During the summer months, it’s not uncommon for a newly enrolled student/family to start getting cold feet about the enrollment decision they made back in the Spring. Once the excitement of the admission process, revisit days and making the enrollment decision has passed, the reality of actually going to a new school (and maybe leaving home for the first time) starts to set in and for some families the question of “did we make the right choice” enters their thinking. There are a few things a private school’s marketing team that you can do so that if a family is asking themselves that question that ultimately they decide the answer is “Yes.”
1. Stay in Contact with Families
Oftentimes there can be large gaps in communication from schools for newly enrolled students. Oftentimes after the enrollment decision is made, a family may not hear from a school again other than receiving notice about completing the necessary enrollment paperwork (Health Forms, course selection sheets, roommate surveys). This lack of communication can cause anxiety for new families, particularly new boarding families. Having a communication plan where newly enrolled families are hearing from you at least every 2 weeks is critical.
2. Don’t Overwhelm Them
While we all know that there is a lot of information that we need to get from families before their student steps foot on campus in September, sending that to them all at once can seem daunting and overwhelming. Part of the communication plan should include a plan to stagger when families receive the different forms they need to complete and also provide them staggered deadlines to return the information.
3. Faculty Connections
Now that the student is enrolled, it can be helpful both for the family and for your admission office if you begin to connect them with members of your faculty who are not in the admission office. This step allows the family to understand where they should direct specific questions when they have them and also ensures that your admission office isn’t facing a deluge of questions throughout the summer months. Allowing your Academic Deans to communicate with new families about course selection, or your Dean of Students/Residential Life lead outreach about dorm and roommate assignments helps the family understand that now that they are a part of your community, their primary contact and communication probably won’t be with the admission office.
4. Faculty Advisors
The earlier you can do advisor assignments the better. By assigning new students advisors early in the process, you are ensuring that each family has a primary contact person. Once assignments are made, you should ask or require advisors to send an introductory email to the family which is followed up with a call to each newly enrolled family. In most cases, faculty will only have one or two new students assigned to them so having them understand that they should be in contact throughout the summer is a manageable workload. If they can develop a relationship with the family before the student arrives, it not only will help ease the transition for the student, it also increases the likelihood that you will know if the family is having any second thoughts at any point throughout the summer.
5. Student Ambassadors
Asking your student ambassadors to connect with new students is a great way to increase your touch points with a family and also to help ease the transition for new students when they arrive.
Katava Marketing is the only private school admissions marketing and consulting agency that puts the students at the center of our strategy. Are you ready to rebuild your enrollment process? Contact Katava Marketing to get started today!
