There is no doubt that 2020 has put a number of professions through their paces--college admission and recruitment included. The longer it takes to secure widespread COVID relief, the worse the economic situation becomes. These challenges are broad, sweeping, and beyond the scope of one institution's individual strategies. One framework has shown…

As the pandemic subsides in the United States and parts of the country edge toward normalcy, NACAC professionals believe that virtual recruitment resources that colleges invested much effort in developing will not vanish. They say that virtual recruitment will have long-lasting staying power as a supplement to in-person recruitment. This article…

The looming demographic crisis has been talked about for nearly a decade, has had higher education enrollment managers to strategically think ahead and urge their institutions' stakeholders that the model must change, that they must adapt, and that not all colleges and universities could be winners in the hypercompetitive environment they were…

Providing access to the underserved has long been a priority in college admission. A newer trend to increase access to underserved students are fly-in programs that enable students to visit campuses overnight, get deeper insight into a college, and consider schools that they might not have otherwise. The idea for fly-ins is to increase the number…

Ten years ago, NACAC published a report showing that 61 percent of college admission offices were using social media to recruit prospective students. The authors--and many people in college admission--could see the writing on the wall: Social media was becoming indispensable. One of the study's authors, Nora Ganim Barnes, recently observed,…

College outreach efforts are sometimes received as nuisances, or worse, as maddening spam and junk email. New digital technologies and data-driven targeting innovations are reducing the amount of paper materials distributed, yet they are not reducing the oversaturation experienced by many prospective students. Colleges use Search and Encoura to…

Generation Z students (born between 1995-2010) have replaced millennials on college campuses. Generation Z students are entrepreneurial, desire practical skills with their education, and are concerned about the cost of college. This article presents what need to be known about this new generation of students.

In 2014, approximately 7.3 million undergraduate students (42 percent) were enrolled in community colleges in the US, the latest statistic offered by the Community College Research Center. At some schools, like Cleveland State University (OH), more transfer students graduated in 2014 with a bachelor's degree than students who entered four-year…

Whether it's your first day or first year on the job as an admission counselor at a university or college, you may be struggling with balancing the demands of your job with family needs, positioning yourself for advancement, or finding valuable programs that offer growth opportunities. Every generation of admission counselors at higher education…

A growing group of admission officials, high school counselors, and college access professionals say rural students don't always have the same access to college as their counterparts in more urban areas. Given the barriers, those who advocate for rural students have developed a variety of ways they can be supported ranging from extra guidance from…

The Latinx population reached an all-time high of nearly 58 million in 2016 and has been the principal driver of demographic growth, accounting for half of national population growth since 2000, according to the Pew Research Center. The percentage of Hispanic 18 to 24-year-olds enrolled in college has climbed from about 22 percent in 2000 to…

Hate crimes and incidents of bias against US Muslims have soared to their highest levels since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, according to data collected by the FBI and other organizations. As Muslim youth search for a sense of security, counselors on both sides of the desk are called to ensure their institutions remain safe and…

It will come as no surprise to most admission professionals that enrollment pressures related to the economic downturn of the last five years have placed American postsecondary education in the middle of a spinning plate, slipping and sliding as it tries to accommodate more students with fewer financial resources from federal and state…

It is exceedingly important for student affairs professionals to have an understanding of the types of students living, working and learning on our campuses in order to strategically enhance their experiences. One group on college campuses that is often overlooked is the transgender population of students; the lack of focus on the "T" in…

The recruitment and admission practices of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) students by admission offices in higher education are examined as an emerging trend. Limited research on the targeted recruitment and hopeful admission and matriculation of the LGBT prospective student populations exists. Third-party GLBT organizations have…