I have had the experience of holding a position in admissions that was also responsible for retention. What I learned was building a trusting relationship with the students made a big difference. When student have someone they can go to for help with a variety of issues they feel heard and appreciated. The position I hold now focuses mainly on admissions but I make it a point to check in with the students.
Heather, So true! What do you suggest admissions specifically does to help prepare students?
Dr. Jean Norris
I think that the role of the Admissions team is to ensure that incoming students have a very clear picture of what to expect when they start in the program and also what is expected of them. Too many students start school and don't really understand the time commitment and the structure of college. Time management is key for success-especially in older or non-traditional students.
The last thing you want to hear a student say is that their admissions advisor didn't prepare them for the program.
Heather, Great thoughts! I'm curious, what role do you think admissions plays in retention?
Dr. Jean Norris
Equal focus needs to be placed on retention and recruitment. We tend to focus so heavily on recruitment and training for our admissions/enrollment staff and we need to work on improved training for our faculty. Retention comes from the classroom interaction that occurs between the students and the faculty.
Kathaleen, you are right. These are definitely some issues in the higher education sector. So, what are some steps we can do right now to help?
Dr. Jean Norris
I think the perception of education as a luxury is a cultural bias. If we created a system designed to incentivize higher education and then promoted the idea of this path as a vital step toward success, that 50% of students either not going to college or not applying to the better schools could start to balance out the numbers we see in higher education. Secondly a reform of how we approach and educate about financial aid could go a long way to encourage students to look more closely at the options there. Our military builds its numbers on two fundamental principals (besides appealing to candidates sense of pride and duty) 1)learn a skill, and 2)let the government pay for it. These two ideas so tightly coupled together are a powerful sales pitch. If higher education could appear to be this simple in nature, opening that initial dialog, we might find many great candidates walking through those doors. The key, I think, is making the enterprise of going to school feel more approachable and encouraged than it currently is.
Customer service, integrity, and compliance is the most important contribution leaders in higher education can make to impact the issues facing higher education.
Raymond,
Excellent insights. It's important to consider how one issue may impact a variety of elements within the organization. Keeping an eye on the whole picture is important for the institutions leadership to keep in sight.
Shannon Gormley
I think one of the most important things for leadership, in any organization or industry, is to maintain the integrity of purpose. All to often leadership tends to veer toward the path of what is "in demand" as opposed to "what is needed" when addressing hot topic issues. Since no single issue is a stand-alone issue, meaning they all have affects on each other, it is even more important to have a wider view of what is at stake and what are the ramifications of any decision. By maintaining the integrity of purpose, in this case education, the leadership can focus on how other issues affect education. This changes the way decisions are made if the focus is not on the single issue at hand.
Very well said! So given all these points are critical (remaining competitive, communication with Congress and industry leaders, college prep in Middle School, affordability in college, and CHOICE), what specifically is a leader to do? What would be your first step in moving the agenda forward?
The current leadership in Higher Education need to stress the point and be more vocal that we need to educate our workforce to remain competitive in this global economy. It is their responsibility to effectively communicate this message to congress as well as industry leaders that the future of our country needs this. College preparation needs to start in Middle School and every student in america should have the opportunity to obtain a affordable college degree an area that he or she has a passion for.
