Improving Access: Effectively Communicating with Parents and Students

Madeleine Rhyneer

Albion College

Ronda Russell

Montana State University

Brian K. Smith

Memphis University School

Engaging parents creates greater opportunity for recruitment and enrollment, as well as improved student retention

Overview of studies on college costs, parental influence, and communication preferences

Online surveys of parents of prospective students

(1) Focused on college options, cost, and decision

criteria - 2,046 participants during 2013

enrollment cycle

(2) Focused on parental influence and

communication preferences - 2,832 participants

during 2012 enrollment cycle

Key findings:

Communication and influence

The primary areas of parental influence

How much influence would you say you have over _______? Mean Score

How much is spent on your child’s college education 4.38

The amount of debt the family will incur for your child’s education 4.37

The amount of personal debt your child will incur 4.10

Whether your child contributes personal funds to pay for college 3.91

The specific school(s) your child visits 3.65

Whether your child works while attending college 3.52

The specific school(s) your child considers 3.27

Mean scores are based on a 5-point scale, where 1 = no influence and 5 = significant influence.

How parents engage in college choice

• Talked with child about schools being considered

• Searched for information on a college’s website

• Read printed materials colleges sent to child

• Read email messages sent directly to parent

• Helped child compare options by weighing the pros and

cons of different schools

• Talked with child about different college majors

• Talked with child about financing college

Reported by 75% or more of parents responding

How parents get the information they need

• 85.4% by searching on college websites

• 84.3% by reading materials mailed to them and/or their child from

colleges

• 81.0% by reading email sent to them and/or their child

• 75.0% by searching for information online using popular search

engines

When parents want specific information

Freshman

Year

Sophomore

Year

Junior

Year

Senior

Year

Costs (e.g., tuition, housing, fees) 76.9% 49.8% 73.3% 52.4%

Financing college 75.0% 40.6% 58.7% 34.8%

Financial aid 73.5% 43.1% 62.1% 47.1%

Scholarships 70.4% 46.0% 65.3% 46.2%

General information about the college 64.9% 44.1% 48.8% 15.0%

Application dates/deadline reminders 59.1% 21.4% 49.6% 60.6%

Room and board options 56.5% 26.9% 44.2% 50.3%

Housing options 54.4% 25.7% 43.8% 49.4%

Location of the school and area around it 47.3% 27.8% 39.4% 14.3%

Degree programs 41.6% 27.3% 37.9% 12.3%

Majors/minors 38.6% 24.4% 34.1% 11.4%

Career opportunities related to specific majors 26.5% 21.7% 29.5% 17.2%

Parents want to receive information directly from colleges as well as view materials sent to their child

73.4%

13.7%

12.9%

Parent communication preference

Sent to Parent

Sent to Student

Sent to Parent and Student

How most parents prefer to receive information

Primary

Channel

Secondary

Channel

Costs Mail Web

Financing college Mail Email

Financial aid Mail Email

Scholarships Mail Email

General information about the college Mail Web

Application deadline reminders Email Mail

Campus safety Web Email

Room and board options Web Mail

Housing options Web Mail

Another view

Email Mail Web Phone

Costs (e.g., tuition, housing, fees) 62.4% 73.2% 67.7% 11.6%

Financing college 56.3% 66.6% 52.9% 23.1%

Financial aid 61.6% 70.8% 51.3% 34.7%

Scholarships 65.2% 67.9% 50.7% 38.2%

General information about the college 46.0% 62.0% 56.6% 12.1%

Application deadline reminders 80.3% 44.3% 39.8% 45.1%

Campus safety 43.1% 40.9% 63.4% 15.0%

Room and board options 45.0% 55.2% 60.3% 6.9%

Housing options 44.4% 53.7% 61.1% 7.5%

Some popular digital channels … not so popular

• Just 1.7% have followed a school on Twitter

• Just 2.6% have used online chat with a school

representative

• Just 4.9% have used RSS to subscribe to school

updates

Overall, parents are unlikely to rely upon blogs, podcasts,

chats, wikis, and other social digital channels

• Parents believe they have the most influence over the

financial aspects of college choice

• Parents desire information, and they also want their

children to have information

• With each entering class, parents are more likely to be

Internet savvy and increasingly mobile in their use of

technology

Key insights

Desired content will vary throughout the college search

• Financial planning and feasibility > freshman year

• General college information > sophomore year

• Specific schools, majors, careers, scholarships and

financial aid > junior year

• Applications (tips and deadlines), enrollment, housing >

senior year

Key insights

Key findings:

College cost and considerations

1. College cost is a concern, but it is not the only thing parents are worried about when considering their child’s college choice.

What makes you most concerned or anxious about your child’s college choice? Mean

The cost of attending first-choice school 1.57

Whether he/she will be admitted to first-choice school 1.77

The cost of attending any college 1.87

If the college where he/she enrolls will be a good fit 1.88

How much financial support will be provided 2.06

Whether he/she will be successful in college 2.07

His/her personal safety on campus 2.20

His/her exposure to drugs and alcohol on campus 2.30

Whether he/she will be able to get a job after graduation 2.40

Whether the cost of attendance will increase after enrollment 2.60

Means are based on rankings from 1 to 3, where 1 indicates greatest concern.

Key finding

Other expressed concerns include:

• Debt their child would have upon graduation

• Their child’s ability to complete college in four years

• Whether their child will be admitted to graduate school after

college

Additional concerns

2. More than one in four parents are unsure about how much they will invest annually in their child’s education.

What is the maximum amount you would pay from income and

savings and/or with borrowed funds per year?

Total Amount

Income and Savings

Borrowed/ Loan Amount

Percent Percent Percent

Unsure/don’t know 28.0 22.2 30.2

$5,000 or less 9.8 15.3 18.7

$5,001-$10,000 8.3 15.0 18.7

$10,001-$15,000 9.3 11.7 11.2

$15,001-$20,000 9.1 6.9 7.0

$20,001-$25,000 8.6 8.1 4.0

$25,001-$30,000 7.1 6.3 3.6

$30,001-$35,000 3.3 2.6 0.6

$35,001-$40,000 3.6 2.7 1.2

$40,001-$45,000 2.3 2.0 1.4

$45,001-$50,000 3.6 2.2 1.2

More than $50,000 7.0 5.2 2.0

Key finding

By type of schools under consideration

51%

17%

8%

24%

Considering Public Only

40%

11% 6%

43%

Considering Private Only

Unsure/don’t know

$15,000 or less

$15,001-$30,000

$30,001 or more

3. Parents will rely on a number of different

resources to cover college costs.

• Parents indicated the portion of total education

costs they expect to be covered by different

sources

– Grants and scholarships

– Income and savings

– Borrowed funds/loans

Key finding

Expected funding by sources – some or all

55.7% 53.9%

37.9%

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

9.4%

5.4%

2.4%

0.0%

2.0%

4.0%

6.0%

8.0%

10.0%

Parents who expect a portion of

child’s education to be funded

from each source

Parents who expect 100% of

child’s education to be funded

from each source

Income/ savings

Loans Grants/ scholarships

Income/ savings

Grants/ scholarships

Loans

4. Parents may be waiting too late in the college search process to enable optimal decisions that balance cost and quality.

When parents are most likely to focus on college costs Percent

Costs will come into play only after the admission decision and financial awards

are received. 50.6

I am considering cost of attending throughout the college search process. 33.4

Cost of attending will be/was considered during the application phase. 11.4

Unsure/don’t know 2.6

Key finding

5. The school characteristics parents value most are ones that will set their child up for success – in school and upon graduation.

When you think about college costs and what your child gets for the price you pay,

what would you say is most valuable to you? Mean

Excellence in teaching 1.66

Successful job placement after college 1.90

Strong support services for students’ academic success 1.95

Successful graduate school placement after college 2.00

National/international reputation 2.01

Strong institutional traditions 2.02

Small class sizes 2.12

Safe and secure campus environment 2.19

Modern, state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories, and other academic resources 2.19

Means are based on rankings from 1 to 3, where 1 is most valuable.

Key finding

6. Parents want information about costs throughout their child’s high school career, but more seem to expect it in the student’s junior year.

Student’s

Freshman

Year

Student’s

Sophomore

Year

Student’s

Junior

Year

Student’s

Senior

Year

Percent Percent Percent Percent

Sources of funds to pay for college 34.8 25.4 43.7 35.0

Costs (e.g., tuition, fees, housing) 32.1 33.7 68.8 45.9

Financial aid 29.3 22.1 47.1 46.1

Scholarships 29.3 27.2 60.0 54.3

Key finding

Parent engagement strategies in practice

Global strategies for parent communications

• Building communication campaigns specifically for

parents

• Providing financial information to support

discussions within households

• Designing on-campus events for parents

• Strengthening your website with a parent “portal”

• Maximizing online search outcomes (SEO efforts)

The case at Albion College

A few examples:

• Email campaign throughout admission process

• On-campus and online events for parents

• Structured faculty/parent interaction during campus visit programs

• Web and print promotion of “The Albion Advantage” and alumni

success stories

• Mail piece to parents debunking the myth that college is too expensive

and not worth the investment

• Flyer included in each visit packet for students/parents on campus

describing paying for college as a partnership where the parents, the

college/university, the student, and perhaps the state/federal

government all play a role.

Albion has 4,531 parent

email addresses from last

year’s Search. These will

be used to communicate

with parents in the future.

Parent Email Submissions

Search 2013

Provided

Parent Email

4,531

46%

No

Parent Email

5,271

54%

Albion is focusing efforts on trying to collect parent email to

make a more holistic experience

The case at Albion College

Provided

Parent Email

4,531

46%

No

Parent Email

5,271

54%

Can parental involvement improve application submission rates?

• Test goal

– Can we increase the application submission rate by sending

email deadline reminders to the parents?

• Test setup

– Control group – emails sent only to the prospective students

– Test group – additional emails sent to the parents

The case at Albion College

Provided

Parent Email

4,531

46%

No

Parent Email

5,271

54%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

9/15 10/15 11/15 12/15 1/15

Control – Only student pre-submission emails Test – Student and parent pre-submission emails

+7%

Audience Completion % Avg. App SAT

Test 43% 1184

Control 43% 1174

First parent email Deployed 9/14

Second parent email Deployed 11/2

Third parent email Deployed 11/13

Application Rate – Entering Class 2013

The case at Albion College

The case at Montana State University

• Separate parent and student email

campaigns from suspect to prospect

to admit to enroll and after

• Social and informative on-campus parent

events held pre-enrollment, at orientation

(separate intensive parent orientation

program) and after students are enrolled

• Very nice parent and family website

The case at Montana State University

Search continues to build a database of parent email addresses

19%

55%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

Search 2010 Search 2013

Parent Email Provided

Search

Submitted

Parent

Email

% Parent

Email

Submitted

2010 7,231 19%

2013 21,881 55%

Change + 14,650 + 289%

Parent Email Submissions Search 2010-2013

The case at Montana State University

Enrollment Rates by Parent Email Submission Entering Class 2013

9.8%

76.6%

15.1% 13.5%

77.8%

16.0%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Submission Rate Admit Rate Enrolled Rate

No Parent Email Parent Email

The case at Montana State University

Comprehensive fulfillment: Building a stronger relationship with students and parents over 30 days

• Immediate fulfillment of offer and invitation to campus

• Series of emails to student, containing information about MSU proved to be of greatest interest to prospects

• Series of emails to parent, strategically focused on the topics that matter most in parental decision making

S M T W T F S

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17 18 19

20 12 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30

The case at Montana State University

Email Sent to Parent

Email Sent to Student

Excitement from students and parents in response to email communications

“Thank you so much for welcoming me with such kindness. I am looking forward to

my trip to the MSU campus next year, and hope that soon MSU will be my temporary

home. Thank you again for getting me familiar with the activities and taking time out

of your day to do so.”

“Thank you for the follow-up regarding my daughter. Shelby is currently a sophomore

and your school is the first to contact her. She was very excited and liked what she

saw. I have not reviewed the website in much detail but plan on doing that this week

and will use the resources you provided to answer any questions I might have. Again,

thank you for your help; we look forward to visiting campus and exploring what is

available!”

– Student

– Parent

The case at Montana State University

From the high school perspective

Communicating with parents The Parent’s Role

Listen

Be supportive

Be realistic

Maintain contact with the college counseling office

Recognize your child’s success

Maintain that poker face

Questions?