In recent years, when a university may earn well over $10 million per year from fees for sports-broadcast rights, half of the teams still lose. Collegiate athletic competition is a zero sum game: The number of winners equals the number of losers. So why do universities spend growing sums of scarce resources on an activity when the odds of winning…

Lewison and Hawes (1997) discuss target marketing strategies of differentiated, concentrated or orchestrated marketing in their article "Student Marketing Strategies for Universities." While the authors agree with some of the suggested strategies and reasons behind them, their perspective as faculty teaching in a graduate education program offers…

There is no problem with colleges and universities trying to raise enrollment through encouraging student participation in athletics. However, the author questions the integrity of the recruiting and admissions process if institutions do not openly share their strategies with prospective students and parents. That includes being truthful regarding…

A presentation by Walter Gilliam (2007) at the First Annual Leadership Symposium on pre-kindergarten education in the United States outlined the explosion across the 50 states in enrollment and public spending for pre-kindergarten programs (including Head Start). Although the majority of these programs are in public schools, most states rely on a…

Attracting quality students in sufficient volume requires schools to do the right things right. Doing right things right is a combination of what they do and how well they do it. Successful enrollment marketing, like all good marketing, depends on consistency of effort and doing enough of the right things in the right way, repeatedly. Here, the…

Advertising is seen as an important part of any college marketing strategy. A well-planned advertising campaign can increase public awareness and reinforce the positive attitudes of current students toward the program. Objectives, reaching the right people, and marketing strategy are discussed. (MLW)

Competition makes marketing diversification necessary for proprietary schools. Considering significant demographic and social changes can help identify a school's primary and secondary markets and target new audiences for recruitment. (SK)

This institutional "self study document" was designed to be presented to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education (ADHE) to aid in the evaluation of the mass communication program at Southern Arkansas University, a noncompetitive institution where any high school graduate may enroll. In narrative form, the document answers substantive…

Three dimensions of the financial aid delivery system that disproportionately discourage minority students from seeking or achieving admission to colleges and universities are discussed: information inequities, negative consequences of system complexity, and institutional aid practices. (MLW)

This article addresses the problem of (1) maintaining the size and quality of the overall graduate school, and (2) maintaining a "critical mass" of students enrolled in programs where there is an indication of a future demand, but where there has been a decline. University marketing techniques have not generally focused on graduate student…

As higher education enters an extended period of declining college-age enrollment, effective marketing and enrollment management techniques should be an institutional priority. All colleges, including two-year institutions, should have a comprehensive plan to maintain desired enrollment levels. (MSE)

Changing populations will raise new issues for higher education student recruitment. Some changes include population sizes, characteristics, geography, and enrollment patterns. Steps to take include redefine the problem, make more out of less, improve student distribution, learn from the past, understand limitations, and recognize that each…

The extent to which colleges and universities provide opportunities for students from the most economically disadvantaged families is an important indicator of the potential for U.S. higher education to promote intergenerational mobility. Yet the measurement of "opportunity" for low-income students at the level of individual colleges and…

Due to desegregation of formerly White schools, traditionally Black colleges must compete for enrollments with better financed institutions. The caste structure of American society prevents integrated schools from meeting Black students' psychic needs; therefore, active, honest recruitment can attract students by informing them of the advantages…

A successful enrollment management system consists of a marketing program that ensures congruency between the image projected to prospective students and the actual environs of the college, and of means for the academic and social integration of students once enrolled. This presentation offers guidelines for the development of such a system, using…