College gaining new students in innovative ways
By Forest Lassman
People join and leave the college every semester, but it is the college’s goal to grow in numbers.
Dean of Student Services and Success Paul Kyle thinks the college has been doing a better job at improving those numbers.
“I think one of the reasons that we’ve seen an increase [in the number of students] is our extra efforts as far as recruitment is concerned. What we’ve done is basically try to put ourselves in a position that we can compete with other schools.”
The college has reached this goal in a multitude of ways. In 2007, one person worked as a recruiter for the college, but today there are four. These recruiters’ jobs are to go to different towns and cities to spread the word about the college. A call team has also been set in place, where students call potential students to try and encourage them to attend the college.
Another form of outreach the college has been focusing on is the internet, where the college now spends more money on advertising. If a prospective student uses sites like Spotify, they will have likely heard ads talking about attending the college. Internet advertising is partly to compete with online schools, which have marketed heavily in these places.
“The times have changed. Our competition is huge. You’ve got all kinds of online schools… and that’s who we’re competing with. We can’t just assume [students] know that we have online classes, and that we have small classes and affordable classes. We have to continually tell them,” Kyle said.
The college has also been reaching out to former students to remind them about coming back if they need any further education. Kyle thinks that students are not gone once they leave the college.
“They might need to take a summer class while they’re at KU or K-State. They might need to take a class here or there after they get their degree. So we’ve got to think differently,” Kyle said .
These efforts do seem to be effective.
“It appears at this point in time to be doing a little bit better than last spring.” said MargE Shelley, assistant dean of enrollment management.
Another cause for this potential rise is the later start date. Spring 2014 started Tuesday, Jan. 13, while this semester started the 20th. Kyle thinks this could have an effect.
“One thing that is different this spring is that we are starting a week than we did last spring, and I think that’s helpful … I think that extra week is helpful for them to kind of get past the holidays and past the new year and then think about coming back to school. It also puts us in line with starting when KU and K-State start,” Kyle said.
While the numbers seem positive right now, The Campus Ledger won’t know for a few weeks. Due to students dropping and enrolling in late-start classes, the official numbers will not be calculated until Monday Feb. 16.
Be sure to check back at Campusledger.com for update information.