Relationships are key to the success of everything higher education hopes to accomplish, from recruiting the next class to retaining them, guiding them to graduation, creating successful alumni, and fostering satisfied donors. Creation of those relationships can be engaged and facilitated by the technology, communications tools, and ideas…

Many factors affect an institution's ability to provide campus visitors a high-quality experience: traffic, parking deterrents, street people, navigation mazes, concrete facades, and political agendas, among others. These challenges can be particularly significant for large public, metro, or suburban institutions. Changes as simple as the…

The purpose of this article is to reflect on how to break bad news. The style in which one breaks bad news at the collegiate level has implications both for the individual and for the institution. If not managed well by enrollment professionals, negative news can taint prospects, applicants, parents, and current students, blemishing the…

Formal college and university marketing programs are challenging to develop and implement because of the complexity of the marketing mix, the perceived inappropriateness of a traditional marketing officer, the number of diverse groups with input, the uniqueness of higher education institutions, and the difficulty in identifying higher education…

Breakfast meetings between the University of Georgia and National Merit and Achievement Semifinalists are described. The programs included an introduction of the participants, the showing of a videotape depicting opportunities for honors students at the University, and an explanation of the University's experience with the scholarship program.…

Colleges developing a unified marketing system embracing student recruitment, fund-raising, and public relations will encounter some classic bureaucratic problems. Some reorganization or realignment of responsibilities is imperative for a comprehensive marketing effort. Each system has strengths and weaknesses and emphasizes different goals. (MSE)

To advance his or her institution, a president must exert special effort in three broad areas: enhancing responsiveness to university needs, enhancing conditions for the employment and retention of exceptional personnel, and enhancing respect for the university. Efforts in one area impinge substantially on efforts in each other area. (Author/MSE)

The University of Massachusetts at Boston has developed a telephone information service to respond to the growing number of telephone admissions inquiries. Trained information specialists with the most current information on programs, deadlines, and policies and procedures work in a specially designed room in which information is readily…

An informal survey of 27 Kansas public and private 4-year institutions of higher education revealed most did not have aid information packets designed for marketing; the quality of materials and response time was unrelated to institution size; many did not respond satisfactorily; and financial aid offices did not take a team approach in…

Current issues and concerns with student volunteer recruitment programs and ways in which to enhance the probability of success for any campus based student volunteer recruitment effort are presented. STUDENT VOICES, a model student volunteer recruitment program at West Virginia University is described. (MLW)

Recommendations made as a result of a Wingspread Colloquium on college marketing and student recruitment are reported. Abuses and specific remedies in recruiting, providing information, pricing and financing, student selection, and performance obligations and guarantees are outlined. Focus is on ethical and public interest issues. (MSE)

Two thousand parents and 3,000 unrelated high school seniors were surveyed to learn their needs and preferences in getting information about colleges. Both groups have similar concerns: finances first, then academic factors. It is suggested that different media may be effective for sending different messages about institutions and programs. (MSE)

An inquiry letter from an "interested junior" at one institution was sent to 252 competitive institutions to learn about the competitors' responses and marketing practices. All responded. Sixty-one percent did not personalize the response; only 25 percent specifically addressed the request. The most competitive responses were from small, private…

A description and discussion of a university market penetration plan looks at problems and opportunities related to market selection, establishment of performance objectives, timing, use of human resources, developing a promotional plan and activities, doing a market survey, garnering alumni support, using the media, and using college-community…

Results of a survey of four-year colleges and universities concerning faculty attitudes to and participation in student recruitment and institutional marketing efforts are reported, along with possible differences between private and public institutions' faculty attitudes and involvement. (MSE)