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The Glacier TeamDec 13, 2017 12:00:00 AM2 min read

3 Shocking Things We Learned from the 2017 Strategic Enrollment Marketing Forum

Just in case you missed it, the Strategic Enrollment management and marketing conference was hosted last week by the Brain Storm Strategy group in Toronto. Hundreds of leaders in Higher Ed. Enrollment and marketing met to discuss the future of SEMM and best practices in the industry, as well as some fascinating new findings. Here are 3 things we learned from the conference, that blew us away:

1.     ENTRANCE SCHOLARSHIPS DO NOT INCREASE APPLICATIONS!

When surveyed about what factors were the most important when deciding which school to go to, Grade 12 students cited the most influential factors were program choice, cost, knowing someone either attending or an alumnus, and then followed closely by institutional reputation. Less than 5% of students considered financial aid as a factor in deciding which schools to apply too. So all those campaigns advertising your entrance scholarships? Ya, students don't really care. They will help to convert students that have ALREADY applied to your school, but they will not help increase applications.

2.     STUDENTS CHOOSE PROGRAM FIRST, AND THEN INSTITUTION

When asked if students changed which program they wanted to apply to during their application/decision process, very few said they did. They remained steadfast in their program decision. However, when students were asked if they changed which institutions they considered applying to, over 2/3 said they did. This means that students waver considerably when it comes to choosing their future school, but NOT when choosing their program. This presents a variety of opportunities around content marketing to prospective students. If students do not change their program of interest, content relating to that program will always be relevant!

3.     64% OF MILLENNIALS WANT TO WORK AT ONE COMPANY FOR THEIR WHOLE CAREER

In the Brain Storm Strategy group's 2017 report on Student Career interests, a shocking 64% responded that they wanted to work for the same company/institution for their whole career. Not only that, but this number has been increasing substantially over the past three years. This is completely antithetical to main stream beliefs about millennials jumping companies and jobs like Tarzan jumping from rope to rope. Even more shocking was that the government was the most desirable employer. So what is happening here?! We believe an explanation for this, is that even though millennials want to change jobs, they want to change jobs within companies. They want the structure and stability of working for one company, while still having the variety of working in different positions. This belief could also change considerably once the student graduates and begins their career, but this result is still completely shocking none the less.

Fascinating stuff isn’t it!?  We hope you enjoyed learning about this as much as we did! For more blog entries like this and to stay fresh on the happenings in the EDU Marketing space make sure you follow us on our website or LinkedIn for more weekly updates.  

The Glacier Team

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We collected insights from 1,700 high school students on their media preferences for higher ed advertising. Access Report.

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