the next step.

From there, take a discerning look at your offerings to ensure:

• Visitors have a memorable way to explore your institution anytime, from anywhere — without requiring downloads or using a paper map
• There’s a way for students to personalize their visit experience based on their unique interests and needs
• Your visits meet the needs of various key audiences, such as transfer, first-gen, or international students or parents (to name a few)
• They highlight authentic student voices and experiences
• It’s easy for prospective students to take action — like submit an inquiry or ask a follow-up question

If you’re honest in your assessment of your existing visit offerings, you’ll likely identify a few meaningful opportunities to level up your campus visits which will help drive enrollment this cycle and beyond.

StudentBridge can help you achieve more

Different strategies for increasing student enrollment include incorporating storytelling, automation, social media, videos, admitted student websites, and more into your school's program. With this said, learning how to increase college enrollment is one thing, and making it happen is another.

At StudentBridge, we take pride in helping our college and university partners reach their enrollment goals.

Contact us today to see how our services can increase your school's enrollment.